What U.S. President declared "The ballot is stronger than the bullet"?

There are few Americans more iconic than Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. Mention his name and at least two thoughts come to mind immediately: the Emancipation Proclamation and his assassination.

In 1856, four years before he was elected president, Lincoln addressed the Republican State Convention of Illinois. In the speech, he reportedly said, "The ballot is stronger than the bullet." It's at once a strong image and eerily prophetic. It was indeed a bullet that killed Lincoln April 14th, 1865, five months after being elected to a second term.

This little phrase of Lincoln's, which has carried through and is still part of the discourse today speaks to what America is all about. That our ability to go to the ballot box, to vote, is stronger than just putting a bullet in somebody's head. That rhetoric, which is strong and just a beautiful thought, is part of what this country's made up of.

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20 Comments

Lynne Zeman

Great Q & A. Thanks Sandra

Corey Taylor

I was so certain it would've been Teddy, who suffered a bullet wound to the chest as he stood up to give a campaign speech in 1912. He wasn't treated for it until after he spoke, and while Wilson landed the presidency, Teddy DID beat incumbent Taft!

Eric Leif Peters

Carroll Price: The south tried to destroy the country and prostrated itself to Britain as a potential colony. You support treason (and a poor version of historical fact).

Matthew O'Connell

Carroll Price, Bitter much? The ballot brought you many good things, the vote, the end of slavery, civil right act. Just because your side wanted a slave based economy and the rest of the country didn’t does not mean that the founding fathers would have been upset.

Carroll Price

What a damned joke!. The South voted (used the ballot) to secede from the Union and look what it got them - courtesy of Abraham Lincoln. Who in 4 short years undid and destroyed everything the Founding Fathers considered important, not the least being that the United States (plural term) was to consist of any number of independent sovereign states united under a weak central government.

ninakamwene

One of the best POTUS. RIP. Thank you for a great trivia.

Janice Fish

Great question. Why do I remember strange facts like this?

John W Shreve

Diana Newman, God save the Queen.

John W Shreve

I knew the answer but someone please explain it to me. It seems to me that the ballot (in 1860, not 1856) started the Civil War, and the bullet killed him.

Shane Oney

Sucharita Ghosh, not so much, he said that if he could save the union by freeing the slaves he would, if he could save the union without freeing any slaves he would do that, if it took freeing some and leaving others in bondage, then he would do that. He was more concerned about preserving the union than any slaves. He also felt ( as did most people at the time ) that blacks were mentally and physically inferior to whites. His plan for after the war was to deport all blacks in America to Africa.

Rusty

Sucharita Ghosh, ,,, And a Republican!!!

George Oliver Prince

Abe Lincoln fan, so easy one

William Laughlin

What is prophetic about his statement? Mentioning a bullet in a comment and being shot by one is coincidental, but NOT prophetic. He did not predict his own death.