from frederick douglass, via cosma shalizi, via pnh, an amazing argument for the good over the ideal.

Three-Toed Sloth: Great Americans:

Today is the 139th anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln. Here is an excerpt from Frederick Douglass's "Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln", delivered on the occasion of the unveiling of the freedmen's monument to Lincoln, April 14, 1876:

go there to read the text of it. it's old fashioned writing (it's from 1876!) but very moving.