ABSTRACT A scholarly consensus has emerged in recent years that the Declaration of Independence was the “apple of gold” in Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery political thought and moral grounding. Prior to Congress’s passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, however, he had mentioned the document only twice, and in his Peoria Address of October 1854, he referred to it as “the white man’s charter of freedom.” This essay traces Lincoln’s evolving rhetorical use of the document, culminating during his presidency as justification for fundamental change in the nation’s history.

中文翻译：

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亚伯拉罕·林肯对独立宣言的不断评价

摘要 近年来，学术界一致认为《独立宣言》是亚伯拉罕·林肯反奴隶制政治思想和道德基础中的“金苹果”。然而，在国会通过堪萨斯-内布拉斯加法案之前，他只提到过两次该文件，并且在 1854 年 10 月的皮奥里亚演说中，他将其称为“白人自由宪章”。这篇文章追溯了林肯对该文件不断演变的修辞使用，在他担任总统期间达到顶峰，为国家历史发生根本性变革提供了理由。