The Character of Abraham Lincoln - Essay Example

? The Character of Abraham Lincoln Teacher: The Character of Abraham Lincoln In June 1858, as reported by McPherson and Hogue (2009, p. 117), Lincoln was nominated for the United States Senate. This was done, unusually, by an Illinois Republican Convention. The authors state that this meant that the senatorship became the main issue to be considered in the Illinois legislature election. The Larousse Encyclopaedia of Modern History (1981, p. 320) describes how at that time the American population was expanding rapidly and so new territories were being settled. The question being asked was: should slavery be allowed in these new places. The compromise reached was that in the new states slavery was prohibited, but any runaway slaves who arrived in such places would be returned to their masters. Two years after Lincoln was elected as a Senator, there was a Presidential election with 4 candidates. Thanks to votes almost entirely from the north and northwest, Lincoln was elected. The south erupted. This is the background to the events described in McPherson’s titled book ‘Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction’. McPherson reports how Lincoln declared that slavery was abolished. McPherson describes this on Page 6 in book, “Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution”. This needs greater detail. We have to look elsewhere to find that actually he stated that: “On Sept. 22, 1862, President of United States of America Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863 (Paul, n.d.).” Paul however gives no references at all to support this statement. Among the Abraham Lincoln papers at the Library of Congress, a primary source can be found out – the telegram sent to Lincoln by John Nicolay 31st January 1865 telling him that the13th Amendment had been passed by Congress. The Library of Congress has the actual document – “Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States” signed by Abraham Lincoln and Congress and dated 1st February 1865. McPherson uses a secondary source (Padover 1939) when he describes the reaction of Karl Marx in London. Padover presumably was using a primary source – the writing of Karl Marx. Earlier McPherson had used primary sources in that he quotes from letters written in 1860 by Garfield and Hinsdale, although he does use these from a book printed later in 1949, so in fact a secondary source, even if from one of Hinsdale’s descendents. This shows how hard it is to distinguish between what is actually a primary and what a secondary source. McPherson is able to include quite objective evidence amongst so much that obviously comes from one point of view or the other which is diametrically opposed to it and which can therefore be considered to be subjective. He does this by citing various statistics of the time as he does on page 516 with its lists of casualties from various war time battles. He does not however always comment upon such evidence. He states for instance that the Army of the Potomac suffered more than half of all deaths incurred by Union forces, but gives no explanation as to why this particular group had such high fatalities. Were they for instance incompetently led, were they under resourced, inexperienced, overcome by natural problems such as storms or disease, or was it simply that the Confederacy proved to be stronger at this time? All these questions are left unanswered in the lines that follow. Why for instance did more men from New England succumb at a much high rate than those from states further west? The answers are there, but not necessarily on the same page. The reader must search the evidence given for themselves, checking back and forth. In this case at the top of the page McPherson includes a quotation from an Illinois soldier: The Potomac Army is only good to draw greenbacks and occupy winter quarters’ i.e. no good as fighting men, just in it for the money. There is however no citation given for this quotation, nor evidence to back it up from other sources. It is possible that the quotation it is from Bell’s ‘Life of Billy Yank’ 1952 which is cited further down the page, but this is a little unclear in the text as given. Elsewhere we are told that these same men were obliged to engage in more hand to hand fighting than other forces – which is a totally different possible explanation of the high number of deaths incurred by this particular group. The reader has to read the book as a whole and then put the parts together. McPherson attempts to help his readers by providing a chronology –pages 533 onwards. This is necessary simply because of the sheer number of events and the complexity of the situation. On page 217, McPherson goes into great detail about General Grant’s thinking and motivation as he does about General Lee’s plans. There are however no citations given. Has he seen letters from Grant for instance or a journal? Was there a newspaper interview? Was he relying on papers from the Library of Congress? We simply are not told, but presumably these are fact rather than opinions. . On page 23 of ‘Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution’ (1992), McPherson states that Lincoln: “was a conservative. His preferred solution of the slavery problem, Randall pointed out, was a program of gradual, compensated emancipation with the consent of the owners, stretching over a generation or more, with provision for the colonization abroad of emancipated slaves to minimize the potential for racial conflict and social disorder.” He is quoting James Randall, but as cited by another author, in this case Keller in 1977. This then isn’t even a secondary source, but tertiary, even more removed from the original, and it would be necessary to obtain that text in order to look at Keller’s sources. Also elsewhere McPherson describes how Lincoln’s opinions on the subject gradually changed. All scholars must use such techniques as borrowing from other acknowledged scholars at times because it is not always possible to obtain access to