WIST Quotations

Lincoln, Abraham -- (Spurious)

Dave — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 22:18:37 +0000

We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war, which has cost a vast treasure of blood and money, is almost over. But I see in the future a crisis approaching which fills me with anxiety. As a result of the war, corporations have become enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its rule by preying upon the prejudice of the people, until all wealth is concentrated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed. I feel at this time more anxiety for the future of my country than at any time in the past, even in the midst of war.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Spurious)

Variants:

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country [...] corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the rebellion.

The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace, and it conspires against it in times of adversity. It’s more despotic than monarchy. It’s more insolent than autocracy. It’s more selfish than bureaucracy. [...] Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the republic is destroyed.

This is most often cited as being from a letter (1864-11-21) to Colonel William F. Elkins, a personal friend of Lincoln's. Other attributions included a message from Lincoln to Congress, or from other speeches, or in one case to a message from Lincoln from beyond the grave during a seance. It may be traceable to a pamphlet by the Caldwell Remedy Company (1888-05-10). It came to wide prominence during the 1896 presidential election, when the powers of corporations, trusts, and robber barons were under wide populist attack.

The quotation was researched and rejected by Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln's personal secretaries, as well as by his son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Further, Lincoln worked as a corporate lawyer on a number of occasions, and never seemed particularly concerned about corporations or their concentration of wealth. Nevertheless, the spurious quotation and variants regularly pop up in essays, speeches, and opinion pieces even today.

For more information about this quotation and its background (including much of the information above), see:

Thomas F Schwartz, "Lincoln Never Said That," For the People (newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association), Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1999).
Did Abraham Lincoln Warn of the Tyranny of Capitalism? | Snopes.com.
Essay (1939-11-06), "Sources of Traditional Quotations," Lincoln Lore," No. 552 (Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation).
Getting Wrong with Lincoln | Origins.

Webster, Daniel -- Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts

Dave — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 23:05:18 +0000

The freest government, if it could exist, would not be long acceptable, if the tendency of the laws were to create a rapid accumulation of property in few hands, and to render the great mass of the population dependent and penniless.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts
(Source)

On the bicentennial of the Pilgrims' landing in the New World.

Ivins, Molly -- Essay (1991-02), “Season of Drear,” The Progressive

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:51:24 +0000

Seems to me it’s a simple concept — the concentration of wealth is a Bad Idea. Since capital tends to concentrate, it is one of the functions of government to oppose this tendency. That’s why we used to have antimonopoly laws and the like.
When you see government encouraging the concentration of wealth, check your wallet.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1991-02), “Season of Drear,” The Progressive
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies

Dave — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:07:09 +0000

Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing. This concentration is seriously impairing the economic effectiveness of private enterprise as a way of providing employment for labor and capital and as a way of assuring a more equitable distribution of income and earnings among the people of the nation as a whole.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies
(Source)

Goldsmith, Oliver -- Poem (1769) “The Deserted Village,” ll. 51-52

Dave — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:49:55 +0000

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
Poem (1769) “The Deserted Village,” ll. 51-52
(Source)

Tawney, R. H. -- The Acquisitive Century, ch. 5 “Property and Creative Work” (1920)

Dave — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:58:37 +0000

It is not merely that the ownership of any substantial share in the national wealth is concentrated to-day in the hands of a few hundred thousand families, and that at the end of an age which began with an affirmation of the rights of property, proprietary rights are, in fact, far from being widely distributed. Nor is it merely that what makes property insecure to-day is not the arbitrary taxation of unconstitutional monarchies or the privileges of an idle noblesse, but the insatiable expansion and aggregation of property itself, which menaces with absorption all property less than the greatest, the small master, the little shopkeeper, the country bank, and has turned the mass of mankind into a proletariat working under the agents and for the profit of those who own.

R. H. Tawney (1880-1962) English writer, economist, historian, social critic [Richard Henry Tawney]
The Acquisitive Century, ch. 5 “Property and Creative Work” (1920)

Bacon, Francis -- “Of Seditions and Troubles,” Essays, No. 15 (1625)

Dave — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:46:21 +0000

Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Seditions and Troubles,” Essays, No. 15 (1625)
(Source)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1886-11-14), “A Lay Sermon,” American Secular Union annual congress, Chickering Hall, New York City

Dave — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:08:18 +0000

There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech (1886-11-14), “A Lay Sermon,” American Secular Union annual congress, Chickering Hall, New York City
(Source)