Abraham Lincoln - Respect for Law Is Vital to the Nation
In one of his earliest speeches delivered - as a 28 year old lawyer in 1838 - in his and my hometown, Springfield, Illinois; Abraham Lincoln, father of the Republican Party, spoke on political unrest and its threat to our country’s existence.
He said, in part:
“I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts … “
He then pleaded:
“ … Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap–let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;–let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.”
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm