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President Lincoln

www.americaslibrary.gov

Originally aired on February 10, 1995 - In part 24 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson profiles war-time President Abraham Lincoln.

#24 – Abraham Lincoln

The second year of the Civil War was coming to a close when the President told his Congress: “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We…will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.”

Abraham Lincoln made many such memorable statements. He is our most articulate president, and he is perennially adjudged to have been the greatest.

Lincoln is the only chief executive who entered office with civil war waiting for him. His entire four years as the North’s leader were devoted to that struggle. He underwent seemingly endless crises that might have shattered a less determined man. In 1861, Lincoln woefully lacked political, administrative, and military experience; he suffered from spells of depression; he did not like personal confrontations.

Barely after he got his bags unpacked at the White House, he was thrust into the forefront of a fratricidal war. Lincoln had to make awesome decisions in a conflict that had not precedents – a conflict without constitutional or political guidelines to follow. He had no claims to preeminence. His credentials on the national level consisted of a single uneventful term in the House of Representatives. Four years in the state legislature made him a familiar politician in the frontier state of Illinois. Beyond that, Lincoln’s other qualifications were those of a rail-splitter, storekeeper, and better-than-average lawyer. These are indeed small steppingstones to the White House!

Still, we remember Lincoln not because he was born in a log cabin but because he grew out of it. Hs patience and love for humanity, his quick grasp of facts and the ability to see the big picture, his honesty and tendency to laugh at himself, his perseverance in the face of countless obstacles and thousands of opponents – these are part of the basis for Lincoln’s immortality.

One much add to this Lincoln’s brilliance as a politician. The Northern president put into his cabinet men of force and ability; and although some of them fought against him ad sought to grab leadership from his hands, they added strength to his administration. Lincoln’s political experience on the Illinois hustings had taught him how to win a political fight without making political enemies of men he defeated. He also could exploit the talents of self-assured men who considered themselves his betters. Lincoln had a suppleness that his counterpart, Jefferson Davis, lacked.

His devotion to the Union was not only extreme; it cost him his life. Lincoln was determined to hold the nation together by whatever means necessary. He broke some laws, ignored others, made arbitrary arrests, bypassed the Congress, pursued Machiavellian tactics – all to preserve an established government. He issued such questionable legal documents as the Emancipation Proclamation because he could envision ultimate and positive effects with steps that had contemporary and controversial impact on a war.

Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. His senseless murder would give birth to an age of hate the history books call “Reconstruction”. Let it be remembered that Lincoln left this earth still pleading for peace and one America. He once summed up his attitude toward the Civil War with these thoughts: “This is essentially a People’s contest…It is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the conditions of all men – to lift artificial weights from all shoulders - to clear the paths of laudable pursuits for all – to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

That dream is still the foundation of the United States.

Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., is a noted scholar on the American Civil War and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech.