Bulletin. [Vol. 47, no. 2]

Supplement to

Bulletin No. 47 of the
Abraham Lincoln Association
Supplement Springfield, Illinois June, 1937
Lincoln and the United States Supreme
Court: A Postscript

SINCE the publication of "Lincoln and the United States
Supreme Court" the attention
of the author has been directed to a
passage in one of Lincoln's speeches
which might well have been included
in the original discussion.
"Lincoln and the United States
Supreme Court," readers will remember, presented evidence to show that
in Lincoln's opinion the Supreme
Court and its decisions should not be
immune to criticism, and also
developed the thesis that for reversal
of an undesirable opinion, Lincoln
relied principally upon the power of
public opinion. In apparent contradiction to this latter hypothesis,
however, is a passage from Lincoln's
rejoinder in the Quincy debate, October 13, 1858. Referring to Douglas,
Lincoln said:
"But he is desirous of knowing how
we are going to reverse the Dred
Scott decision. Judge Douglas ought
to know how. Did not he and his
political friends find a way to reverse
the decision of that same court in
favor of the constitutionality of the
national bank? Didn't they find a

way to do it so effectually that they
have reversed it as completely as any
decision ever was reversed, so far as
its practical operation is concerned?
And, let me ask you, didn't Judge
Douglas find a way to reverse the
decision of our Supreme Court,
when it decided that Carlin's
father--old Governor Carlin-had
not the constitutional power to remove a secretary of state? Did he
not appeal to the 'mobs,' as he calls
them? Did he not make speeches in
the lobby to show how villainous that
decision was, and how it ought to be
overthrown? Did he not succeed,
too, in getting an act passed by the
legislature to have it overthrown?
And didn't he himself sit down on
that bench as one of the five added
judges who were to overslaugh the
four old ones-getting his name of
'judge' in that way and in no other?
If there is a villainy in using disrespect or making opposition to Supreme Court decisions, I commend it
to Judge Douglas's earnest consideration. I know of no man in the
State of Illinois who ought to know
so well about how much villainy it