OTD - Lincoln Gives his Lyceum Address (Jan. 27, 1838)

The first known photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken by Nicholas H. Shepherd in 1846.

188 years today, 28-year-old state legislator and lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, delivered his first significant speech to the Young Men's Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln's Lyceum Address was titled, "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions." The young Whig added his voice to a swelling chorus of Americans denouncing mob violence in the nation. The principal cause of this violence was the increasing political crisis over the issue of slavery that had already divided the nation politically and geographically following the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Lincoln warned that America's greatest danger wasn't external invasions, but rather internal decay from a disregard of the rule of law. Lincoln argued that domestic strife was being ginned up by those who fueled passion over reason. The greatest threat to democracy, Lincoln claimed, would be posed by an American Ceasar, someone of "ambition and talents," who ruthlessly pursued fame and power to achieve his own ends at the expense of overthrowing the nation's democratic institutions. Lincoln pleaded with his fellow citizens to actively work to preserve the institutions that the Founding Fathers established in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He emphasized that the Constitution and the courts were the bulwark of the American republic; however, the American people - "we the people" - had a responsibility to uphold the Constitution and ensure that the nation's democratic institutions were not cast aside by those who were a threat to self-government.

You can read Lincoln's Lyceum Address here.

In 2023, the Lincoln Presidential Foundation produced a wonderful, brief 3-part documentary, "Fortifying Our Democracy: Lincoln's Lyceum Address," which focuses on what was perhaps Lincoln's most significant speech that he delivered prior to the 1850s. You can access each of the 3-parts of the Lyceum Address documentary at the following links:

 "Fortifying Our Democracy: Lincoln's Lyceum Address" - Part 1 (8:00)

 "Fortifying Our Democracy: Lincoln's Lyceum Address" - Part 2 (7:39)

 "Fortifying Our Democracy: Lincoln's Lyceum Address" - Part 3 (7:12)