(You can also go to the “Listing/Index of Lincoln’s Guideposts” page.)
These comments and positions made between 1832 to 1865 reflect upon ideas relevant to the issues facing America today:
LINCOLN ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION
“I wish now to submit a few remarks on the general proposition of amending the Constitution. As a general rule, I think we would much better let it alone. No slight occasion should tempt us to touch it. Better not take the first step, which may lead to a habit of altering it. Better, rather, habituate ourselves to think of it as unalterable. It can scarcely be made better than it is. New provisions would introduce new difficulties, and thus create and increase appetite for further change. No, sir; let it stand as it is. New hands have never touched it. The men who made it have done their work, and have passed away. Who shall improve on what they did?”
Speech in Congress, June 20, 1848
“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.”
Speech at Kalamazoo, August 27, 1856
LINCOLN ON AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
“It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of our whole people, beyond any example in the world. Of this we now have a striking, and an impressive illustration.”
First Message to Congress, at the Special Session, July 4, 1861
LINCOLN ON BALANCING THE BUDGET
“I would not borrow money. I am against an overwhelming, crushing system. Suppose, that at each session, congress shall first determine how much money can, for that year, be spared for improvements; then apportion that sum to the most important objects.”
Speech in Congress, June 20, 1848
“As an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next to no one left to borrow from, so it must be with a government.”
Whig Circular, March 4, 1843
LINCOLN ON “CAREER” POLITICIANS
“If ever American society and the United States Government are demoralized and overthrown, it will come from the voracious desire for office, this wriggle to live without toil, work, and labor, from which I am not free myself.”
Attributed, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Ward Lamon
LINCOLN ON CITIZEN’S RESPONSIBILITY
“Finally, I insist that if there is anything that it is the duty of the whole people to never intrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity of their own liberties and institutions. ”
Speech at Peoria, October 16, 1854
LINCOLN ON CONGRESSIONAL INACTION
“Temporizing will not do longer; now is the time for decision – for firm, persistent, resolute action.”
Speech at Bloomington, May 29, 1856
LINCOLN ON A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
“While I make no recommendation of amendment, I fully recognize the full authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the Convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish either to accept or refuse.”
First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
LINCOLN ON DECLARATION OF WARS
“The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.”
Letter to William Herndon, February 15, 1848
LINCOLN ON DIVISIVENESS WITHIN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
“I do not feel justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the political differences between radicals and conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it all. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The radicals and conservatives, each agree with me in some things, and disagree in others. I could wish both to agree with me in all things; for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to do otherwise, and I do not question their right. I too shall do what seems to be my duty.”
Remarks, Washington, D.C., October 5, 1863
“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?– Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!…
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
Lyceum Address at Springfield, January 27, 1838
LINCOLN ON THE DUTY OF CONGRESS
“As a rule, I think it better that Congress should originate as well as perfect its measures without external bias.”
“I should desire the legislation of the country to rest with Congress, uninfluenced by the Executive in its origin of progress, and undisturbed by the veto, unless in very special and clear cases.”
Speech at Pittsburgh, February 15, 1861
“Education is the most important subject which we as people can be engaged in.” Lincoln, who had less than one year of formal schooling, characterized education as “an object of vital importance.”
Sangamon Announcement, March 9, 1832
In the Morrill Act of 1862, Lincoln and Congress combined to provide land grants to establish a nationwide network of over seventy state run colleges and universities. His national encouragement of locally-controlled schools and policies succeeded for Lincoln and the United States.
Lincoln signed the Homestead Act which authorized the transfer of federal acreages to private parties who settled the land and put it to productive use. Over time, 420,000 square miles of territory were transferred to 1,600,000 claimants. Lincoln believed in federal-private partnerships that increased the productivity of federal lands.
“A general government shall do all those things which pertain to it, and all the local governments shall do precisely as they please in respect to those matters which exclusively concern them. I understand that this government of the United States, under which we live, is based upon this principle; and I am misunderstood if it is supposed that I have any war to make upon that principle.”
Speech at Columbus, September 16, 1859
“No party can command respect which sustains this year what it opposed last.”
Letter to Samuel Galloway, July 28, 1859
“Let us readopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it the practices and policy which harmonize with it. Let all Americans – let all lovers of liberty everywhere join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only save the Union, but we shall have so saved it as to make and keep it forever worthy of the saving.”
Speech at Peoria, October 16, 1854
“Many free countries have lost their liberties, and ours may lose hers; but if she shall, may it be my proudest plume that I never deserted her.”
Speech at Springfield, December 26, 1839
LINCOLN ON HONESTY IN POLITICS
“All that I am in the world – the Presidency and all else, – I owe to that opinion of me which the people express when they call me “honest Old Abe.”
Attributed, Lectures and Essays, by Goldwin Smith
“I again submit to your consideration the expediency of establishing a system for the encouragement of immigration. There is still a great deficiency of laborers in many fields of industry, especially in agriculture.”
Message to Congress, December 8, 1863
“I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man’s rights.”
