In 2009 we mark the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, regarded by many as our nation's greatest and most eloquent president. May 1 is Law Day, when we celebrate both the legacy of Lincoln and the rule of law.

Lincoln had great reverence for the principles which are at the foundation of our nation. That passion echoes throughout his speeches. He proclaimed, "Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap — let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; — let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young , the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasing upon its altars."

Today our society is held together by the rule of law and by our collective devotion to the order, comfort and reliability that it provides. Our stability as a nation is grounded in a representative democracy and a respected judiciary whose powers are, thankfully, not dependent on the whim or caprice of the current ruling junta, dictator or popular political party.

Lincoln praised the foresight of the Founding Fathers. "They erected a beacon to guide their children and their children's children and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began."

He honored the reason and compassion of the Constitution with its promise of equal liberty under law, saying that it was made as a "frame to adorn and preserve" the Declaration of Independence.