Delivered by Tiffany Justice, Co-Founder of Moms for Liberty, at the 150th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner on March 2, 2025
Good evening, friends. Upon the sacred ground of our forefathers’ promise, etched in toil and sealed with hope, we gather tonight as stewards of a timeless charge: to defend our fundamental parental rights, to guard our children, to shield their innocence, as the first duty of any people who dare to call themselves free. We meet under the shadow of Abraham Lincoln—a man who rose from a log cabin to hold a nation together through its darkest division. Here in Queens, in this year of 2025, his words still echo, calling us to hope, to resolve, and to the power of the people united. I am Tiffany Justice—a mom, a fighter, and co-founder of Moms for Liberty—and I am honored to stand with you and ask: what would Lincoln say to us today?
Lincoln knew division wasn’t just about battlelines drawn in blood—it was a test of whether we could hold fast to a common purpose amid the storm. Today, we’re not at war with cannon and sword, but we feel the strain nonetheless: parents pitted against bureaucrats, freedom wrestling with control. I’ve seen this firsthand building Moms for Liberty—a movement of moms and dads rising across this land, from school boards to statehouses, because we believe our children deserve better. During the shadow of COVID, when the powers that be sought to keep us separated, Moms for Liberty turned to the best of social media to bring parents together—to fight back against the tyranny of lockdowns and mandates. Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural, spoke of “malice toward none, with charity for all.” He’d tell us now: don’t just fight the system—lift each other up. That’s what we do in Moms for Liberty, not seeking uniformity, but a shared stand for what is true.
The task before us is neither small nor simple. Our children, the inheritors of all we hold dear, face perils we did not fashion but cannot ignore—dangers that creep silent into their schools, their minds, their very futures. We see policies falter, promises unkept, and the sacred trust of protection strained near to breaking. It is not for us to ask why this burden falls to our time, but to answer with the full measure of our devotion: that it shall not stand. For me, this fight became personal long before Moms for Liberty took root. In 2016, I ran for school board in my community because I saw our schools drifting—not living up to their responsibility to educate our children. Then COVID struck, and the cracks widened into chasms.
Lincoln didn’t just speak of liberty—he lived it. At Cooper Union, not far from here, he argued that freedom’s roots run deep, back to our Founding Fathers. As Moms for Liberty, we’re fighting for that same liberty: the right to raise our kids, to shape their education, to protect their future. It’s not abstract—it’s personal. Liberty’s not free; it demands courage. Lincoln stood against the spread of slavery, a moral blight on his time. We stand now against agendas that silence parents or indoctrinate our children. Here in Queens, in New York, we declare: our voices matter, our values endure.
We are the mothers and fathers of this hour, bound by a love that knows no rest, a will that bends not to despair. From every corner of this land, we rise—not as strangers divided, but as kin united—to demand that the laws of our nation shield those who cannot shield themselves. We seek not vengeance, nor fleeting gain, but policies born of wisdom and tempered by care: to guard the health of their bodies, the light of their learning, and the peace of their days. In Moms for Liberty, we’ve seen this unity take shape—parents who once felt alone now stand shoulder to shoulder, not just to win debates, but to build a future where every child in Queens, every family in America, thrives under freedom’s promise.
And now, in this moment of 2025, we stand at a turning point. We have just won a major battle in the fight for our country with the election of President Trump—a victory that shifts our struggle from defense to offense. The tide has turned, and the time is now to seize this chance. Through his Executive Orders, President Trump is doing amazing work to restore liberty and protect our children, but we cannot rest on fleeting decrees. We must codify these gains into law, ensuring they endure beyond any one term or tempest. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address left us a charge: it is for us, the living, to finish the work. For me, that work began when I saw schools slipping from parents, from truth, from liberty—and it’s why Moms for Liberty exists. Let us dedicate ourselves, here and now, to this evolved task—not merely to hold the line, but to advance with every opportunity, pressing forward with the boldness this victory demands.
The road remains long, the voices against us still loud, but we are not alone. With faith in each other, in the leadership now guiding us, and in the God who watches over the least among us, we march on. In 2025, it’s our turn—yours and mine—to rededicate ourselves to this cause. Lincoln called this nation the “last best hope of earth.” It is for us, the living, to ensure that this generation of children shall not perish from that promise—that their laughter shall yet ring where we have sown our tears, and their dreams flourish where we have planted our resolve. So let us strive, not for ourselves alone, but for those who come after, that they may say of us: these were the parents who stood, who fought, who prevailed.
Let us leave here tonight not just as Republicans, not just as moms and dads, but as Americans, carrying that hope forward—together. For if Lincoln were with us now, he’d remind us: the work of freedom, the care of our young, is the people’s work. And in Queens, in 2025, with President Trump’s triumph lighting our path, we are the people ready to see it through—to turn this battle won into a future secured. Thank you, and God bless this fight.
