Abraham Lincoln - Essay Example

Order: 285235 Abraham Lincoln Had Abraham Lincoln died in the spring of 1860, he would today be a forgotten man; it was his handling of the greatest crisis ever faced by America that sparked the continuing interest in his life. (Neely, Mark E. Jr.; "The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America"; Harvard University Press; pp.5). "Whatever made Lincoln's life memorable occurred in the brief but eventful time between the summer of 1860 and the spring of 1865." (Neely, Mark E, Jr.; "The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America"; Harvard University Press; pp.5). "With the possible exception of the depth of Confederate resolve, nothing shaped the Civil War more than the United States Constitution." (Neely, Mark E, Jr.; "The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America"; Harvard University Press; pp.91) "The four-year presidential term assured that Lincoln would be in office throughout the war's duration. The Constitution 'put the army and the navy in the hands of a determined Republican commander-in-chief." (Neely, Mark E, Jr.; "The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America"; Harvard University Press; pp.91-92) Little wonder, therefore, that "Lincoln was the only United States President whose entire time in office was bounded by war". (McPherson, James M.; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.5). His administration synchronized with "the crisis created by South Carolina's blockade of Fort Sumter, and ended with his assassination five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox; at his death, Confederate armies were still in the field". (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.5). "A militia captain who had seen no action in the Blackhawk War of 1832, Lincoln created the role of presidential commander-in-chief." (McPherson, James M., "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.6-7) But perhaps worse were the problems of logistics, personnel and politics. "The logistical disadvantage was clear: the 11 Confederate States covered a territory of more than 750,000 square miles. Like the original 13 colonies during the American Revolution, to secure independence all they needed was to defend their territory; the Union forces had to dislodge them while fighting through hostile countryside." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp. 15-16).The personnel disadvantage was that "at the outbreak of hostilities, the military was overwhelmingly Southern, and three quarters of the officer corps were Democrats. And then, there was the question of competence: when Lincoln assumed office, the general-in-chief was Winfield Scott, 75 years old, weighing over 300 pounds, suffering from edema and vertigo, and with a disconcerting propensity to fall asleep during meetings." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.17-18). In the political realm, Lincoln was forced to deal with "political appointee generals of limited military skills, chosen because their local following enabled them to raise troops in the days before the Union instituted a draft". (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.18-19) Both political leaders and political press, especially the influential Horace Greeley of The New York Tribune, anticipated "Lincoln's every move, particularly on emancipation; further, as Union losses surged, and Lincoln had to navigate a rising anti-war movement among Democrats sympathetic both to the South and to slavery, a movement that raised doubt about his prospects for re-election." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.20-21) As chief executive, Lincoln "defined the nation's war aims: to preserve the Federal Union and the country as a republic based on majority rule; he coined the term 'war powers' to justify extra-constitutional executive acts like raising troops and blockading Confederate ports before Congress authorized hostilities, and suspension of habeas corpus (held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a decision that Lincoln ignored), and arbitrary arrests of civilian Confederate sympathizers operating in the North, some of whom were then tried by military courts and subsequently imprisoned". (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.22-25). "Lincoln left no doubt of his convictions concerning the correct definition of liberty, and as commander-in-chief of an army of one million men armed with the most advanced weapons in the world he wielded a great deal of power. (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.31-32). "In April 1864 this army was about to launch offensives that would produce casualties and destruction unprecedented even in this war that brought death to more Americans than all the country's other wars combined. Yet this was done in the name of liberty, to preserve the republic 'conceived in liberty', and to bring "a new birth of freedom' to the slaves." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; 136-137) "Power was (to be) the protector of liberty, not its enemy, except to the liberty of those who wished to do as they pleased with the product of other men's labor." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A Presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; 136-137). Lincoln's approach to slavery illustrated the complex interplay of politics and strategy in prosecution of the war; "to ensure border support, he early insisted that the war was intended solely to preserve the Union. (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.24-25). "This required both a national and a military policy of leaving slavery alone. However, as it became clear that slave labor sustained the Confederate economy and armies, Northern opinion began to recognize that abolition of slavery was a necessary part of a war strategy that would target enemy resources, and, eventually, with the use of black troops and labor, turn them to Union advantage." