The words of Abraham Lincoln, in his 1862 Annual Message to Congress, echo to us now: “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We . . . will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. . . . We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth.”