These remarks were presented at Philadelphia Society meeting in Plano, Texas, on March 22, 2025.
In thinking about the practical and philosophical threats to America’s principles and way of life, I thought it might be useful to look back to a notable American’s description of such threats in an earlier era. And since I come out of Claremont, you won’t be surprised that the person whose thoughts I chose to examine is Abraham Lincoln.
When Lincoln addressed the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, in January 1838, it was at a key moment in our history. It was just over 18 months after James Madison, the last surviving Constitutional Convention delegate, had died. This left the young country to fend for itself with no more living assistance from our true Greatest Generation, the one that forged a new nation.
As he surveyed the political scene 50 years…
