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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: In the forest he learned charity, sympathy, helpfulness--in a
word neighborliness--for in that far-off frontier life all the
wealth of India, had a man possessed it, could not have bought
relief from danger or help in time of need, and neighborliness
became of prime importance. Constant opportunity was found there
to practice the virtue which Christ declared to be next to the
love of God--to love one's neighbor as oneself.
In such settlements, far removed from courts and jails, men were
brought face to face with questions of natural right. The
pioneers not only understood the American doctrine of
self-government--they lived it. It was this understanding, this
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