What if history - Essay Example

What if History… Order No. 232457 No. of pages: 2 Premium 6530 History brings alive for its the kaleidoscope of past events, giving glimpses into events that have taken place hundred and thousands of years ago. Seeing things in retrospect helps us to understand these events better and we can evaluate the virtue or vices of the actions. But, nowadays we are often prone to ponder the question, that if an event had changed direction or taken place in another fashion, what would have been its impact on a country and the world, as a whole.

One of the most debated of these “What If” scenarios is about how different would American history have been if Abraham Lincoln had not been shot on that fateful night at the Ford Theater. Abraham Lincoln occupies the most elevated place in the pantheon of American presidents and consistent polls show him occupying the first place in the ranks of most popular Presidents in the USA. On the basis of his leadership qualities, accomplishments, dealing with crises, political skills, oratory, upright character, he towers above all others, by any measure that is applied.

Lincoln had promised the southerners a magnanimous peace, marked by charity to one and all. But this Reconstruction plan was derailed by his assassination. If Lincoln had not been killed, just after being re-elected, he would have led the nation forward with his exemplary zeal. He was a man who stood on principles and was not guided by public opinion. After his death, the leaders of the North became vindictive towards the fallen south. They imposed laws which crippled the Southern States, economy, polity as well as society.

The Black Codes Bill of 1866-1867 was also passed, which forbade slaves from owning land or leaving their present employment. His successor Johnson vetoed the Freedmens Bureau as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which gave blacks the right to vote. Most historians agree that such punishment as was meted out to the Southerners would not have seen the light of day under the stewardship of Lincoln Lincoln’s greatest achievement was the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ made on Jan 1st 1863, that freed slaves in the Confederate states.

But to the misfortune of the slaves, the man who would lead them to complete freedom was gunned down. It is a most compelling motion, that had Lincoln been alive, after the surrender of General Lee, the integration of African-American, or the slaves, into the mainstream would have been quicker and absolute. The Affirmative Action policy of the 20th century would not have been required, because Lincoln was emphatic that all human beings should be treated as equals. Lincoln has been hailed as the “Great Emancipator” as well as “law giver” to African Americans.

The American constitution may have not been the same document it is today, if Abraham Lincoln had completed his second term as President. This conjecture is based on Lincoln’s style of running the government, where he made it clear that, it is was the President’s bounden duty to preserve the well-being and survival of the nation, in times of war, and for this he was not answerable to anybody. Lincoln considered the office of President as a responsibility given to him and which he was bound to “preserve, protect and defend.

” As a backlash after forty years after his death, the Congress and the courts overshadowed the White House in power and influenced, an atmosphere impossible to envisage, if Lincoln had lived. Abraham Lincoln’s greatest legacy was to stir the nation’s consciousness and show them that humanity towards ones fellow beings was the way to achieve greatness. A leader felled by an assassin’s bullet is already a martyr, but the halo around Abraham Lincoln is the reverence accorded to a man of exceptional character and morals.

Without a doubt, the landscape of American history would have been a much smoother terrain had Lincoln lived to complete his second term in office. "Posterity will see in him a greater man than his contemporaries can acknowledge", read an editorial following his death and how prophetic those words were.References:American President: Abraham Lincoln: Impact and Legacy http://www.millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/lincoln/essays/biography/9Memory and History - by Phillip Shaw Paludan - Illinois Issueshttp://www.

illinoisissues.uis.edu/features/2003nov/lincoln.html