A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and… — Abraham Lincoln · Skopia

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Speech · Political speech

A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism.

Abraham Lincoln

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln · 1861

★ 2.1

Other tags relating to this quote

Topic

Majority rule Checks and balances Minority rights Political theory

Genre

Political speech

Medium

Time

Person

Abraham Lincoln

Provenance

Current citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugral Address, March 4, 1861." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.

Original citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1861, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

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Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

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Other media

Works in other forms that share a subject with this one.

Other media onSubject·Political theory

Book · 1960

The Conscience of a Conservative

Barry Goldwater