“The principle itself is one of disintegration, and upon which no government can possibly endure”

—  Abraham Lincoln

1860s, Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
Context: The seceders insist that our Constitution admits of secession. They have assumed to make a national constitution of their own, in which of necessity they have either discarded or retained the right of secession, as they insist it exists in ours. If they have discarded it, they thereby admit that on principle it ought not to be in ours. If they have retained it, by their own construction of ours they show that to be consistent they must secede from one another whenever they shall find it the easiest way of settling their debts or effecting any other selfish or unjust object. The principle itself is one of disintegration, and upon which no government can possibly endure.

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Abraham Lincoln photo
Abraham Lincoln 618
16th President of the United States 1809–1865

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