On the recordMarch 4, 1861
Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.
Source
gutenberg.orgAbraham Lincoln: “Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it…”
Editor's note · Context
From his first inaugural address, Lincoln acknowledged the people's ultimate power to change or even overthrow their government, contrasting constitutional and revolutionary means.
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