Lincoln did not speak those words

The IR printed an ad(?) in a box with Abraham Lincoln’s picture listing “The 10 cannots…”.  This is false.  Abraham Lincoln never said these words. But just over 50 years after Lincoln died, in 1916, The Rev. William John Henry Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister and notable public speaker, did. He made a booklet of ‘nuggets’ that came from his lectures, of which these axioms of misquotations are derived. Author Ralph Keyes has said that “Famous quotes need famous mouths”, hence how over the years these words were mistakenly attributed to Lincoln. It didn’t help that in the 1992 Republican Convention, Ronald Reagan gave a speech including 4 of the 10 Boetcker’s maxims also claiming they were the words of Lincoln. Having actually read some of Lincoln’s speeches & writings over the years, I can say that he would not belittle the weak & underclass to puff up the wealthy & powerful, hence why I researched this ad after reading it in the newspaper. With all the talk of Fake News we hear daily, I think it important to correct mistakes & make sure the truth still reigns absolute.

Editor’s note: The ad mentioned in this letter is running again this week with the correct name.