primary material even when it is extant. The internet is a great tool if used with discrimination. One can for instance look at sources such as the Library of Congress, but although millions of documents are now available, many more than any previous generation could obtain sight of scholars still rely to some smaller or greater extent, upon the scholarship of others. This is why correct citation is so important - not just to avoid charges of plagiarism, but also so that readers can check material for themselves. McPherson does not always back up his statements in a way that can be easily checked. Some subjects are widely available and very familiar to readers - the Gettysburg address as a primary source, for instance, described on page 287. McPherson is able to expand knowledge on the subject by placing it in context – not just chronologically, but also as part of Lincoln’s considered opinion. In general McPherson arranges his material in roughly logical chronological order, while at the same time inserting associated material. The book is broken into various sections including Reconstruction – the aftermath of the war. This makes readers realize that Lincoln was only part of a process that still continues, not just a life of Lincoln or an outline of the Civil War, but as the title says ‘The Civil War and Reconstruction. The emancipation of black people, but also the beginnings of their gradual acceptance as equals in American society. Page 539 gives a brief outline of the chapters that follow. This again is a help to readers as they can quickly turn to the section they are most interested in, while at the same time being able to relate this to the rest of the story. Much earlier, on page 514, an outline is given in another way, but tucked away where it could be missed. In this case it is a description of Lincoln’s changing priorities: “From limited war to hard war, from gradual , compensated emancipation to immediate , universal abolition ; from opposition to the arming of blacks to enthusiastic support for it,; from the colonization of freed slaves to the enfranchisement of literate soldiers and literate blacks.” He uses a variety of material from official documents to newspaper reports and personal documents. All are interwoven and of value as the author seeks to get his points across in a way acceptable to his readership. Page 518 for instance has some very telling photographs which reveal clearly the state of both armies by the end of the war under the title ‘Victors and Vanquished’. Such material would not have been available to anyone researching an earlier period, but the pictures complement the text and other sources. In describing the events of the actual war between the states, McPherson makes use of sources or cites sources from both sides. He quotes from Bell’s ‘The Life of Billy Yank’ (1952), and a biography of General Sherman (page 516) for instance on the same page that he cites McMurray (1989) and his account of the superiority of General Lee fighting on the side of the Confederacy. Under the heading (page 514, ‘The Confederate Decision to Arm Slaves’ McPherson describes the last desperate attempts of the Confederate leaders to claw victory from defeat. Numbers are included of the slaves enlisted, as well as a quotation from Southern leaders who seem to have been determined to die ‘in the last ditch’ , but neither numbers or quotation are referenced, although there are other references on the page. Did he get these figures from easily available sources such as the official records under the title ‘The War of the Rebellion’ from the United States War Department (1897)? The end of the confederacy is followed closely by the account of Lincoln’s assassination for instance in chapter 25. That isn’t the end of course - Jackson was sworn in as president (page 521), but then the next section is headed ‘The Martyred President.’ McPherson describes in detail how , because Lincoln died at about the same time that the slaves finally received their freedom, the dead president took on a Christ like persona, especially among black people, being described in the first instance as a martyr. Various conspiracy theories are mentioned (page 521), but not in detail. The reason for the lack of detail is that, as far as McPherson can ascertain, there is no such detail, no evidence that any of these theories have any basis in reality. Despite this McPherson gives links to various writing about the theories that have been put forward, for example Hanchett (1983), Eidson 1988 and Tidwell et al 1988. These are of course secondary sources, although each of the scholars involved may in fact draw on primary sources of their own. These citations gives readers the option of following up this trail of evidence if they so wish. There are a variety of theories and sources mentioned, so readers have as much information as possible in order that they can draw their own conclusions. Like Mcpherson, other writers also wrote about Lincoln as a personality. Among them, Polkinghorne (1960) is one who wrote the book, “Tales the Years Tell”. According to the writer, as a child, Lincoln was quite poor, however, when he became a man, he earned his living in a variety of ways such as by splitting rails for fences, keeping a country store, acting as a postmaster and surveyor, and working on the river as a boatman. On one of his trips, he went down to Mississippi to New Orleans, where he saw something of slavery, which made a lasting impression on him. He was popular with my people, and when he was twenty-five his neighbors elected him to a term in the Illinois Legislature. He then read law, and was admitted to the Bar at the age of twenty-eight. His hard work at law developed in him a great power of lucid argument. The Southern States had Negro slaves who worked in the cotton-fields. In the Northern States, the idea of slavery was not popular, and Lincoln spoke eloquently against it. (Polkinghorne, 1960) In 1861, Lincoln had become so popular in the Northern States that he was chosen President of