Lincoln on the Declaration of Independence: Sheet anchor of the republic

Declaration of Independence: sheet anchor of the republic

The Declaration of Independence, which Abraham Lincoln called the “sheet anchor of the republic,” spurred the articulation of American ideals when it summoned the radically democratic idea that government, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, exists to serve the people, rejecting the Old World doctrine that the people exist to serve the government....

Lincoln on the Declaration of Independence: Sheet anchor of the republic

American citizens have the duty and right to keep their government in line, prevent it from making mistakes and to criticize the errors of its ways and demand corrections.