Abraham Lincoln was only twenty-eight years old, and had been an attorney for only one and a half years, when Lincoln presented what has come to be known as his "Lyceum Address." Lincoln's Address - his first major public pronouncement on American politics and government - was delivered to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838. His Address was titled, "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions." Click that link and you can read Lincoln's speech in its entirety.
In his "Lyceum Address," Lincoln warned that mobs - or people who disrespected U.S. laws and courts - could destroy the United States. He went on to say that the Constitution and rule of law in the United States should be "the political religion of the nation."
On October 8, 2025, The Wall Street Journal published a book review which focused on Lincoln's "Lyceum Address." The book that was reviewed is titled, Murder on the Mississippi, by Saladin Ambar. Ambar is a Senior Scholar at Eagleton’s Center on the American Governor and is a Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University—New Brunswick. I am grateful to Harold Holzer, whose review of Ambar's book is making Lincoln's "Lyceum Address" known to people who might otherwise have not known very much, or even anything, about it (I am raising my own hand, right here).
I revere Lincoln, above all, for his definition of what American government is all about, which I think is perfectly expressed in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. What is our government all about? Lincoln's definition tells us this: Our government is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." All of these elements are important, and to maintain the kind of government which generations have revered, and which we have, collectively, recognized as a blessing upon this nation, the government must always reflect all three of those elements that Lincoln identified in his speech at Gettysburg.
First, the government Lincoln heralded must be "of the people," meaning that it must reflect who we are, and be "tuned" to that frequency, reflecting our most profound aspirations, our origins, and our fears, as well as the reality of our common life together. Our government must also, of course, be "for the people," meaning that the ambition of our government must always be to benefit us all, and particularly when we think of ourselves together, and not as a collection of mere individuals.
Most importantly, I have always believed, is Lincoln's observation that our government must be "by the people." A government that acts for the benefit of the people, and that reflects the reality of our life together, so that the government is truly "of the people," is going to be a good government, but that isn't good enough. The government that has inspired almost 250 years of dedication and commitment by generations of Americans has been worthy of that dedication and commitment because it is a government BY the people. It is "self-government," above all, to which this nation has been dedicated since its founding.
When he gave his "Lyceum Address," reacting to a series of mob-driven, racist murders, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was still twenty-five years in the future. By the time Lincoln gave that Gettysburg Address, Lincoln had served as president, and had guided the nation through the Civil War, and he had learned - and could tell us - more than he knew when he was twenty-eight years old, speaking to the Young Men's Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois. While the Gettysburg Address was not, actually, Lincoln's last important speech to the nation - his Second Inaugural Speech can claim that honor - it was, nonetheless, according to my judgment, the finest statement he ever made, and was his greatest, parting gift to us all. In fact, it is my judgment that the Gettysburg Address is the finest political speech ever given by any American political figure.
I think I am right to give deserved presedence to the Gettysburg Address, when I think of what we can learn from Lincoln. However - and again thanks to Harold Holzer for this - we can learn something very important from a twenty-eight year old Lincoln, a lesson that is rather timely, I believe, as we see the behavior of our current president, and those supporting and advancing what are, without doubt, his "authoritarian tendencies."
Read that "Lyceum Address," and consider what Lincoln said as an inducement, and as an invitation, and as an incitement to your personal involvement in the adventure of American self-government, a government that is, and must be, "by the people."
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