エイブラハム・リンカーン（Abraham Lincoln）
エイブラハム・リンカーン（英: Abraham Lincoln、1809年2月12日 - 1865年4月15日）は、アメリカ合衆国の政治家、弁護士。イリノイ州議員、下院議員を経て、第16代アメリカ合衆国大統領に就任した。
愛称は、エイブ (Abe)。また、オネスト・エイブ (Honest Abe)、レール・スプリッター (the Rail Splitter)、「偉大な解放者」(the Great Emancipator)、「奴隷解放の父」とも呼ばれる。しばしば「史上最高の大統領」とも評される。
アメリカ歴代大統領のうち、小学生だった僕が最初に知った人物がリンカーンだ。
そしてアメリカという国に対して敬意を示すきっかけにもなった人物である。
民主主義（民が主となる主義）の基本も、リンカーンの言葉から教わった。
リンカーンは1863年11月9日、世界的に有名な「ゲティスバーグ演説」において、戦没者を追悼して
「人民の人民による人民のための政治を地上から決して絶滅させないために、われわれがここで固く決意することである」
という民主主義の基礎を主張した。
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
1946年、GHQ最高司令官として第二次世界大戦後の日本の指揮を執ったダグラス・マッカーサーは、GHQによる憲法草案前文に、このゲティスバーグ演説の有名な一節を織り込んだ。
Government is a sacred trust of the people, the authority for which is derived from the people, the powers of which are exercised by the representatives of the people, and the benefits of which are enjoyed by the people.
この一文がそのまま和訳され、日本国憲法の前文の一部となった。
そもそも国政は、国民の厳粛な信託によるものであつて、その権威は国民に由来し、その権力は国民の代表者がこれを行使し、その福利は国民がこれを享受する。
リンカーンの残した言葉
I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.
The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.
1832 – lost his job
1833 – failed in his business
1835 – lost his sweetheart
1836 – suffered nervous breakdown
1838 – defeated in his run for Illinois Speaker
1843 – beaten in the run for Congress
1856 – defeated for US Senate
1858 – defeated for the nomination of Vice President
1860 – Abraham Lincoln elected as the President of the U.S., and went on to become one of the most famous presidents in the history.
ARE YOU STILL AFRAID TO FAIL?
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
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