In 1847, Lincoln spoke at a convention in Chicago that addressed President Polk’s recent veto of an “internal improvements” act. Like most Democrats at the time, Polk believed that that Congress’s enumerated powers did not extend to building roads, bridges, and canals. David Dudley Field was the speaker immediately before Lincoln, and he argued forcefully that federal expenditures on internal improvements were unconstitutional.
In reply, Lincoln acknowledged that Field “loves the Constitution,” adding that he loved it as well, but “in a different way.” Field saw the Constitution “as a network, through which may be sifted the seeds of discord and discussion,” said Lincoln, rather than looking “upon it as a complete protection to the Union.”
“He loves it in his way; I in mine,” explained our greatest president.
(Credit: Lincoln’s Greatest Case, by Brian McGinty)
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