"Lyceum Address" by Abraham Lincoln, List 1

Sandy (United States of America)
In an 1838 speech, 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln warned that individual and mob disrespect and disregard for US laws and courts would be the enemy from within that would destroy America. An ambitious leader, hungry for personal distinction, could arise to lead mobs fueled by passion—and not governed by reason—to cause America's downfall.

This list covers vocabulary from "As a subject…"—"...an idle remark."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. perpetuation
    the act of prolonging or causing to exist indefinitely
    As a subject for the remarks of the evening, the perpetuation of our political institutions, is selected.
  2. bequeath
    leave or give, especially by will after one's death
    We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them—they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.
  3. lamented
    mourned or grieved for
    We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them—they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.
  4. usurpation
    wrongfully seizing and holding by force
    Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know.
  5. posterity
    all future generations
    This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.
  6. fortify
    make strong or stronger
    How then shall we perform it?—At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?—Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?
  7. abroad
    to or in a foreign country
    At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad.
  8. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us.
  9. pervade
    spread or diffuse through
    I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice.
  10. disposition
    an attitude of mind that favors one alternative over others
    I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice.
  11. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    It would be tedious, as well as useless, to recount the horrors of all of them.
  12. livelihood
    the financial means whereby one supports oneself
    In the Mississippi case, they first commenced by hanging the regular gamblers; a set of men, certainly not following for a livelihood, a very useful, or very honest occupation; but one which, so far from being forbidden by the laws, was actually licensed by an act of the Legislature, passed but a single year before.
  13. insurrection
    organized opposition to authority
    Next, negroes, suspected of conspiring to raise an insurrection, were caught up and hanged in all parts of the State: then, white men, supposed to be leagued with the negroes; and finally, strangers, from neighboring States, going thither on business, were, in many instances subjected to the same fate.
Created on Wed Apr 29 20:11:21 EDT 2026 (updated Thu Apr 30 14:59:54 EDT 2026)

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