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ABRAHAM
LINCOLN: NATIONAL SAVIOUR
A Bicentennial Note of Thanks
It may seem strange that any men should dare
to ask God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s
faces; but let us judge not that we not be judged.
-Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural
Many of us grew up with a mythical view of Lincoln as a
larger-than-life figure that liberated the slaves. But, in this simplistic view, we shortchange the real sacrifice
and terrible suffering endured by the flesh and blood man on behalf of the
nation, and give fodder to the cynic and the prideful ingrate.
It’s strange, in a way, the Christ-like quality of the man
who in his early years said he did not believe in Christ. And ironic were those surprising
happenstances that seem to suggest divine involvement. The way the dark clouds parted on his 2nd
inauguration to shine a ray of light on his face just as he approached the
podium and began to deliver the national sacrament that was his 2nd
inaugural speech. The way he died on
Good Friday. It was only as he
progressed through the war years into a new realization of human equality and
freedom that he began to invoke “the Lord” into his speech. Not the way most leaders often do, claiming
that God is on their side; but in a more humble way: admitting that we can’t
possibly know what are God’s intentions, we can only aspire to meet them. And yet, if ever there was a man who
suffered the sins of his people, and died to redeem them and give them a new
birthright in justice and liberty, it was he.
Many cynical revisionists, people who like to appear
sophisticated and above common conceptions, who always get a kick out of
showing how the noble aren’t so noble - who in fact don’t really believe that
anyone is actually noble, these delight in pointing out Abraham Lincoln’s
shortcomings. They critique Lincoln as
viewed by our current standards, from the safety and comfort of our peace and
prosperity (many enjoy a good life and attend fashionable events, and fancy
themselves as intellectually wise and superior to common Americans, as above
the credulous belief in the Lincoln myth).
It’s true that Lincoln, though always against slavery,
wasn’t initially in favor of a war to free the slaves, and that he at one time
harbored mild racist feelings in wondering if blacks were the equal of whites
(even here, though, he only wondered about it). But Lincoln, like all human beings, was first, a man of his
time. We are not somehow genetically
superior to the people of the 1800’s in a way that makes us able to see moral
right better than they. We are morally
advantaged by the new understanding of liberty and justice that Lincoln brought
to the nation. What is remarkable is
that having come from his time, Lincoln learned and grew, came to a fuller
understanding of human equality, and handed it to the American people as he
forged into the national conscience a new idea of the kind of people we ought
to be. This is why Frederick Douglas,
an uncompromising black abolitionist, and probably the most important black man
of his time, initially disappointed by Lincoln’s slow moves against slavery,
came to admire him and be his friend.
Lincoln had always hoped that slavery would go away without
war. But, it was not to be. After a period of questioning his purpose in
life, he was galvanized by an attempt to allow slavery into the new states
entering the union. He campaigned for
president against the expansion of slavery beyond the South. When he won, the South seceded. Six hundred thousand Americans died
(12 times the number in Vietnam) in a nation only one-tenth as big as we are
today. Among the first to die were
Lincoln’s closest friends. It is
believed to have been the bloodiest war in human history up to that time. The nation was divided, and with the war
going badly even the North was divided as to whether the war was worth it. During that period, Lincoln’s young son
Willie died, and his wife went half-mad.
He received dozens of death threats, and was often ridiculed and
attacked in the press. He questioned
his decision to send so many to die. At
one point, Lincoln said that if there was a worst place in hell, he was in
it. Through it all, he visited and
comforted the soldiers personally, and was generally kind to every human being
that encountered him. Finally, he came
to believe that slavery had to end without further delay. Many counseled him against making the
Emancipation Proclamation, fearing that he would lose white support even in the
North, and that North soldiers might abandon the fight. But, Lincoln decided that the war could no
longer be only about secession. So,
this one sad and lonely man set America on a new course, towards “a new birth
of freedom.”
And so it was that a new nation was born. We were now to be THE United States, not
these United States. And we were now to
understand and accept the full meaning of the Declaration of Independence’s
proclamation that “all men are created equal.”
In victory, he told us to be magnanimous, and in moral clarity, he told us
not to judge those who did not understand.
The shortcomings of history between then and now aside, today we have
him to thank for the way we think of what American liberty and justice ought to
be.
As black crowds swarmed around the president after the
Emancipation Proclamation, some knelt in gratitude. The president told them not to kneel, but to stand. When they bowed, he bowed back, to the
horror of some whites who could not fathom the sight of a white man, no less
the president, bowing to a former slave. This was a man born of his time,
who moved beyond it, and then pulled an entire nation along with
him.
Most historians say that the more they learn about Lincoln,
the more they come to admire and respect who he was and what he accomplished
against very heavy odds, and through great personal suffering. By some accounts, it was only on the last
day of his life, with the war at an end, and feeling the nation finally on the mend,
that his own pursuit of happiness was fulfilled.
We invite you to take the occasion of his bicentennial, or
any quiet time that comes your way, and learn more about our Abraham Lincoln –
this country lawyer, this poet, this president, this, our national savior.
Copyright
2009, The Ultrapolis Project
May be used freely
with proper attribution. All other
rights reserved.