Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address (Unabridged)

Summary

Long before he was President and having just started his law practice, 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln delivered (January 27, 1838) a speech on the dangers of mob rule. Seeming to speak to our present time, he warned that mobs, or people who disrespected U.S. laws and courts, could destroy the United States. He went on to say that the Constitution and rule of law in the United States are "the political religion of our nation."

Delivered to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, the speech became known as "the Lyceum Address" and was titled, "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions". In the speech, Lincoln discussed in glowing terms the political regime established by the Founding Fathers, but warned of a destructive force from within.

In 1905, as President, Theodore Roosevelt penned an introduction to a collection of Lincoln's essays and letters (The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln). In it, he zeroes in on Lincoln's message to the ages: "His life teaches our people that they must act with wisdom because otherwise, adherence to right will be mere sound and fury without substance; and that they must also act high-mindedly, or else what seems to be wisdom will, in the end, turn out to be the most destructive kind of folly."