Looking to Lincoln for Principled Leadership, Direction and National Restoration
“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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, Washington, D.C., October 19, 1864
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