I am constantly reminded of the uniqueness of America. Sure, every nation has days of remembrance for their fallen heroes. They too are special in their own ways and worthy of recognition. Yet, try as I might, I can think of no other nation that gave so much from so many for a purely moral cause. That was the fight against human bondage.
A case can be made that wars of religion have a moral purpose. I suppose that is true. The fight against communism and fascism was also intensely moral. They were not civil wars though, setting brothers against brothers. They did not arise as a defense of the audacious assertion that "all men are created equal."
Some might argue, as I do, that the American Revolution did not end with the British surrender at Yorktown. Neither was the Civil War our first civil war. That would be Bleeding Kansas, where free-soil forces from the North battled proslavery forces from the South. Those who revered the Declaration clashed with those who despised it.
In May of 1856 Senator Charles Sumner gave an eloquent and impassioned address on the floor of the Senate titled The Crimes Against Kansas. Here is the link Crime Against KSSpeech.
I do not know if Senator Sumner knew how prescient he was when he said that "the contest, which, beginning in Kansas, has reached us, will soon be transferred to a broader stage, where every citizen will be not only a spectator, but actor." For his denunciation of the evil of slavery Sumner endured a brutal and life-altering caning at the hands of proslavery Representative Preston S. Brooks.
In the ensuing civil war as many as 750,000 Americans died so that the promise of the Declaration could become a reality. Memorial Day for Americans comes from a necessary spirit of reconciliation after that devastating loss. Lincoln questioned at Gettysburg whether our "nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure"? *
It has endured for 250 years, but the question remains now and forever the same. Each generation is charged with keeping the promise of the Declaration. This and every Memorial Day we are grateful to our forefathers and to all of the men and women who died so that we can live in liberty. It is because of them that our nation has long endured.
* Lincoln, Abraham, Pres. U. S. Gettysburg address delivered at Gettysburg Pa. Nov. 19th, . n. p. n. d. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.24404500/. https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.24404500/?st=text. Accessed on 05.22.2026.