1862 State of the Union Address explained

1862 State of the Union Address
Type:	State of the Union Address
Participants:	Abraham Lincoln
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Blank1 Data:	1861 State of the Union Address
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The 1862 State of the Union Address was written by the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and delivered to the 37th United States Congress, on Monday, December 1, 1862, amid the ongoing American Civil War.^[1]

This address was Lincoln's longest State of the Union Address, consisting of 8,385 words.^[2]

In the closing paragraphs of this address, Lincoln penned words which have been remembered and quoted frequently by presidents and other American political figures. Lincoln's concluding remarks were as follows:

Last best hope of Earth

Lincoln in this address coined the phrase that the United States is the "last best hope of Earth." This phrase has been echoed by many US presidents:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt closed his 1939 State of the Union Address by quoting these words from Lincoln.^[3]
• Lyndon B. Johnson quoted it in a special message to Congress on equal rights.^[4]
• Richard Nixon cited this phrase in his acceptance of the nomination at the 1960 Republican National Convention^[5] and again as president in his remarks establishing the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.^[6]
• Gerald Ford quoted these words in his remarks on the United States Bicentennial.^[7]
• Jimmy Carter quoted the phrase in a live, televised address on national security.^[8]
• Ronald Reagan was especially fond of this phrase, as he quoted it at least 50 times in various speeches and writings.^[9] Reagan first quoted it in his 1964 "A Time for Choosing" speech.^[10] He also alluded to it in four of his State of the Union Addresses (1981,^[11] 1982,^[12] 1984,^[13] and 1987^[14]) as well as his Second Inaugural Address.^[15]
• George H. W. Bush cited the quote in remarks he made to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.^[16]
• Bill Clinton quoted these words in a radio address after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.^[17]
• George W. Bush alluded to the phrase in a commencement address at Ohio State University.^[18]
• Barack Obama also used the phrase frequently in his speeches, such as when he gave remarks commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment.^[19]
• Joe Biden quoted these lines during his remarks after the January 6 United States Capitol attack.^[20]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Second Annual Message. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024.
2. Web site: Length of State of the Union Messages and Addresses in Words. Gerhard. Peters. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024.
3. Web site: Annual Message to Congress. Franklin D.. Roosevelt. January 4, 1939. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. This generation will 'nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. . . . The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just-a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.'.
4. Web site: Special Message to the Congress on Equal Justice. Lyndon B.. Johnson. February 15, 1967. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. The issue of the struggle was, as Lincoln said, whether 'we shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of earth.'.
5. Web site: Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Richard. Nixon. July 28, 1960. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024.
6. Web site: Remarks on Signing Bill Establishing the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. Richard. Nixon. August 18, 1971. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. Lincoln also had a very profound sense of destiny about the United States of America—what it was, what it meant to its own people, and what it meant to the world. We all remember what he said: that the United States of America was man's last, best hope on earth..
7. Web site: Remarks on the Eve of the Bicentennial Year.. Gerald. Ford. December 31, 1975. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. Behind us lie 200 years of toil and struggle, 200 years of accomplishment and' triumph. We remain, in Lincoln's words, 'the last, best hope of earth.'.
8. Web site: Peace and National Security Address to the Nation on Soviet Combat Troops in Cuba and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.. Jimmy. Carter. October 1, 1979. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. At another time of challenge in our Nation's history, President Abraham Lincoln told the American people: 'We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.'.
9. Web site: Results. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024.
10. Web site: Address on Behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater: "A Time for Choosing". Ronald. Reagan. October 27, 1964. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness..
11. Web site: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Program for Economic Recovery. Ronald. Reagan. February 18, 1981. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. I'm here tonight to reaffirm that pledge and to ask that we share in restoring the promise that is offered to every citizen by this, the last, best hope of man on Earth..
12. Web site: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress Reporting on the State of the Union. Ronald. Reagan. January 26, 1982. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. ...saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty—this last, best hope of man on Earth..
13. Web site: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union. Ronald. Reagan. January 25, 1984. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. How can we not believe in the greatness of America? How can we not do what is right and needed to preserve this last best hope of man on Earth?.
14. Web site: Radio Address to the Nation on the State of the Union. Ronald. Reagan. January 24, 1987. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. And in President Lincoln's second message, we read of America as 'the last, best hope of Earth.' Freedom, Lincoln stated, is a way that is 'plain, peaceful, generous, just—a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.'.
15. Web site: Inaugural Address. Ronald. Reagan. January 21, 1985. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. ...we are all Americans, pledged to carry on this last, best hope of man on Earth..
16. Web site: Remarks to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. George H. W.. Bush. April 9, 1992. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. It's a mission that can advance our economic and security interests while upholding the primacy of American values, values which, as Lincoln said, are the 'last, best hope of Earth.'.
17. Web site: The President's Radio Address. Bill. Clinton. February 12, 1994. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024.
18. Web site: Commencement Address at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. George W.. Bush. June 14, 2002. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. You will show your love and allegiance to the United States, which remains what it has always been, a citadel of freedom, a land of mercy, the last, best hope of man on Earth..
19. Web site: Remarks Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the 13th Amendment. Barack. Obama. December 9, 2015. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024.
20. Web site: Remarks to the Nation by President-elect Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware. Joseph R.. Biden. January 7, 2021. The American Presidency Project. March 11, 2024. Watching the scenes from the Capitol, I was reminded of Abraham Lincoln's words in an annual message to the Congress whose work has today been interrupted by chaos. President Lincoln said: 'We shall nobly save or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth....'.