To the Editor: A letter to the editor (11/15) began by quoting Abraham Lincoln on the power of the people and constitutional government. “The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, not to over-throw the Constitution, but to over-throw the men who pervert that Constitution.” Did Lincoln actually utter those words? According to experts this statement is a composite of ideas he expressed in several speeches, most commonly associated with his “House Divided” speech delivered in Springfield, Illinois on June 16, 1858, during the senatorial campaign against Stephen A.