December 30, 1860 (Sunday)

Liberty to All

"A word 'fitly spoken' by you now would indeed be like 'apples of gold in pictures of silver.'  (Proverbs 25:11)  Conciliation and harmony can never be established by force.  Nor can the Union under the Constitution be maintained by force.  The Union was formed by the consent of independent sovereign States.  Ultimate sovereignty still resides with them separately, which can be resumed, and will be, if their safety, tranquility, and security require it.  Under our system, as I view it, there is no rightful power in the General Government to coerce a State, in case any one of them should throw herself upon her reserved rights and resume the full exercise of her sovereign powers.  Force may perpetuate a Union.  But such a Union would not be the Union of the Constitution.  It would be nothing short of a consolidated despotism."  (Stephens letter to Lincoln, December 30, 1860.)

   Lincoln's "Fragment on the Constitution and the Union"  January, 1961.


"There is something that is in back of the Constitution and the Union, 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, enterprise, and industry to all. 

The expression of 'Liberty' in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy and fortunate.  No oppressed people will fight and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better than a mere change of masters.

The assertion of 'Liberty', at that time, was a word 'fitly spoken' which has proved an 'apple of gold' to us.  The Union and the Constitution are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it.  The picture was made, not 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's Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, January, 1861)

"For Lincoln, the Union was not only a structure to govern the national interests of American states; it also represented a consensus about the future freedom in America --- where slavery would eventually be eliminated and liberty protected as the birthright of every human being. 

The Constitution and the Union were informed by the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.  Lincoln believed that 'Liberty' was the central ideal of free government and concluded that the American revolution would not have succeeded if its goal was 'a mere change of masters.' 

Upon assuming the presidency, he spoke at length about the nature of the Union, why secession was antithetical to self-government, and how the federal constitution imposed a duty upon him to defend the Union of the states from rebellious citizens. 

Lincoln found an apt metaphor to describe the relationship between the Constitution and Union on the one hand and individual liberty on the other.  He believed the American founders declared their independence by appealing to these standards of liberty, and the nation now faced a crisis that could best be resolved by a return to the Founders' approach to the issue."  (Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, National Endowment of the Humanities)