Abraham Lincoln on Government
1809–1865 United States
← All quotes by Abraham Lincoln
15 quotes
Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere.
The man who stands by and says nothing, when the peril of his government is discussed, can not be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.
You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it.
His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.
I am struggling to maintain the government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it.
While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
The House Divided speech (1858)
I repeat the question, 'Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Government?'
Last public address (1865)
If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution — certainly would if such a right were a vital one.
I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding females.
The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.
Attributed
There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.
Attributed