Well, not really, of course, but his thoughts, frequently so timeless, seem particularly appropriate today.

In his famous Lyceum Address in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln meditated on the theme of civil obedience. Though we tend in our day to ponder endlessly the justifications for disobedience, Lincoln was convinced that our willingness to obey the law was the cornerstone of not only our government, but the maintenance of civil society.

So, what are we seeing in Baltimore? Just as Lincoln described in his time,

“…the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts.”

I live in Ohio, more than a stone’s throw from Baltimore. We have not seen rioting in the sleepy southwestern corner of the state, and we are unlikely to. Why does it matter if Baltimore smolders?

Lincoln argues that mob violence involves three parties. Those who perpetrate the violence need swift justice as opposed to what is suggested by the Baltimore mayor’s already infamous words.

“It’s a very delicate balancing act because while we tried to make sure they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we gave those who wished to destroy space to do that, as well,”

Lincoln’s focus is not on the pursuit of justice for the mob’s ends, but the application of justice to the mob itself. If we fail to see that justice, even those of us who are law-abiding citizens will feel at least slightly less obligated to follow the law’s dictates.

There is also a chance that those present, but not involved, or even those trying to restrain the mob, will also be swept up, probably unfairly, by law enforcement authorities. The nature of the mob makes such distinctions difficult.

Most fearfully, mob violence further corrodes our already oxidizing perceptions of government itself. Police cars often bear the slogan “to serve and protect” or “to protect and defend.” The government’s most basic function is to insure the physical integrity of the people and their property. As those who own property in Baltimore watch it burn, or while the rest of us witness it from afar, we see a government that fails to serve, protect, or defend. This can only tarnish our respect for government as an institution.

Sometimes things like this are beyond government’s abilities. Government, especially law enforcement, often arrives after the fact, and while justice might be realized, that cannot fully restore those who are damaged, injured, or killed. In Baltimore, government’s failure is more direct and more damaging.

Though we might be riled by what happens in our lives, before our eyes, or across the plains, we cannot, for Lincoln, allow these events to shape how we see the law. Injustice is acute and rightly inspires the most powerful emotions. Injustice, in various ways, surrounds us, though we all experience it differently. Only the ignorant, or the blissfully blessed, pretend that we can proceed through life confident that justice always follows.

The presence of injustice should not define us, but our response to injustice does. Lincoln knew that there were both good laws and bad laws. There are wise decisions and foolish ones. There are well-reasoned court opinions and purely selfish ones. Our response to these actions should never be mob violence.

“There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance, the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and therefore proper to be prohibited by legal enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable.”

The mob, in this way, robs all of us of something less tangible than property. The mob in Baltimore further frays the delicate fabric that comprises the rule of law. The mob in Baltimore calcifies our dispositions into perceived truths. Government is either corrupt, unable to protect us, or, most horrifyingly, both.

None of these things are true in my mind. I don’t view our governments as fountains of injustice. But people perceive these incidents (think of Baltimore, Ferguson, North Charleston), though unrelated, as collectively meaningful in their own eyes. They see law as either ignored or feckless or dangerous based upon their thin evidence. For them, law, and by extension the governments that produce it, is no longer an impartial arbiter, but something else entirely.

The remedy is clear. Justice. But, we cannot achieve justice through mob violence. We are most likely to find justice when we reform and refashion our institutions so that they serve justice. Those political institutions are our best hope for change, even if they are leaky at the moment. Mob violence does nothing but undermine both our institutions and the people’s motivation to reform them.

We must understand that obeying the law is a necessary first step toward change. We need a culture, then, that inculcates obedience to the law, not in a servile manner, but as a calling of citizenship. For Lincoln, that inculcation is deliberate and universal.

“…let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children’s liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap–let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation…”