Speech at Chicago, Ill., July 10, 1858
LINCOLN ON INFORMED POLICY POSITIONS
“I deem it just to the country, to myself, to you, that I should see everything, hear everything, and have every light that can possibly be brought within my reach, to aid me before I shall speak officially, in order that when I do speak, I may have the best means of taking true and correct grounds.”
Attributed, The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, 1861, by Arthur Lapsley
LINCOLN ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE
“The United States, I think ought… to be (liberal) to international trade and commerce.”
Message to Congress, December 8, 1863
“It appears to me that the national debt renders a modification of the existing tariff indispensable; I shall be pleased to see it adjusted with due reference to the protection of our home industries. The particulars, it seems to me, must and should be left to the untrammeled discretion of Congress.”
Memorandum, July 1, 1848
“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do for themselves, in their separate and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere.”
Notes, July 1, 1854
“These political fiends are not sick enough yet. Party malice, and not public good possess them entirely.”
Letter to Henry Raymond, November 28, 1860
“Please pardon me for suggesting that if papers like yours which have heretofore garbled and misrepresented what I have said, will now fully and fairly place it before their readers, there can be no further misunderstanding.”
Letter to N.P. Paschall, November 16, 1860
“Time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its population increases faster thatn unpaid interest accumulates on its debt.”
Message to Congress, December 1, 1862
“I have very large ideas of the mineral wealth of our nation. I believe it is practically inexhaustible. It abounds all over the western country, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and its development has scarcely commenced. During the war, when we were adding a couple of millions of dollars every day to our national debt, I did not care about encouraging the increase in the volume of our precious metals, we had the country to save first. But now that the rebellion is overthrown, and we know pretty nearly the amount of our national debt, the more gold and silver we mine, we make the payment of that debt so much the easier. Now, I am going to encourage that in every possible way.”
Told to Speaker Colfax; Washington D.C., April 14, 1865
Lincoln supported a strong military, including a draft, to defend the Nation, saying, “Shall we shrink from the necessary means to maintain our free government, which our grandfathers employed to establish it and our own fathers have already employed once to maintain it?”
Letter to Joseph Segar, September 5, 1863
LINCOLN ON POLITICAL PERSUASION
“When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim “that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.” So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”
Speech at Springfield, February 22, 1842
“In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.”
Message to Congress, December 1, 1862
“If the people remain right, your public men can never betray you. Cultivate and protect (the principles of liberty) and your ambitious leaders will be reduced to the position of servants instead of masters.”
Remarks, Lawrenceburg, Ohio, February 11, 1861
LINCOLN ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND CANDIDATES OF 2016
“We cannot have free government without elections… The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied in the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged…”
Remarks, Washington, D.C., November 10, 1864
LINCOLN ON PRINCIPLED DECISION MAKING
“…as you have made up your organization upon principle, stand by it; for as surely as God reigns over you and has inspired your mind, and given you a sense of propriety, and continues to give you hope, so surely will you still cling to these ideas, and you will at last come back again after your wanderings, merely to do your work over again.”
Speech at Chicago, July 10 , 1858
“Important principles may and must be flexible.”
Last public address, Washington, D.C. April 11, 1965
“Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is positive good in the world.”
Remarks, Washington, D.C., March 21, 1864
“I take it that it is best for all to leave each man free to acquire property as fast as he can. We do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else!”
Speech at New Haven, March 6, 1860
LINCOLN ON PUBLIC OPINION AND POLLS
“Public opinion in this country is everything.”
Speech at Columbus, September 16, 1859
“Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion can change the government practically just so much. Public opinion, on any subject, always has a “central idea,” from which all its minor thoughts radiate.”
Speech at Chicago, December 10, 1856
“With public sentiment nothing can fail; without nothing can succeed.”
Speech at Ottawa, August 21, 1858
LINCOLN ON THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT
“This is essentially a People’s contest… It is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form and substance of government, whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men – to lift artificial weights from all shoulders – to clear the paths of laudable pursuits for all – to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.”
Message to Congress, July 4, 1861
“It is not merely for today, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children’s children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives.”
Speech at Washington, D.C., August 22, 1864
LINCOLN ON RACE RELATIONS AND TENSIONS
“There will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they strove to hinder it.”
Letter to James Conkling, August 26, 1863
LINCOLN ON RACIAL UNREST – “BLACK LIVES MATTER”
“There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.”
Speech at Springfield, January 27, 1838
LINCOLN ON READING BILLS BEFORE VOTING
“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so; it gives a relish and a facility for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones.”
Speech at Milwaukee, September 30, 1859
LINCOLN ON THE REPUBLIC OF STATES
“The republican system of government has proved its adaptation to what is the first purpose of government everywhere – the maintenance of national independence (and) the preservation of peace, order and national prosperity.”
Letter to D. M. Hurtado, June 4, 1861
“Each community, as a State, has a right to do exactly as it pleases with all the concerns within that state that interfere with the right of no other State; and that the general government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with anything other than that general class of things that does not concern the whole.”
Speech at Chicago, July 10, 1858
LINCOLN ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
“All you have to do is to keep the faith, to remain steadfast to the right, to stand by your banner. Nothing should lead you to leave your guns. Stand together, ready, with match in hand. Allow nothing to turn you to the right or the left. Remember how long you have been in setting out on the true course; how long you have been in getting your neighbors to understand and believe as you now do. Stand by your principles; stand by your guns, and victory, complete and permanent, is sure at last.”
