Abraham Lincoln was only twenty-eight when he warned that one of the greatest dangers facing America might come not from a foreign enemy, but from Americans themselves. What worried him? Mob violence and contempt for the law.
In January 1838, Lincoln spoke before the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois. the country had been witnessing disturbing acts of mob violence, and Lincoln believed something larger was at stake. When people decided they could ignore the law and take justice into their own hands, everyone was in danger.
This was not an abstract subject in the Illinois Lincoln knew. Only a few months earlier, violence had erupted in Alton over Lijah Lovejoy and his print press. Lovejoy’s opponents believed they had the right to silence him when the law would not. And that is one of the things that makes Lincoln’s speech so interesting to me.
Lincoln did not have to agree with everything another person believed in order to believe that the law should protect him. In his Lyceum speech, Lincoln described horrifying examples of mob violence. His fear was not simply that innocent people could be hurt. He worried that when laws were repeatedly ignored, people would eventually lose confidence in the government itself.
His answer was an extraordinary devotion to the rule of law. That idea has become important as I’ve written Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy. Again and again, the people in this story have to decide what to do when they believe the law if failing.
William Harned wasn’t an abolitionist, but he believed a mob should not be allowed to destroy another man’s property.
Winthrop Gilamn repeatedly appealed to Alton’s authorities for protection.
And young Abraham Lincoln was thinking deeply about what could happen to a country when people decided the law no longer mattered. What happened in Alton may have caused Lincoln to deliver the Lyceum Address. We can definitely say that mob violence, law, and the survival of American government were very much on the mind of the young Abrham Lincoln.
Those are also questions at the heart of my novel. Nearly two centuries later, I think they remain questions work asking.
Current Projects
- My book: continuing revisions of Lincoln Seeks Justice for Eliajh Lovejoy, my historical mystery set in the turbulent Illinois world of the young Abrahma Lincoln.
- Edward Bryant: continuing preparations for future publication and preservation of stories by my friend Eward Bryant.
Thanks for walking alongside me.
The View From The Imaginarium 