The Civil War Political Tradition: Ten Portraits of Those Who Formed It by Paul D. Escott;

Author:Paul D. Escott; [Escott, Paul D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS036040 HISTORY / United States / 19th Century
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 3)

Abraham Lincoln

Riding the Storm to Historic Progress

Abraham Lincoln revered Henry Clay. He called the Great Compromiser his “beau ideal” of a statesman, and after Clay died Lincoln played a similarly large role in the prewar sectional conflict. But Lincoln’s goal was different from that of Clay or John C. Calhoun or Stephen Douglas. He did not seek a compromise that would placate North and South—he sought a solution. Lincoln believed that the United States had to resolve its contradictory commitments to freedom and to slavery. More than any of the other prominent officeholders described here, he faced the problem squarely, and his solution was to place slavery “in the course of ultimate extinction.” Although he specified no timetable, he was categorical that slavery must not expand, nor should it receive any favors from the national government. Instead of an evasive or short-term compromise, he fought for an outcome in the long-term that honored the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

Yet Lincoln was also a complex, multifaceted, and cautious politician. Ambition and idealism vied for attention in his agenda, and caution or watchful waiting often determined his strategy for the future. The competition between these emotions made him capable of moving appeals, prudent hesitation, or questionable and alarmist tactics to gain office. Contradictions were part of his political career. He led a Republican Party that deepened sectional division, yet he fled from being labeled radical or abolitionist. He cherished the Declaration of Independence and its proclamation that “all men are created equal,” but he repeatedly urged colonization of Black people outside of white America. He appealed to northern Democrats and offered many olive branches to southern rebels, but he also acted on the opportunity to impose great change.

Amid unpredictable, disorienting events, President Lincoln’s policies alternated between moderation and opportunistic progress. He conducted himself very much as a centrist, yet he ultimately became the agent of historic change. Lincoln rode the storm until the right time to act arrived, and although as president he sometimes kept his ideals largely to himself, he grew in morality and leadership. Lincoln, the cautious politician, remained in touch with the divergent values of the citizenry but also articulated and acted on a higher vision to which later generations could aspire. Tracing the main lines of his policies illuminates the contest between morality and practical politics, between the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the reality of racism and white supremacy.

Abraham Lincoln began his political career in the Illinois House of Representatives. There he learned a lot about political competition, but his record was not especially distinguished. He championed an internal improvements scheme that was so wildly ambitious that Illinois had to suspend payment on its bonds and needed decades to retire the debt. In 1837 he made his first comment on the national issue of slavery. After Calhoun and his southern allies imposed the gag rule on Congress, Lincoln and another legislator issued a protest that “slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.