...Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon earth. It forces us to ask: "Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness?"...of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"63 After a lengthy discussion of the constitutional issue of secession, Lincoln returned...

...naming Madison, quoted him on the possibility of an "inherent and fatal weakness" in all republics. "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" The secession crisis dramatized the failure of the Enlightenment to come forth with knowledge as an...

...drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution. Also, "So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call...the war power of the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction, by force, for its preservation." Finally, "It was with deepest...

...obvious when the president, at the height of his confrontation with the Peace Democratic press, said: Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence? Must l shoot a simple-minded boy who deserts, while...

..."profoundest problem confronting a democracy— the problem which Lincoln cast in a memorable dilemma: 'Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"'2 Posing the question that way virtually assured...

...police and the courts are designed to protect and maintain. Lincoln asked the question succinctly: "Must a government of necessity be too strong for...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" I trust that our nation is sufficiently sensitive to the liberties of all to listen and to act, and...

...a question between power and liberty."28 Lincoln would pose the same question seventy years later: "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for...of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"29 The issue has remained a subject of debate throughout American history. John Adams and...

...government so dedicated could long exist on the earth. "Must a government, of necessity," he asked, "be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" It had been shown that popular government could be established and administered, but the war was the...

...Frankfurter compared the dilemma of the Jehovah's Witnesses to that of Lincoln's query during the Civil War: "Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" Frankfurter argued that the flag was a "symbol...

...maintain its territorial integrity, against its own domestic foes ... It forces us to ask: 'Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness?'...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?' " Lincoln, "Message to Congress in Special Session," in Speeches and Writings, I859-I865, 250. 51....