On January 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln was just 28 years old. Standing before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, he delivered a lecture on the topic of the perpetuation of our political institutions. As Lincoln’s later law partner, William Herndon, recalls, the speech was reprinted in the Sangamon Journal; it began to give the young Lincoln a reputation “beyond the limits of the locality in which he lived.” . . . to continue reading please click here.