Lincoln and Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages (original) (raw)
Related papers
Democracy for All and All for Democracy: Lincoln as a Man of Hope
Many scholars have rightly been interested in Abraham Lincoln's thoughts on 'political religion.' His writings are glazed with his own individual religiosity---not that of any established church---making it a worthy and ambitious endeavor to pin down and articulate the components of Lincoln's conscience during the various phases of his life.
“My Ancient Faith”: Abraham Lincoln’s Response to the Jeffersonian Problem
Polity, 2022
In this paper I consider the "Jeffersonian problem": whether one generation has the right to bind future generations to an inherited constitutional order. Thomas Jefferson's challenge rests on fundamental democratic principles of equality and consent, and therefore-while there may be substantial pragmatic reasons to be wary of his argument-any response must also remain true to those moral ideals. I argue that through the crisis of slavery and the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was compelled to revisit the basis of the American political regime, and in doing so articulated a conception of democratic politics that answers Jefferson's challenge. He does so in two ways: first, Lincoln's political religion revives reverence for the ancestral in a democratic context; second, Lincoln's concept of rededication allows each generation to affirm that revered past while simultaneously manifesting its own sovereign power through novel applications of past principle. I conclude by arguing that the inclusion of generational obligations is essential to democratic politics and that Lincoln's approach provides the best means of doing so.
The Bread She Earns With Her Own Hands: An Examination of Lincoln's Political Economy
This dissertation focuses on how Abraham Lincoln's idea of "liberty to all" affected his political thought about the intersection of government and the economy. It is a search for Lincoln's political economy. While contemporary economists focus on a single aspect of the person such as self-interest, Lincoln following thinkers such as Francis Wayland viewed economics as a moral science. I do this by examining the speeches and deeds of Abraham Lincoln. I explore topics such as what he meant by "liberty to all", his valuing of a commercial society over an agrarian one, and his understanding of the importance of free labor in terms of Lincoln's thinking on theology and natural rights. Additionally, I examine Lincoln on what the US Constitution allows the national government to do to promote economic prosperity and the role political parties play on these policies. Lastly, I consider several thinkers from the Progressive Era and how they understood Lincoln and considered themselves to be impacted by his administration. My goal is to understand not just what Lincoln was against, i.e. slavery but what Lincoln was for; free labor and what he thought the national government should do to support its cause. 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION His occupying the chair of state was a triumph of the good sense of mankind, and of the public conscience. This middle-class country had got a middle-class president, at last. Yes, in manners and sympathies, but not in powers, for his powers were superior. This man grew according to the need. His mind mastered the problem of the day; and as the problem grew, so did his comprehension of it. Rarely was man so fitted to the event. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln There is little doubt that the Civil War marks a dramatic moment in the political development of the United States and that Abraham Lincoln had much to do with these changes. Certainly, it is the end of slavery, the start of the national government exercising considerably more of its power, and the triumph of Northern free labor and capitalism. Lincoln is often appreciated as the man who insisted that the equality of "all men" in the Declaration of Independence included all men. He was also president when the national government began doing considerably more than it had previously done. The Lincoln Presidency marks the restart of national banking, along with the beginning of the transcontinental railroad, land grant colleges, the Department of Agriculture, and the homesteading act to name a few national government innovations. The sub-field of political theory, within political science, has developed a considerable amount of literature about Lincoln's dedication to the proposition that all men are created equal and his leadership in ending slavery. What has not occurred is an exploration of what these new actions of the national government, that are not related to slavery, had to do with the principle of liberty to all. In this dissertation, I seek the connection between this new role of the national government and the idea that all men are created equal and to place these notions within the American political tradition. While the actions are new, they are a long time coming. The Lincoln Presidency marks the triumph of the responsibility side of American politics that Karl
Lincoln, 2012
Political Writings and Speeches Abraham Lincoln occupies a unique place in the American pantheon. Symbol, sage, myth, and martyr, he is an American icon-Honest Abe and The Great Emancipator, a Janus-faced demigod sculpted in marble. But this is the post-assassination Lincoln. During his lifetime Lincoln elicited very different reactions. The writings and speeches presented in this scholarly edition illuminate Lincoln as a political thinker in the context of his own time and political situation. Opening with a concise yet rich introduction, the texts that follow are complete and carefully edited, with extensive annotation and footnotes to provide a clearer insight into Lincoln the man, the politician, and the political thinker. His views on race and slavery, on secession and civil war, and on the contradiction (as he saw it) between the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal") and the original Constitution (which condones slavery) are laid out in Lincoln's own well-crafted words.
