...are again upon you. My countrymen," said Mr. Lincoln, "one and all, think calmly and well upon this subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustated by...

...people. He said : " While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." Throughout his speech he pleaded earnestly for union, peace, and harmony; but these arguments, it must...

...upon the great tribunal of the American people in the First Inaugural, Lincoln goes on to say, "While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no...the government, in the short space of four years." Yet these words themselves indicate Lincoln saw the possibility of the people losing their virtue and...

...little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue, and vigilence, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or...taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated...

...said: "While the people remain patient, and true to themselves, no man, even in the presidential chair, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years."24 If nothing else, the sequence of these two statements would seem to indicate that in Lincoln's...

...commission of so fearful a mistake? [p. 120]. His conclusion drew participation from contemplation: "My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject" (p. 122), and, in the line paraphrased by Kennedy, he said: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellowcountrymen,...

...equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no...Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there 388 be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately,...

...equal wisdom, provided for the return ofthat little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration,...taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated...

...p. A1493. Not found in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Roy P. Basler (1953). 735 While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no...the government, in the short space of four years. President ABRAHAM LINCOLN, first inaugural address (final text), March 4, 1861.— The Collected Works...

...South. He offered this ironic reassurance: "While the people retain their virtue, and vigilence [sic], no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or...the government, in the short space of four years." His Presidency posed no threat to the old Republic as embodied in the Constitution, he promised. And...