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http://live.reuters.com/Event/Syria_9

Hillary Clinton just finished her acceptance speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where she received the 2013 Liberty Medal. Her remarks made only passing mention of the Syria crisis and the president’s speech in an hour, favoring a long lens that served to situate the debate over military intervention in the context of America’s democratic heritage.

“How do we provide both security and liberty at home and abroad?” Clinton asked, saying that the Syrian government’s chemical weapons use “violates a universal norm at the heart of our global order” and that the United States holds a unique capability and obligation to respond.

From there, Clinton chose to tie in several references to the nation’s founders and founding principles rather than advocate for specific military or diplomatic solutions, in a nod to the location of her address and perhaps to the president himself, set to make his own case from the East Room. “This debate is good for our democracy,” Clinton said, citing the lasting need for Americans to coalesce around a plan of action going back to Franklin’s famous Revolutionary War mantra, “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately,” and Madison’s assertion that a united America without a single troop is more formidable than a disunited America with 100,000 armed veterans strong.

Clinton remembered her time as Secretary of State, saying that she was always reminded of how America was viewed around the world. “Unity leads to strength, and disunity leads to perceived weakness,” Clinton said. “When we let partisanship override citizenship… our standing in the world suffers.” She also noted tomorrow’s anniversary of the September 11th attacks and her experience as a New York senator during that time, watching the nation come together. It will be worth watching for how Obama chooses to reference such a charged anniversary in the context of his speech tonight.