"When men take it in their heads to-day, to hang gamblers, or burn murderers, they should recollect, that, in the confusion usually attending such transactions, they will be as likely to hang or burn some one who is neither a gambler nor a murderer as one who is; and that, acting upon the example they set, the mob of to-morrow, may, and probably will, hang or burn some of them by the very same mistake. And not only so; the innocent, those who have ever set their faces against violations of law in every shape, alike with the guilty, fall victims to the ravages of mob law; and thus it goes on, step by step, till all the walls erected for the defense of the persons and property of individuals, are trodden down, and disregarded."
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Lawyers from the United StatesAbolitionistsPoliticians from IllinoisAbraham LincolnPeople of the American Civil War
Original Language: English
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Abraham Lincoln
1809 – 1865
Präsident der USA (1861-1865)
663 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Abraham Lincoln →
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