Things I like about Lincoln:
- He Was A Bad Lawyer! Not really bad, but as a lawyer Lincoln argued better and more convincingly when he himself was convinced that his client was right. This somehow charms me… it’s a weakness as far as lawyering goes, but it also seems like the result of having a strong moral compass—an admirable quality.
- He Was A Serial Loser! Lincoln lost plenty of political campaigns before winning the presidency: he lost a campaign for state legislature in 1832 (but won when he ran again in 1834 on the Whig ticket); he lost the Whig nomination for Congress in 1843 and again in 1844 (but won when he presented himself in 1846); he lost the nomination for Congress again in 1854 (but succeeded in getting a colleague who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act elected); he won the nomination but lost the election for U.S. Senate to Stephen Douglas in 1858… and finally won the presidency in 1860 without actively campaign for himself! It was considered unseemly at the time for presidential candidates to campaign.
- The Lincoln-Douglas Debates—Enough Said! The story of Lincoln's debates with Douglas during their race for Senate is inspiring. Compared to modern political debates (over-produced, glossy, lacking in substance, filled with nonsense about flag pins and Joe the Plumber) these debates seem AWESOME. They actually debated real, hard issues (e.g. slavery) in front of real people (i.e. not neutered audiences). According to World Book, both men also toured extensively making speeches on their own while doing the debates. “Before the exhausting campaign ended, Douglas’ deep bass voice had become so husky that it was hard to understand him. Lincoln’s high, penetrating voice still reached the limits of a large audience.” The debates made Lincoln famous across the nation.
- Insane Presidential Power Grabs! Lincoln took the oath of office and became the 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861. Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Lincoln responded within two weeks by proclaiming a blockade on Southern ports, expanding the army beyond the limits of the law, suspending habeas corpus in areas where Southern sympathizers were active, and ordering the spending of federal funds without waiting for congressional appropriations. All this to prevent the Union from breaking into pieces. That Abe Lincoln fella was a ballsy man. Ballsy, I tell you!
- He Was Accessible! As president, Lincoln saw everyone who called upon the White House--including widows and soldiers--and he insisted on writing most of his own letters and all of his speeches. He also made frequent visits to army hospitals (World Book says these visits “tore his gentle heart”).
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in late 1862, freeing slaves in Confederate territory. The proclamation didn’t have an immediate effect, since mid-war there was no way for federal officers to enforce it, but it had tremendous long-range effect, paving the way for the Thirteenth Amendment. By 1864, when Lincoln was up for reelection, his popularity had seriously waned—but a series of Union victories turned popular opinion and Lincoln was elected to a second term. He took his second oath of office on March 4, 1865—his face, “gaunt and deeply lined,” bore the effect of four years of war. The war ended on April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lincoln was assassinated a little over a week later on the evening of April 15, 1865 while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a prominent stage actor. After Lincoln’s death, “even his enemies praised his kindly spirit and selflessness. Millions of people called him ‘Father Abraham.’”
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