Who said the following in Congress?

Question

"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and to form one that suits them better."

Answer 1

Yes Abraham Lincoln said this on January 12, 1848 within a speech in Congress. More detail of that quote follows:

"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people, that can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit."

Lincoln also stated the following:

"No state, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy."

The differences in these two quotes demonstrate a political incentive to his views which reflect the practical need to develop support. Lincoln has not been the first or only politician to flip-flop on issues. This second statement is at odds with Thomas Jefferson as written in the Kentucky Resolution. It is also at odds with the Madison's Virginia Resolution which didn't okay secession but did okay State Nullification of federal acts.

In the former quote Lincoln demonstrated a solid support of the Constitution and its Common Law roots, but in the second quote he demonstrated a support for the federal government in ascendancy over the Founders' intent of the Constitution.

Answer 2

Lincoln on the floor of Congress, 13 January 1848

Answer 3

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 4

Abraham Lincoln, January 1848; referring to civil disobedience