Cold, Calculating, Unimpassioned Reason

 In response, Lincoln had counseled reason, “cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason.”

But his ultimate aim, Lincoln said, was to secure “a reverence for the constitution and laws.” That reverence was the predicate for all the changes he later wrought in America.

Perhaps the first step away from the dangers of that passion, and toward the reasoned reverence Lincoln counseled, is a simple recognition that the perpetuation of our political institutions is not assured — and that our constitutional order has been more fragile than we’ve recently been led to understand.

-Russell Riley in the WaPost