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; 24-25) Abolitionist Frederick Douglas understood Lincoln's commitment. In his 1876 speech dedicating the Freedmen's monument in Lincoln Park east of the United States capital, he said: "Lincoln's great mission was to save his country from dismemberment and ruin, and, to free his country from slavery. Had he put the abolition of slavery before the salvation of the Union, he would have inevitably driven from him a powerful class of Americans and rendered resistance to rebellion impossible." (Greenberg, Martin H. and Waugh, Charles G; "The Price of Freedom and Slavery", Vol.1) "The Emancipation Proclamation was the culmination of a process of turning a war for Union into a war for both Union and freedom." (McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press; pp.24-25). "The more one recognizes the centrality of enslaved and free people of color in the process of emancipation, the more one becomes aware of the significance of Lincoln and his historical document to the people who were most directly affected by its provisions. Despite its shortcomings, contemporary African Americans saw in the Emancipation Proclamation a document with limitless possibilities. To them, it represented the promise not only of freedom and an end to their degradation, but it encouraged the hope for full citizenship and inclusion in the country of their birth as well. Although liberating in theory rather than in reality, people of color saw the proclamation as a watershed in their quest for human dignity, and recognition as Americans." (Greenberg, Martin H. & Waugh, Charles G. Editor, "The Price of Freedom: Slavery and the Civil War. Vol. II" pp.5-6) "Lincoln might not have made it to the inauguration if he had not done everything pretty much perfectly during his transition period" (Holzer, Harold; "Lincoln, President-elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter- 1960-61"; Powell's Books; pp.1-2). "He first demonstrated his determination and leadership in the Great Secession Winter (the four months between his election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861) when he rejected compromises urged on him by Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, that might have preserved the Union a little longer but would have enshrined slavery for generations." He waged a "shrewd and complex campaign to prevent expansion of slavery while vainly trying to limit secession to a few Deep South States". (Holzer, Harold; "Lincoln, President-elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter, 1860-61"; Powell's Books; pp. 7-8). "During this most dangerous White House transition in American history, the country had two Presidents: one powerless (the President-elect, possessing no constitutional authority); the other paralyzed (the incumbent who refused to act). Through limited, brilliantly timed and crafted public statements, determined private letters, tough political pressure, and personal persuasion, Lincoln guaranteed the integrity of the American political process of majority rule, sounded the death-knell of slavery, and transformed not only his own image but that of the presidency, even while making inevitable the war that would be necessary to make these achievements permanent." (Holzer, Harold; "Lincoln, President-elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter, 1860-61"; Powell's Books; pp.37). Lincoln "had successfully maintained a masterly inactivity and public silence to prevent spread of slavery, privately fought to bar unprincipled compromise, and brilliantly introduced himself to the press and people of the North with a new look, new images, and a new style of informal oratory along a triumphant voyage to the capital. And then, despite a giant step backward at Baltimore that might have crippled less agile leaders, he had recaptured public confidence while harmonizing a balanced cabinet; he had crafted one of the nimblest and most eloquent of all inaugural addresses, one that not only reiterated his devotion to the rule of law and invoked the emotional power of national tradition, but maintained that slavery could be maintained without compromising founding principles." (Holzer, Harold; "Lincoln, President-elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter, 1860-61"; Powell's Books; pp.458) Two other virtues stood Lincoln in good stead: a rare ability to extract even from his avowed rivals praise, however grudging; and, second, magnanimity. "Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas struggled for the heart of Mary Todd, and that provided an unbroken background for the nearly 30 years of stirring, brilliant debates." (Morris, Ray; "The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln's Thirty-year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America"; Simon & Schuster; pp.41-42). "Weakened by political defeat in his long effort to win the presidency, and by physical complaints that would kill him within a few months, the Little Giant Douglas was among the first to meet with the awkward Giant Victor. 'In God's name, act the patriot, and save our children a country to live in,' Douglas said. After assuring his old rival of his personal support, Douglas left, feeling their meeting had been 'peculiarly pleasant'. Later, Lincoln told a visitor a little wistfully: 'What a noble man Douglas is'". (Morris, Ray; "The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln's Thirty-year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America"; Simon & Schuster; pp.43-45) Bibliography Neely, Mark E; "The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America"; Harvard University Press.) McPherson, James M; "Abraham Lincoln: A presidential Life"; Oxford University Press. Greenberg, Martin H. &Waugh, Charles G; "The Price of Freedom and Slavery"; Vol.1 Holzer, Harold; "Lincoln, President-elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter, 1860-61"; Powell's Books. Ray, Morris; "The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln's Thirty-year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America"; Simon & Schuster Greenberg, Martin H, & Waugh, Charles G; Editor, "The Price of Freedom: Slavery and the Civil War, Vol. II"; pp.5-6 Read More