We may face a turning point in our nation. There are significant challenges to the rule of law by those in and out of office.
These serious threats include rejection of the U.S. Constitution, federal and state law, and norms we have previously maintained. Outstanding examples are attempts to disrupt the electoral process on and around Jan. 6, 2021; illegal immigration at the southern border; failure to punish shoplifting by organized gangs; and failure to take into custody perpetrators such as the migrants who beat police officers near Times Square. These are only samples of violations of the rule of law that undermine citizens’ confidence in the law and our institutions of government.
Young Abraham Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Address on “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions” is rich with insights into many issues including the rule of law and the destructive ambition of some seeking office. The address was delivered in response to the lawlessness of mob hangings of numerous people including African Americans and others. Lincoln observes: “If the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence.”
We need a renewed respect for law, in other words. Lincoln speaks to combating lawlessness: “Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs. … Let it become the political religion of the nation.”
Lincoln regards mob law as a great danger to our political institutions: “We hope all dangers may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise, would itself be extremely dangerous.”
In support of Lincoln’s plea to tackle lawlessness through schools and primers, American education analysts Dan Currell and Elle Rogers in the National Affairs article “The Invisible American Founding” conclude that “the ideas at the heart of the American founding — equality, natural rights, the consent of the governed — have gone missing from U.S. history textbooks.” These findings are sobering for those who share Lincoln’s views on civic education and the rule of law. This is a serious call for review of our textbooks.
Lincoln warns that individuals whose ambition burns for “distinction” and who are of the “family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle” may pose a threat to our institutions. The Framers of the Constitution fulfilled their ambition by drafting a Constitution that was based on the Declaration of Independence. In his address, Lincoln predicts that “new reapers will arise, and they, too, will seek a field.” Such ambition will not be satisfied with a “seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair.” In other words, Lincoln warns that such individuals will not be satisfied perpetuating the institutions of the Framers.
If necessary to serve their ambition, they “would set boldly to the task of pulling down.” Lincoln maintains that to defeat the designs of such office seekers “will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent.”
Lincoln concludes that it is a mistake to assume the Constitution, the laws and the norms of our political system are simply inevitable for all times and will defeat the ambition of those who are of the “tribe of the lion.” If we are to resist individuals who would destroy these laws and norms, we must restore civic education and the “political religion” of the people — including reverence for the Constitution and the rule of law.
It is, of course, the sober duty of the voters to determine if individuals who may destroy laws and norms are elected. Lincoln’s Lyceum Address is an appropriate place for us to begin this determination.
Lane V. Sunderland is a Chancie Ferris Booth emeritus professor of political science at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and was director of education for the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution from 1986-87.