the US but the Southern States were not pleased and they chose their own president, Jefferson Davis. But Lincoln and many other Americans would not allow the Southern States to secede. A Civil War (1861-1865) was fought. After four years of war, Lincoln and the Union won. (Polkinghorne, 1960) A few days after the war, Lincoln was shot by a mad man at a Washington theatre (April 1865), just as he was having almost his first moments of peace since the struggle began. “And now,” as someone who was with him said, “he belongs to the ages.” Like Washington, Lincoln showed himself a true patriot. “Let us have faith,” Lincoln said, “that right rules might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we see it.” (Polkinghorne, 1960) He was a unique man because with little formal education, he became one of the country’s greatest orators. His humor, his patience under misunderstandings and unjust attacks, his courage when others wanted to yield, his steady grasp of events when the fate of his country seemed desperate, the “matchless beauty” and eloquence of his Gettysburg Address, made him a man never to be forgotten. The whole world recognized his greatness. Today in the most prominent places in London and Manchester, there stands monuments to the great American. (Polkinghorne, 1960) Conclusion Because of the distance of time between the events described and the time at which McPherson wrote he cannot of course do interviews or use opinion polls in order to obtain first hand accounts personally. He does however make use of a number of primary sources such as photographs, (page 518). He has available to him the text of speeches that Lincoln made such as is cited on page 521. He is able to distinguish between what he believes to be circumstantial evidence and solid facts as in documents of the time. Often though he makes statements which he does not seem to back up with actual evidence, as when he says (page 521) there were cries for vengeance against the Confederate leaders, as well as those involved in any assassination plot, still unproved, because they were ultimately responsible for the death not jus t of the president, but also of all more than one third of a million Union soldiers who had died in the cause. The book is of considerable length without such details, and presumably a scholar such as McPherson can be trusted not to make up statements he cannot back up and has chosen not to include. In some cases the words used are the author’s opinion, but presumably based upon material he has to hand. However to back up every sentence would make for a much thicker book and not necessarily a better one. Some however would prefer more backing up of statements made and a citation of all documents used. The book does however have a very extensive index, already running in great detail to many pages. McPherson is a well respected scholar who it is to be hoped can ride any criticism of his somewhat erratic referencing. This is not a book aimed at the casual reader, but a scholarly tome. Some knowledge on the part of scholars who read it is therefore assumed. They also have to exercise a degree of trust in McPherson’s scholastic integrity. References Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Retrieved on 28th March 2011 from http://international.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alser.html Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved on 28th March 2011 from http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/alincoln.html Abraham Lincoln Biography. Who2. Retrieved on 28th March 2011 from http://www.who2.com/ask/abrahamlincoln.html Allen, J. Reconstruction: The Battle for Democracy 1865-1876. New York. p. 149. Bell, W, (1952). The Life of Billy Yank. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co. Dunan, M. (General Editor). (1981). The Larousse Encyclopaedia of Modern History. London and New York: Hamlyn. Eidson, W. (April 1988). Recent Scholarship on the Lincoln Assassination. The Filson Club History Quarterly 62. Hanchett, W. (1983). The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies. Urbana III, Tidwell, W., Hall, J., and Geddy, D. (1988). Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Jackson, Miss. Hinsdale, M. (1949). Garfield to Hinsdale, Jan. 22, 1860, Jan. 15, 1861, Hinsdale to Garfield, Jan. 8, 1860, Jan. 13, 1861, in Mary A. Hinsdale, ed., Garfield-Hinsdale Letters (Ann Arbor, ). p. 49, 55, 47, 52. Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States, signed by Abraham Lincoln and Congress. (1st February, 1865). Library of Congress. Retrieved on 25th March 2011 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal3/436/4361100/malpage.db&recNum=0 Keller, M. (1977). Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America. Mass: Cambridge University Press. p. 2. McMurray, R. (1989). Two Great Rebel Armies: An Essay in confederate Military History. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. McPherson, J. (1992). Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. McPherson J. and Hogue, J. (2009). Ordeal by Fire, The Civil War and Reconstruction. 4th Edition. Illinois: McGraw-hill. Nicolay, J. (January 31st 1865). Telegram to Abraham Lincoln. Library of Congress. Retrieved on 25th March 2011, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal1/403/4037900/malpage.db&recNum=0 Padover, S. (1937). ed. and trans. Karl Marx on America and the Civil War. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company. p. 263, 264, 272, 260, 237. Paul, D. (n.d.). We are not the savages. First Nation History. Retrieved on 25th March 2011 from http://www.danielnpaul.com/PresidentAbrahamLincoln-SlaveryAbolished.html Polkinghorne, R.K. and M.I.R. (1960). Tales the Years Tell. New York: George Happap & Co Ltd. United States War Department, Moody J. et al. (1897). The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 49 (part1). Washington, Government Printing Office. Retrieved on 28th March 2011from http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moawar;idno=waro0103 Read More