With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

The appeal joins generosity toward others with determination to complete a shared task. Firmness is tempered by an acknowledgment that understanding what is right has limits. The image of binding wounds presents the nation as needing care as well as continued effort.

Context reviewed 28 September 2026