Speech, 18 Dec. 1840, to Illinois House of Representatives.

Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of in temperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright ) 1993 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Caedmon recordings reproduced by arrangement with Harper Collins Publishers.