Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.

Speech at a Republican Banquet, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1856; see Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 2 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953), p. 532

Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.[quod.lib.umich.edu]