Speech at Chicago, March 1, 1859
“The chief and real purpose of the Republican Party is conservative. It proposes nothing save and except to restore this government to its original tone…”
Speech at Columbus, September 16, 1859
“Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of the equal rights of men. Ours began by affirming those rights. The said “some men are too ignorant and vicious to share in government.” “Possibly so,” said we, “and by our system you would always keep them ignorant and vicious. We propose to give all a chance; and we expect the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant wiser and all better and happier together.”
Notes, July 1, 1854
LINCOLN ON THE ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY
“Judicial decisions have two uses – first, to absolutely determine the case decided, and, secondly, to indicate to the public how other similar cases will be decided when they arise. For the latter use they are called “precedents” and “authorities.” . . . Judicial decisions are of greater or less authority as precedents according to circumstances… If this important decision had been made by the unanimous concurrence of the judges, and without any apparent partisan bias, and in accordance with legal public expectation, and with the steady practice of the departments throughout our history, and had been in no part based on assumed historical facts which are not really true; or, if wanting in some of those, it had been before the court more than once, and had there been affirmed and reaffirmed through a course of years, it then might be, perhaps would be, factious, nay, even revolutionary, not to acquiesce in it as a precedent. But when, as is true, we find it wanting in all these claims to the public confidence, it is not resistance, it is not factious, it is not even disrespectful, to treat it as not having yet quite established a settled doctrine for the country.”
Speech at Springfield, June 26, 1857
LINCOLN ON SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
“I do not forget the position assumed by some, that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court; nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding, in any case, upon the parties to the suit, as to the objects of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases, by all other departments of the government. And while it is obviously possible that such decisions may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled, and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government, upon vital questions affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation, between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.”
First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
LINCOLN ON TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE
The Transcontinental Railroad Act enacted in 1862 over Lincoln’s signature built the trackage system that connected a nation, reducing the travel time between East and West from months to days. The benefits to commerce and industry, civilization and progress were immediately obtained. Government does have a legitimate role in infrastructure development and maintenance.
LINCOLN ON THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
“I do not propose to destroy or alter or disregard the Constitution. I stand to it, fairly, fully and firmly.”
Speech at Peoria, October 16, 1854
LINCOLN ON THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
“This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country’s cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier.”
Remarks, Washington, D.C., March 16, 1864
“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; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan – ”
Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
“It is the people’s business – the election is in their hands; If they turn their backs to the fire and get scorched in the rear, they’ll find they have got to sit on the blisters.”
Remarks, Washington, D.C., August, 1864
“It is not the qualified voters, but the qualified voters who choose to vote, that constitute the political power of the State.”
Opinion, Washington, D.C., December 31, 1862
LINCOLN ON THE WAR AGAINST DRUGS
“The warfare hitherto waged against the demon intemperance has somehow or other been erroneous. Either the champions engaged or the tactics they have adopted have not been the most proper. …Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunkards were utterly incorrigible and therefore must be turned adrift and damned. …In my judgment such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more from the absence of appetite than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have… Happy day when – all appetites controlled, all poisons subdued, all matter subjected – mind, all conquering mind, shall live and move, the monarch of the world. Glorious consummation! Hail, fall of fury! Reign of reason, all hail!”
Speech at Springfield, February 22, 1842
LINCOLN ON THE WAR AGAINST “TERROR”
“Still let us be sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own time, will give us the rightful result.”
Letter to James Conkling, August 26, 1863
“No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty, – none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty be lost.”
Message to Congress; Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 1861
“It does seem to me that the purpose in life of at least one half of the nation is that they should live comfortably at the expense of the other half.”
Remarks, Washington, D.C., 1861
LINCOLN ON THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE
“In leaving the people’s business in their own hands, we cannot be wrong.”
Speech in Congress, Washington, D.C., July 27, 1848
“Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all.”
Remarks, Wasington, D.C., October 19, 1864
The Look to Lincoln Disclaimer – It is NOT appropriate to take any quotation that Lincoln made during his life and assert that it would necessarily be his position on complex, modern issues which his world never faced. However, certain elements of his simplicity, morality, logic and instinct are timeless. All of his words are useful to supply perspective and prompt dialog on the various topics offered. In this way, we can “Look to Lincoln”, even in this day when his wisdom and wording are remarkably insightful on the issues facing America.
A Footnote on the Footnotes – All of the cited words or described acts are accurately attributed to Lincoln within the source noted. All quotations are taken from much longer speeches or writings. Even so, as best able, the original context has been preserved. The selected quotes may not be Lincoln’s every comment or only “position” on a given topic, as over 33 years of public life some of his views and sentiments evolved. Rarely, however, did he say anything truly inconsistent.
As to the Arrangement of the Modern Issue Captions – The responsibility of selecting and presenting a particular Lincoln-era quotation as applicable to the twenty first century issue described above it by the various topic headings is borne solely by the Idaho Lincoln Institute.