Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Constitution

• We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Freedom, Men, Democracies Have

• Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Veterans Day, Our Veterans, Us Veterans

  Abraham Lincoln, Mario Matthew Cuomo, G. S. Boritt (2004). “Lincoln on Democracy”, p.86, Fordham Univ Press

• Study the Constitution. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislatures, and enforced in courts of justice.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Justice, Politics, Study

• We seek not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow those who would prevert it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Constitution

• As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;-let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Children, Father, Character

  Abraham Lincoln, Don Edward Fehrenbacher (1977). “Abraham Lincoln, a Documentary Portrait Through His Speeches and Writings”, p.39, Stanford University Press

• Should my administration prove to be a very wicked one...or a very foolish one, if you, the people, are true to yourselves and the Constitution, there is little harm I can do, thank God.

  Abraham Lincoln

  People, Wicked, Thank God

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.197, Wildside Press LLC

• Our adversaries [ the Confederate States of America ] have adopted some declarations of independence in which, unlike the good old one penned by Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal." Why? They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit "We, the People," and substitute "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view, the rights of men, and the authority of the people?

  Abraham Lincoln

  Independent, Men, America

• Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of "Liberty to all" the principle that clears the path for all-gives hope to all-and, by consequence, enterprize [sic], and industry to all.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Dream, Heart, Giving

  Abraham Lincoln, G. S. Boritt (2004). “Lincoln on Democracy”, p.188, Fordham Univ Press

• I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be 'the Union as it was'.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Unions, Way

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.388, Wildside Press LLC

• I freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the bond of service - the United States Constitution; and that, as such, I am responsible to them.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, People, United States

  Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.496, Library of America

• I never did ask more, nor ever was willing to accept less, than for all the States, and the people thereof, to take and hold their places, and their rights, in the Union, under the Constitution of the United States. For this alone have I felt authorized to struggle; and I seek neither more nor less now.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Struggle, Rights, People

  Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.428, Library of America

• I will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. It is not the Constitution as I would like to have it, but as it is, that is to be defended. The Constitution will not be preserved & defended until it is enforced & obeyed in every part of every one of the United States. It must be so respected, obeyed, enforced and defended, and let the grass grow where it may.

  Abraham Lincoln

  United States, May, Constitution

• ...I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Struggle, Humble, Hands

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.236, Wildside Press LLC

• Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever-it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Forever, Unions, Action

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1861

• An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property in a slave in not "distinctly and expressly affirmed" in it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Slavery, Constitution, Inspection

• I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Law, Unions

  Abraham Lincoln (2011). “Lincoln on the Civil War: Selected Speeches”, p.40, Penguin

• Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then [these?], any man might instantly use what another had invented; so that the inventor had no special advantage from his own invention. The patent system changed this; secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Country, Science, Men

  Second lecture on discoveries and inventions, delivered to the Phi Alpha Society of Illinois College at Jacksonville, Illinois, (February 11, 1859); "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3" edited by Roy P. Basler, (p. 357), 1953.

• I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Views, Law

  Abraham Lincoln (2011). “Lincoln on the Civil War: Selected Speeches”, p.40, Penguin

• Slavery is wrong. If Slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and Constitutions against it, are themselves wrong, and should be silenced, and swept away.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Law, Slavery, Constitution

  Cooper Union Address, delivered 27 February 1860, New York, NY

• The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the constitution that no man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Kings, War, Men

  Abraham Lincoln (1926). “An autobiography of Abraham Lincoln: consisting of the personal portions of his letters, speeches and conversations”

• The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Independence, Unions

  Abraham Lincoln (2011). “Lincoln on the Civil War: Selected Speeches”, p.40, Penguin

• The Constitution is not a suicide pact.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Suicide, Constitution, Pact

  Abraham Lincoln, Steven B. Smith (2012). “The Writings of Abraham Lincoln”, p.465, Yale University Press

• The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it. The picture was not made to conceal or destroy the apple, but to adorn and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple-not the apple for the picture.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Apples, Unions, Constitution

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.169, Wildside Press LLC

You May Also Like:

George Washington

John F. Kennedy

John Wilkes Booth

Theodore Roosevelt

Thomas Jefferson

Mary Todd Lincoln

Barack Obama