The Hijacking of Abraham Lincoln

I just finished reading Jay Winik's 2001 historical treatise April 1865: The Month That Saved America. Weaving together the chronology of the Civil War's fateful final month with background on the major players and events leading up to it, Winik's book provides both a comprehensive look at Civil War-era politics and an insightful commentary on how so many factors contributed to the conflict's end. It's a fantastic historical book, and I highly recommend that you purchase it. Amazon is hawking used copies for less than a dollar; you have no excuse not to buy it right now.

The book's appraisal of its central characters, including U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, is appreciably honest. Winik admires all of the above, without whitewashing any of them.

In particular, his writing got me thinking about the legacy of Abraham Lincoln as it relates to today's political situation. Perhaps only two or three other presidents in history are as beloved and remembered for greatness as Lincoln. A well-cited Wikipedia article on presidential polls sees Lincoln as one of three perennial "greatest presidents", with Washington and Franklin Roosevelt taking the other two slots. Interestingly, according to the 1982 Murray-Blessing poll, Lincoln is just as loved by both conservatives and liberals.

No wonder, than, that during the past election cycle Old Abe's name was cited time and time again by the stumpers of both parties, primarily in two ways:

1, the Republican Party continued to remind us that it is, in fact, "the party of Abraham Lincoln" (and Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan), and that Lincoln is one of the great conservative heroes.

2, the Democratic Party continued to both draw and welcome parallels between its nominee, then-Senator Barack Obama, and Lincoln, framing both men as outsiders from rude beginnings who promise to bring change and unite the nation during times of crisis.

Last year I did not think much of such parallels. If I did at all, I remember being vaguely suspicious of Obama-Lincoln comparisons. Obama has always struck me as more of an anointed partisan standard-bearer than Lincoln (who was not always on the best of terms with his own party). Similarly, I thought it odd that John McCain would drop Lincoln's name, knowing that the Glenn Beck-fed Libertarian-Republicans of today are generally appreciative of states rights, to the point of identifying with the very Confederacy that Lincoln waged war against.

Winik's unburnished portrayal of Lincoln has given me clarity. When it comes to Abraham Lincoln, both parties are wrong, and neither can claim that, in their current form, that Lincoln would be onboard with their agendas.

Foremost, Lincoln was essentially a federalist. Conservatives might like to drop Lincoln's name, but the fact is, the 12th president used his executive power do the very thing that they always complain about: he amassed federal power and literally forced the southern states back into line via the Civil War. Would a true, small-government, states-rights conservative ever support such a methodology? No way, as is evidenced by this work from the endlessly readable Harry Crocker.

Secondly, liberals ought to take note that Lincoln never intended to be the great healer of the American racial divide. A look at his comments on the subject prior to the Emancipation Proclamation are telling indeed. He was not driven by modern notions of political correctness and equality; primarily, he needed to imbue the dying Union war effort with a new sense of moral purpose. Look no further than his famed letter to Horace Greeley:

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union

It would be unfair to say that Lincoln had a strictly utilitarian view towards abolition. His correspondence prior to the war, and during the early part of it, make clear the fact that he had sympathy towards the slaves and wanted to see slavery disappear as an American institution. Yet his efforts for the abolition of slavery and for general emancipation have to be seen in light of Lincoln's political savvy. He was not what liberal college professors would call a civil rights leader (as far as I can reason, the idea of freeing the blacks and segregating them, or sending them to Liberia, wouldn't qualify as an inspiring thing for a civil rights leader to suggest).

Therefore, in an ultimate sense Lincoln's legacy is not immediately relatable to either of today's political parties. He was neither conservative nor liberal as we define the two today. What was Lincoln, then?

He was magnanimous.

Today's political leaders enjoy defeating and punishing the opposition, shutting them out of the political process, blaming them, and marginalizing them. Obama, whose proponents always trumpet him with cornball monikers like "the president of change", "the bringer of the politics of transformation", etc, has done exactly this (look no further than the healthcare debate).

Lincoln did not. Lincoln reached not only across the aisle but across the battlefield, ensuring that a defeated Confederacy would not become a subjugated Confederacy. He exhorted the Union to accept the southern states' return with forgiveness, not brutality. Though he did not live to preside over the Reconstruction Era, he nevertheless impacted it by setting in motion a process of reconciliation, not retaliation.

I challenge you to name one politician today who can truly be called "magnanimous" in the Lincolnian sense. There are none. (In particular, the plethora of Democrats who continue to cite George W. Bush as the cause of all our current problems represent the opposite of Lincoln's approach.)

The next time you hear Lincoln's name on the campaign trail, be cognizant of the cheapness at hand. Some figures are too complex for the soundbyte age. The 16th president, in his glory and with his flaws, is a man not apt for comparison.