The Figure Of Lincoln And A Reflection

Upon His Literature

"[He had] an ear keenly tuned to the music of the English language...intellectual grasp and moral urgency...[and] great emotional power under firm artistic control" (Fehrenbacher 286). This quote only begins to explain how noteworthy and widely treasured the writings of Abraham Lincoln are to the American people. Lincoln's speech-making and writing abilities largely contributed to his position on the podium and in anthologies of literature all over the world, but it was the actions he took throughout his political career that placed him as one of the most significant figures in American history. Widely known for his efforts towards freeing the slaves and preserving the Union, Lincoln weathered a revolutionary term in office and brought a new meaning to freedom in America. Though his hatred for slavery erupted shortly before reaching his thirties, his late experience of that institution made him want to eradicate it no less; his remarkable actions to preserve the Union and liberate the slave give value to both his public addresses and private reflections.

Lincoln was traveling in New Orleans, observes one scholar, when he first witnessed barbaric treatment of Negroes. While watching a slave auction in 1831, he began to feel "unconquerable hate" towards this abomination. Here began the growth of his personal convictions against slavery. "[I]f I ever get a chance to hit that thing," he said to himself, "I'll hit it hard" (Johnson 30). Thomas points out that the next year, though, when running for the Illinois State Legislature, Lincoln declared that the most important thing to him was education, so that children would be prepared to make educated, moral decisions (Biography, 29). Though he lost that election, he was later elected in 1834. This time, he concentrated primarily on transportation and the export of goods from the fledgling state of Illinois (47). Throughout his early time in office, Lincoln kept quiet about his views on slavery, but never failed to vote according to these views (61). Only later, says Quarles, did Lincoln begin opposing slavery on record; however, his position was odd in that much of Illinois felt that slavery was only natural for Negroes (19). The sentiments of the state of Illinois did not stop his efforts against slavery. In 1838, continues Thomas, Lincoln began to grow concerned about escalating violence towards blacks and agitation caused by abolitionists. In addition, he felt that abolitionism made the fight against slavery harder rather than easier: under the Constitution, Congress couldn't abolish slavery, and its inability to take action made a divide among Americans apparent (Biography, 64). Shenk adds that abolition was more threatening to Lincoln in that supporters of abolition would see the nation torn apart to attain a pure, free country (140). Another scholar observes that as a result Lincoln spoke out, saying that all people should be protected by law even if it would mean upsetting some of the public (72). He was re-elected the same year and later in 1840 for the last time; this legislature experience would prove valuable in Lincoln's later political campaigns (79).

Even as a lawyer, Lincoln contributed to the cause of the Negro. According to Quarles, Lincoln argued in the late 1830's "that Illinois law presumed that every person was free regardless of color," and since the sale of free persons was illegal, the slave trade was illegal (22). Soon after this, asserts another scholar, he realized how little influence he really had, and no longer had the same enthusiasm (Thomas, Biography, 129). In early 1843, however, Lincoln started letting close friends know his aspirations for running for Congress (100). He won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1846 (108). While in Congress, Lincoln voiced his opposition to the Mexican War but would support the troops by supporting supply bills (119). In a way, this alludes to his thoughts on the Civil war: he wanted to avoid confrontation but would support it if it became necessary. As he had while in the Illinois State Legislature, says Thomas, Lincoln added his voice when others began to support the abolition of slavery, specifically in Washington D.C. (Biography, 126). When fights threatened to emerge and the proslavery group vigorously supported the Walker Amendment, which would recognize slavery under the Constitution, Lincoln "witness[ed] the intensity of sectional hostility [and] realized its sinister implications" (128).

Lincoln relates that his education held up the idea that Negroes should be equal in every privilege, but knew that this was politically infeasible (1 : 614). He felt that the country should uphold what the framers of the Constitution intended for it, which included slavery, vaguely worded as it was (1 : 470). According to one scholar, he found slavery "contrary to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence" (Quarles 36). Another scholar writes that Lincoln felt every person was entitled to the rights outlined in the Declaration as well as the principle of equality of opportunity: "Every person had the ability and the right, the thought, to work in order to better his condition" (Shenk 154). However, the Declaration did not say that at that time everyone was equal; Lincoln argued that the "spirit of the Declaration...was meant to be realized...by each succeeding generation" as implied by the phrase "all men are created equal" (138). Quarles continues that Lincoln found slavery disadvantageous for white workers in that they were competing with essentially free labor. Further, it was a threat to democracy in that slaves were not governed and so could not give input (35). Lincoln admits that slavery made hypocrites of the people of the United States. On a personal level, though, Lincoln states that he hated slavery for the "monstrous injustice of it" and "especially because it forces so many really good men amongst [themselves] into an open war" (1 : 510). Johnson adds a religious facet to Lincoln's assumed mission in that Lincoln felt that he was obligated to free the slaves, saying "I have promised my God that I will do it" (96). There is no "moral right", Lincoln says, in one man's enslavement of another (1 : 337) and argues that everyone who works should keep what is earned rather than owing it to another (1 : 398). Quarles cites a quote from 1854: "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong" (30).

Though to many Lincoln seems to be the ultimate advocate of the Negro and his rights, this was not quite the case. One scholar cites a musing Lincoln recorded for himself: "Negro equality! Fudge!!" (Shenk 279). Lincoln later expands on this