The Danger of a American Caesar #ocra #iamthemob

....."Many great and good men, sufficiently qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found whose ambition would aspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. What! think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinction in adding story to story upon the monuments of fame erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable then, to expect that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch,
will
at some time spring up among us? And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs."

THE PERPETUATION OF OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, JANUARY 27, 1837 by
Abraham Lincoln

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