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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. There 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 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 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 many 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 he became truly happy.
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.