in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, He addressed it as a threat to the perpetuation of free government, explaining the various ways in which it challenged the survival of such government. The subject of Lincolns speech was how and whether the extraordinary political institutions of the United States could be sustained in the face of challenges of a different sort to the next generation of Americans. [6] Lincoln also referenced the death of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, a newspaper editor and abolitionist, who was murdered three months earlier by a pro-slavery mob in nearby Alton, Illinois. They are Also included is a follow-up expansion activity examining Lincoln's belief that a leader must be able to separate personal beliefs from public duty. to negroes, from negroes to white citizens, and from these to national freedom. Lincoln ominously warned that such a figure might assert himself by emancipating slaves or enslaving free men. Lincoln was merely in his late twenties at that time, a young, novice attorney and state legislator, still unmarried and renting a room above a store in town. But you are, perhaps, ready to ask, "What has this to do with the A very abbreviated version of Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address of 1838 is presented below in honor of the recent Presidents Day. [4] In this context he warned that: whenever the vicious portion of [our] population shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob provision stores, throw printing-presses into rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure and with impunity, depend upon it, this government cannot last. In his address to the Springfield Lyceum (a lyceum was an organization dedicated to public education), Lincoln, who was already an established politician at age twenty-eight with a growing reputation as a successful litigator, examined the civic unrest in America. PO Box 1773 / 61 N. West Street It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down. Viewed in the context of his oratorical career, the Lyceum Address foreshadows a notable feature of Lincoln's rhetoric: He carefully places his own ideas, arguments, and sentiments into a public arena where they exist in competitive interaction with other ideas, arguments, and sentiments. It was presented to the United States Congress on Tuesday, December 6, 1864. foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time (By Matthew Pinsker), That our government should have been maintained.. Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), 41-42, 46, 49, 52, 56, 57, 65; Mason Locke Weems, The Life of Washington (New York: M.E. The first was the burning of Francis McIntosh, a freedman who killed a constable, and was subsequently lynched by a mob in St. Louis in 1836. attention. (A year earlier he had attacked that lawless and mobocratic spiritwhich is already abroad in the land.) In the midst of his ostensibly nonpartisan address, Lincoln slyly alluded to the danger posed by a coming Caesar, a man of ambition and talents who would ruthlessly pursue fame and power, overthrowing democratic institutions to achieve his ends. force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously So also in unprovided cases. Gore Vidal claimed to have used this speech to fully understand Lincoln's character for his historical novel Lincoln.[7]. chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. Alike, they spring up among the pleasure hunting They succeeded. Ocean, and crush us at a blow? deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. In the excerpts from the speech below, Lincoln focused on the threat from what he termed a Towering genius who might disturb the successful American experiment in self-government because he desired a new form of glory. Such are the effects of mob law; and such are the scenes, becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of law and order; and the stories of which, have even now grown too familiar, to attract any thing more, than an idle remark. The murder riveted and polarized the nation, and although Abraham Lincoln did not mention Lovejoy by name in his speech to the Young Mens Lyceum in January 1838, most historians consider it obvious that he had the incident in mind as he deplored mob violence and urged Americans to uphold their faith in law and republican institutions. moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in life, by the perpetration of an outrageous murder, upon one of encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used ', Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 47, Lincoln began writing his historical drama in his much-remarked Lyceum Address delivered in Springfield in January of 1838. 717.245.1865, Board of Advisors Excerpts from Ratification Documents of Virginia a Ratifying Conventions>New York Ratifying Convention. experiment is successful; and thousands have won their deathless period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now, Broadside Advertisement for Runaway Slave. Speech in Reply to Douglas at Springfield, Illinoi Letter from Abraham Lincoln to J. N. Brown (1858). As to him alone, it was as well the way it was, as it could otherwise have been. Though. in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy Thus, then, by the operation He had forfeited his life, by the perpetration of an outrageous murder, upon one of the most worthy and respectable citizens of the city; and had he not died as he did, he must have died by the sentence of the law, in a very short time afterwards. Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality: The American Anti-Slavery Society, Declaration of Sent Constitution of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Protest in Illinois Legislature on Slavery. Speech on Assuming Office of the President. burning suns of the latter;--they are not the creature of climate-- I mean the increasing disregard The Commercial Greatness of the United States, Special Message to Congress (Tyler Doctrine), Estranged Labour and The Communist Manifesto. heads to day, to hang gamblers, or burn murderers, they should Context: Lincoln's response to congressional passage of the highly divisive 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act allowing territories to exercise popular sovereignty regarding the question of whether or not to allow slavery marked the first time Lincoln made the moral evils of slavery and its threat to the republic a personal central political theme. It is to deny, what the history of the world tells Lincoln's answer in the Lyceum Address is what he calls "political religion," built on pillars "hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason." Scholars have noted a tension between Lincoln . At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? Henry Mintzberg. Let reverence In history, we hope, they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the bible shall be read;but even granting that they will, their influencecannot bewhat it heretofore has been. the event this way: "we had a society in Springfield, which contained and Additional Credits It only took Lincoln a few minutes to read it, but his words resonate to the present day. pulling down. Through that period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one. House Divided Project The Lyceum Address, one of Lincoln's earliest published speeches, is studied for its indications of his later public policies. This page is not available in other languages. As a nation of freemen, we. Another reason whichonce was; but which, to the same extent, isnow no more, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus far. No, Lincoln said, the only danger that America really needed to fear would come from within: "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. January 27, 1838: Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address on America's Survival as a Nation Guest Essayist: David F. Forte The tall, awkwardly boned, young Illinois legislator rose to speak. Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Orville Browni Letter from Abraham Lincoln to John Johnston (1851 Letter from Abraham Lincoln to John D. Johnston (1 Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Owen Lovejoy (1855), The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 3rd Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 3rd Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 6th Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 6th Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 7th Debate Part I. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. But this state of feelingmust fade, is fading, has faded, with the circumstances that produced it. their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are who is neither a gambler nor a murderer as one who is; and that, They were a fortress Is it A Lincoln Day Dinner (sometimes called Lincoln Dinner) is an annual celebration of the Republican Party and a fundraising event for Republican Party affiliated organizations at the county level. Opinion editor's note: On Jan. 27, 1838, a 28-year-old named Abraham Lincoln gave a talk to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Ill., a sort of debating society. shall permit the world to know. But new reapers will arise, and they, too, will seek a field. to raise an insurrection, were caught up and hanged in all parts Such are the effects of mob law; and such as the scenes, becoming of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the I mean the powerful influence which the interesting Although the Temperance cause has been in progress for near twenty years, it is apparent to all, that it is, just now, being crowned with a degree of success, hitherto unparalleled. masters of Southern slaves, and the order loving citizens of the But I do mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed. Sangamon Journal and created for the young orator a reputation The question then, is, can that appropriated. And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs. At any rate, I've been taking notes on the first volume, and I wanted to share a few passages from one of Lincoln's earlier public addresses, his 1838 speech before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois. as naturally seek the gratification of their ruling passion, as Lincoln's Address to the Young Men's Lyceum 4 dignity and happiness of mankind," until he is nally induced to give up thinking at all. grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult the thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural So "The Whole Affair Seems the Work of a Madman", John Brown and the Principle of Nonresistance. were annually swept, from the stage of existence, by the plague More than 25 years before Abraham Lincoln would deliver his legendary Gettysburg Address, the 28-year-old novice politician delivered a lecture before a gathering of young men and women in his newly adopted hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever the vicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob provision-stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure, and with impunity; depend on it, this Government cannot last. Explain what Lincoln's argument in the speech is. but even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former, nor the or less alienated from it; and thus it will be left without The address was published in the they were to be immortalized; their names were to be transferred
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