Lyceum Address Quotes by Abraham Lincoln: Context & Meanings

“Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother.”

Lincoln treats civic habits as something taught across generations, arguing that preservation of political institutions depends partly on learned respect for lawful processes.

Source note: Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838. This is a short clause from Lincoln’s extended call for reverence for law in homes, schools and public institutions, made in the immediate context of mob violence; it should not be read as a claim that every law is just.

“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”

Lincoln warns that republican institutions can be destroyed from within through citizens’ own choices and conduct, making preservation a responsibility rather than assuming external enemies are the only danger.

Source note: Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838. Lincoln is discussing mob violence, disregard for law and the preservation of republican institutions; the sentence is not a generic prediction about national collapse.