Just the other day a blogger friend held a poll about what president people thought was the greatest .... now the choices were limited to past [not modern era] presidents. I proudly cast my vote for ole Abe. ON my sabbatical I again visited the A.Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois; as far as I'm concerned it's one of the best.
When the times and circumstances of Lincoln's presidency are considered, his love for his country and the desire to keep it united is hard to equal. True not all his decisions were maybe the best, and granted there were times he stepped outside presidential powers, but what president hasn't done that for the good of the nation, or want of power?
While visiting the museum I was privileged to go thru a magnificent exhibit by Doris Kearns Goodwin's work, 'A Team of Rivals.' Though I have not read her book so my perspective is very limited, as I read the labels it slowly dawned on me that the principle reason for choosing who Lincoln chose is not the perspective through which modern politicans view it ....... but that discussion is for another blog. Let conclude with this exhibit is on until Aug.15, 2011.
Back to the book 'Lincoln As I Knew Him' ... the author, a re-known Lincoln historian has drawn from history the reflections of people from his family, his personal/political friends, co-workers, military personnel, newspaper editors, journalist and authors,and bitter foes to intimate White House officials. The many recollections come from almost every conceivable quarter and offer a varied yet comprehensive picture of the man himself, although Lincoln never wrote about himself and as the author alludes to often, a man who was publicly well-known and following his death set off a great deluge of books/memorabilia about him, but who to this day remains a private mystery. I loved the book and read that final week of my sabbatical. A neat aspect of this collective biography is that the reflections are short and it is an easy read to pick up and lay down .. although it's hard to not finish out a section at the same time.
How did this relate to my spiritual roots? Aside from a couple of stories about my ancestors having business/court relations with the young Lincoln, Abe was convinced as he alluded to several times in his writings that he was divinely destined for his course in life, and that he seriously doubted he would outlive the Civil War and if he did he would not live long .... how true that was. His faith in the rightness of his course, and his personal relationship with his Creator was an inspiration.
LINCOLN AS I KNEW HIM by Harold Holzer. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina. 1999, ISBN: 9781565126817
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You Yankees tend to be a little too sanguine about Lincoln's ability. Yes, he preserved the Union, but alas, the Constitution was shredded in the process, setting the stage for a lot since. Nonetheless, he was certainly successful and no doubt, a good man.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
I stand guilty as accused .. but proudly nonetheless. In the last days of the war it was Abe's wish that Jefferson Davis could escape without recriminations, and by a simple story he told he was telling his people to just end the war and it would greatly please him if they never found Mr.Jefferson
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't dispute his enlightened view viz. Reconstruction. Perhaps it is fortunate that his (Lincoln's) reputation was not tarnished by Congress' unwillingness to go along with dispensing mercy to the South. Andrew Johnson wound up getting impeached for pursuing Lincoln's policies.
ReplyDeleteIn your reply is maybe a 'link' to why we so often worry about those who are going to come behind us .... and rightly so. I'd don't worry so much about my legacy as I do my protege.
ReplyDelete