Lincoln's Romantic Political Thought: Law, Political Religion, and Slavery
Abraham Lincoln’s political thought is an important turning point in American political ideas and practices. For Harry Jaffa, Lincoln represented a return to the principles of the Declaration of Independence while Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey saw him derailing the American political tradition. More recently Joseph R. Fornieri has portrayed Lincoln’s enduring legacy as a product of his status as a “philosopher statesman” rather than a pragmatist and Grant N. Havers has demonstrated the centrality of “charity” to his political religion. In a new book on his political thought, George Kateb has also added Lincoln to Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman as an innovator in the development of “democratic individuality,” and maintains the secularity of Lincoln’s political religion. What has not been addressed directly by political theorists, however, is the distinctly “Romantic” bent of Lincoln’s political thought. Despite his fidelity to the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s evocations of “natural” or “human” rights are quite limited and although he was deeply influenced by Enlightenment radicals like Paine and Volney, his unorthodox religious language has little in common with their anti-clericalism. Rather, Lincoln’s political thought should be understood in a mid 19th century intellectual context where Romantic political ideas could be found throughout American culture. The Romanticism of literary figures like Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, and its formative effect on the Transcendentalist movement and Second Great Awakening has been well documented, but its influence on American politics has been understudied. Lincoln was part of a generation of political thinkers and actors that was forced to rethink the Enlightenment and classical ideals of the Founders in the context of slavery. Liberal Enlightenment ideals like the natural right to property and the rule of law had been used to defend slavery intellectually while liberal and democratic institutions had been captured by slave power. Perhaps most disturbing to Lincoln and his generation was that this seizure was possible because of the legalism inherent in the liberal institutions of the founding. Lincoln’s political thought represents a Romantic renewal of Enlightenment liberalism in a time of crisis, one that reimagined law, rights, and democratic institutions as a kind of “political religion,” with an emotional and aesthetic appeal instead of a cold, impersonal, unlovely, and instrumental means for preserving liberty.
Madison, Lincoln, and Civic Education
Expositions, 2016
All political regimes face the challenge of preserving themselves. External threats can be dangerous but in most cases they are also obvious; the more subtle challenge is sustaining the integrity of the regime itself. In a constitutional republic such as the United States, this requires maintenance of political institutions to be sure, but also-and more fundamentally-the proper attachment of the people to the Constitution. Can such attachment be cultivated without undermining the principles of self-government? While democratic theorists in America going back at least as far as Jefferson have worried that enduring constitutional forms prevent authentic democratic rule, my purpose here is to compare two well-known texts that answer the question in the affirmative, James Madison's Federalist 49 and Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address. 1 Both texts are covered with scholarly tracks, many of which are enlightening. Most debate on each involves placing the respective arguments in the broader theories and careers of their authors. Scholars debate, for example, the extent to which Madison was a sincere democrat. 2 Federalist 49 is often pointed to as an example of his hesitancy to endorse popular will without first sifting it through institutional channels. It seems to be the clearest public distancing Madison puts between himself and Thomas Jefferson's idea that the land belongs to the living. 3 Likewise, most of the scholarship on the Lyceum Address involves bigger questions about Lincoln's thought and political aspirations. 4 Notably, Harry Jaffa gives pride of place to the address in his Crisis of the House Divided, arguing that the speech shows us the extent to which Lincoln was consciously preparing for the role of savior he would later play as president. 5 Lincoln, Jaffa argues, appreciated the founding but thought it was incomplete. Not enough room was left for natural right, making the prohibition of slavery virtually impossible. Jaffa sees the young Lincoln making the case not just for freedom, but for virtues like magnanimity, prudence, and justice that are necessary to sustain freedom. My reading of the Lyceum Address leads me to agree that Lincoln thought the founding was incomplete, though on a narrower scale than that suggested by Jaffa's early work on Lincoln. I
Lincoln and the Constitution: A Unionist for the Sake of Liberty
Journal of Supreme Court History, 2010
Ever true to Liberty, the Union, and the Constitution-true to Liberty, not selfishly, but upon principle-not for special classes of men, but for all men; true to the Union and the Constitution, as the best means to advance that liberty.