Faith & Spirit Quote by Abraham Lincoln

Right makes might flips the ancient formula of power on its head, and Lincoln knows exactly how radical that inversion is. In 1860, speaking at Cooper Union with secession already brewing, he isn’t offering comfort; he’s offering a moral weapon. The line is built to sound like an old proverb, almost scriptural in its cadence, so that a controversial political position (restricting slavery’s expansion) can wear the authority of inevitability.

The intent is double-edged: reassure moderates that the Republican cause is grounded in principle, not fanaticism, while warning opponents that raw force is not the final judge. Lincoln’s phrasing smuggles a strategic argument inside a conscience argument. “Have faith” asks for commitment without guarantees; “dare” admits the costs. He doesn’t promise victory. He promises only that duty, pursued honestly, is worth the risk.

The subtext is also a preemptive defense against the accusation that moral claims are just another bid for domination. By insisting that “right” produces “might,” he implies that legitimacy generates durable power in a democracy: public opinion, lawful institutions, the slow grind of history. It’s idealism with an organizer’s pragmatism.

Then he tightens the screw with “as we understand it.” That clause is humility and steel in one breath: we may be imperfect, but we’re responsible anyway. Lincoln turns uncertainty into an ethical mandate, making the audience participants in a conflict they can’t outsource to fate.