If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution--certainly would if such a right were a vital one.
From his first inaugural address, Lincoln acknowledged the moral justification for revolution if a majority were to deny a minority's vital, clearly written constitutional rights.
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I am considering, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper.
The question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it?
If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
He said, with a great deal of emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I shall never forget: "When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and there is no…
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