Reflections on Lincoln

Get ready for the longest blog post ever! My mind has been swirling and exploding with Lincoln thoughts, and I needed an outlet for everything I’ve been thinking about. I spend a lot of time each day thinking and talking about the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. I sat down the other day and did a little math. Over the last ten months I have worked at Lincoln Home National Historic Site, I have given approximately 1,260 tours of the Lincoln Home to over 17,000 people from all over the world—which means I have spent over 500 hours in the home just giving tours. During the summer, on those days when we would take 1,700 visitors on tours, I would go home so completely exhausted that I didn’t think I could last another day as a park ranger at the Lincoln Home. But then I would think about why I do what I do, and I would take heart from the knowledge that I was telling the story of one of the most important men in history. Why is Abraham Lincoln so important? He led our nation through its most difficult time and forever changed the course of American history. He created a new, stronger America; and I only hope that people in our country today will not forget why Abraham Lincoln and so many soldiers died in the Civil War. They died so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today—and we should never take those things for granted. As Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

It is important to remember that he wasn’t just talking about Union troops—he was talking about the Confederates too. On that note, I would like to share a few of my thoughts about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Every day I try to make sense of why such a great American tragedy as the Civil War had to happen. I wonder how Abraham Lincoln had the courage and the foresight to make the difficult decisions he did. Here are some conclusions I have made:

Abraham Lincoln was a man with an impossible task. After being elected to be the 16th President of the United States in November 1860, he and his family remained at his home of seventeen years in Springfield, Illinois, for four months before heading off to Washington, D.C. During those four months, seven states seceded from the rest of the United States, laying the foundation for the Confederate States of America. So even before taking office, Abraham Lincoln faced a very big dilemma: should he allow the southern portion of his country leave, or should he assert his authority and try to keep his country together? It is hard to imagine the weight that rested upon his shoulders. Thankfully he was a strong and wise enough man to bear that burden and ultimately do what was best for his country—though the road he traveled was wrought with uncertainty, criticism, difficulty, and death.

Abraham Lincoln could have let the southern states form their own country; and then the Civil War may not have ever happened. Hundreds of thousands of men and women might not have died; and Lincoln himself might not have been killed. But Lincoln knew that the great experiment undertaken by our Founding Fathers was worth fighting for. If Lincoln let part of the country leave, then what would stop other states from leaving at some point as well? The United States had been founded by men who believed, against the norms of their time, that a democratic nation composed of sovereign states could exist under a central government “of the people and by the people.” If states could leave that nation at will, then the experiment would fail. It could be said that Abraham Lincoln finished what the Founding Fathers started—he ensured that their experiment would not fail. He solidified the United States as “one nation, under God.” As Lincoln stated, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The price of keeping that figurative house together, however, was unimaginable, as was Abraham Lincoln’s role in the whole affair. He literally had to invade his own country and authorize his generals to fight against and, if need be, kill his fellow countrymen.

As the Civil War ensued and reports of casualties arrived at the White House, what did Lincoln think? Surely he wondered if he was doing the right thing—especially when newspapers throughout the north and south claimed that Lincoln was responsible for the deaths of each and every soldier. But it may not have been the dead that weighed heavily on Lincoln’s mind—it was probably the living. He saw, first hand, the devastation experienced by the South. People—his people—had their lives and fortunes ruined by the war. Lincoln also knew what it was like to lose a son. He had lost one back in Springfield, and another while at the White House. His sons, like the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who perished, were too young to die. How could one man deal with so much grief and guilt? Though Lincoln was not a particularly religious man prior to becoming President, he surely had to turn to God to help him understand and cope with the death and uncertainty that surrounded him.

Then there was the issue of slavery. Lincoln did not believe that one man had the right to own another, but when he first took office he planned to leave slavery alone where it already existed. But as the Civil War dragged on, the heart of the issues dividing the country became very clear. Those who believed that slavery should remain a legal institution were passionate in that belief; and those believed that slavery was inhumane were equally, if not more, passionate in their belief. As Lincoln said, he couldn’t see the country remaining together, half slave and half free—it would all become one way or the other. When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the hue of the Civil War changed in the North. Many Northern soldiers had simply been fighting to keep their country together, or to prevent a rebellion by the Southern states. But now they were essentially fighting to free the slaves. Some were fine with this, while others were not. Many men left the Union Army because they did not want to fight to free the slaves. Yet others, particularly African-American soldiers, then joined the army for the sole purpose of freeing the slaves. It could be assumed that Lincoln’s new purpose in bringing freedom to the slaves made it easier for him to deal with the death and devastation of war. But what about those Southern soldiers who weren’t fighting to keep slavery? Most of the Confederate Army was made up of farmers—not slave owners—but men who were fighting to protect their families and then homes. Lincoln surely understood the plight of the common Southern soldier, and it must have pained him to know that these men and their families were caught in between a political and moral battle that, except for the war’s proximity to their homes, never would have affected them.

People throughout the country begged Lincoln to put an end to the war. If he would just let the South leave, the killing could stop. But Lincoln knew that the country needed to be preserved. So he, along with the soldiers and citizens in both the north and south, persevered through four long years of war. In the end, approximately 620,000 Americans were dead. But with the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on April 9, 1865, a weight was lifted from Abraham Lincoln’s shoulders—the killing could stop, and the country would be preserved. Mary Lincoln said that her husband finally seemed happy after five years of pain and uncertainty. Unfortunately one more casualty would be added to the list of Civil War dead. Abraham Lincoln’s happiness only lasted for five days. On April 14, 1865, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth and died the next morning. Abraham Lincoln had paid the ultimate price and given the “last full measure of devotion.” Just as Abraham Lincoln said of those who died at Gettysburg, it is important for us to make sure that Abraham Lincoln did not die in vain. We have a responsibility to remember Lincoln and all who participated in the Civil War, to preserve their memory, and to uphold the values for which they fought and died.

Sam R. Watkins, a Confederate soldier, may have summed it up best when he said: “But when we pass away, the impartial historian will render a true verdict, and a history will then be written in justification and vindication of those brave and noble boys who gave their all in fighting the battles of their homes, their country, and their God. The United States has no North, no South, no East, no West. We are one and undivided.”

May it forever remain so, and may we never forget our priceless heritage.