A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism.

Abraham Lincoln

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

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More information about this quote

Topic

Majority rule Checks and balances Minority rights Political theory

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1861 1860s 19th century

Occupation

American President National leader Politician

From

United States

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1861, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugral Address, March 4, 1861." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Abraham Lincoln about majority rule: “A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations…”
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A quote by Abraham Lincoln about majority rule: “A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations…”
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A quote by Abraham Lincoln about majority rule: “A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1860s

A place for everything and everything in its place.

Isabella Mary Beeton

More information about this quote
Topic
Interior design

Author

Isabella Mary Beeton
Source
The Book of Household Management
Language
English
Time
1861 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Beeton, Isabella. The Book of Household Management. S. O. Beeton Publishing, 1861, ch. 2.

Another quote about Political theory

If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

Calvin Coolidge

More information about this quote
Topic
Equality Political progress Political theory American founding
Speaker
Calvin Coolidge
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1926 1920s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. Speech on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 5 July 1926, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Another quote from 1861

It is a very great thing to be able to think as you like; but, after all, an important question remains: what you think.

Matthew Arnold

Democracy

More information about this quote
Topic
Freedom of thought Thoughts

Author

Matthew Arnold
Source
Democracy
Genre
Political literature
Language
English
Time
1861 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Arnold, Matthew. "Democracy." The Popular Education of France: With Notices of that of Holland and Switzerland. Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861.

Current Citation

Arnold, Matthew. "Democracy." Culture and Anarchy and Other Selected Prose. Penguin Classics, 2015.

Another quote from the following genre Political speech

Cui bono?

Cicero

Pro Milone

More information about this quote
Topic
Incentives
Speaker
Cicero
Source
Pro Milone
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Statement Type
Question
Language
Latin
Time
52 BC 50s BC 1st century BC
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Milone [In Defense of Milo]. c. 52 BC, sect. 32.

Current Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Milone [For Milo], translated by D. H. Berry. Oxford University Press, 2009, sect. 32.