Cooper Union

Moment #004: Right Make Might

POSTED ON: May 6, 2019

Abraham Lincoln in a photograph taken by Mathew Brady in New York City in 1860

1860

Abraham Lincoln delivers his Right Makes Might speech in the Great Hall on February 27, propelling him to the White House as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.

Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.
“My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”
From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.
Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.