Reacquainting myself with Mr. Lincoln

As an undergraduate history major, I was in love with President Lincoln. His deep moral conviction inspired me more than any other historical figure I encountered. Then, through the '90s and '00s, while teaching primarily AP Government, I sort of lost touch with Lincoln as I was focused on other figures, subjects, and issues in my professional and personal reading.

Over the last two years though, I'm back to teaching American History, and also a course called American Political Thought. And I'm back to reading Lincoln, frequently and enthusiastically.  Reacquainting myself with his writings has been inspiring, and has me thinking about our country, and current affairs in general, in new (old) ways.

In class today, we were discussing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his deep love for the Declaration of Independence.  Lincoln believed it to be the "apple of gold" (a kind of gift from the Founders to all of us), and referred to its principles as our nation's "ancient faith".   Speaking on the Dred Scott decision he laid out exactly what he believed to be the significance of the Declaration:

"I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men... equal in 'certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people..."

That maxim, or self-evident truth that all people are created equal with regard to natural rights is very much at issue today.  Whether the issue is public services for undocumented migrant workers, gay marriage, or fair trials for Guantanamo detainees, we come back to this maxim.  If all people are equal in their natural rights, how must our policies reflect this truth?

Lincoln faced greater difficulties with disagreement over equality and natural rights than perhaps any other American president, or national historical figure.  He was elected to lead a country about to disintegrate, with nearly half its member states committed to inequality for Black Americans as a permanent status.  For us then, dealing with complicated issues of equality, we would do well to consider his thinking on the topic.  Lincoln was clear that the purpose of our nation is justice, as he explained in the Gettysburg Address:

...our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure... from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain...

Lincoln knew that equality of natural rights as a foundation for national government was not something ever attempted before in Europe or elsewhere.  For him, the union represented a test of a proposition - an experiment in justice, if you will.  And for it to work, we must be constantly dedicated to it.  To not do so, would allow, in Lincoln's words, the dead to "have died in vain".

So in this year of Lincoln's 200th birthday, I urge you to consider the real purpose of our national experiment and apply the self-evident truth to questions of justice.  If you can do that, you'll be acting in the spirit of one of our true national heroes.  More importantly, as Lincoln believed, you'll be acting morally.