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Abraham Lincoln and the Soul of America

© Brian Tubbs

This series of the greatest champions of America's founding principles is nearing its conclusion. Over the last few installments, we have profiled some of the greatest individuals in our nation's history. Yet none can compare to the towering achievements and legacies of these final two men. They are without peer in the annals of our nation's history.

Number Two: Abraham Lincoln

Of all the Americans profiled in this series, none is both as revered and reviled as our second-place finisher, the man who carries as part of his legacy the bloodiest and most soul-wrenching period in American history. Yet no man (save the one who comes in at Number One in our countdown) embraced that soul with more reverence than the sixteenth President of the United States.

Becoming the President represented a gigantic milestone in the life and unlikely political odyssey of Abraham Lincoln. The lanky backwoods attorney, a failed politician in earlier years, had come to the presidency almost on a fluke. The opposition party had divided between the Upper and Lower South over whether the federal government should guarantee the expansion of slavery in the new territories. The former opposed such a coerced extension. The latter supported it...uncompromisingly.

With the Democratic Party thus split, the newly formed Republican Party posted a plurality in the popular vote and carried enough electoral votes to claim the presidency in only its second outing.

Beginning with South Carolina, the states of the Deep South responded to Lincoln's election by renouncing their allegiance to the United States Constitution. Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, yet the states of the United States were no longer united.

In his Inaugural Address, President Lincoln assured the South he would not interfere with slavery within their borders, pointing out that he lacked the legal authority to do so. He denounced as unfounded the "apprehension" of those southerners who feared for their "property, and their peace, and personal security." On the contrary, he promised that "all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section as to another."

Modern critics of Lincoln point to this concession as an example of his apparent lack of commitment to the cause of civil rights. This is an unfair charge, and ignores the context of Lincoln's remarks.

Lincoln's position on slavery is, in some ways, complex, but it was also clearly grounded on sound legal principle and political reality.

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