Abraham Lincoln on Equality and Self Reliance

"Free Labor argues that, as the Author of man makes every individual with one head and one pair of hands, it was probably intended that heads and hands should cooperate as friends; and that that particular head, should direct and control that particular pair of hands. As each man has one mouth to be fed, and one pair of hands to furnish food, it was probably intended that that particular pair of hands should feed that particular mouth -- that each head is the natural guardian, director, and protector of the hands and mouth inseparably connected with it; and that being so, every head should be cultivated, and improved, by whatever will add to its capacity for performing its charge. In one word Free Labor insists on universal education."
~President Abe Lincoln, delivered Sept. 30, 1859 at the Wisconsin Fair.

President Lincoln had such a grasp on the balance needed between equality and individual reliance. It seems many of the core issues that face this nation today come from a lack of balance between desiring to treat all equally, while requiring individual responsibility from the same.