Lincoln’s Legacy
By Harper Estes
Our 16th President is much in the news these days, even as we
approach the 200th anniversary of his birth. President Barack
Obama, as have many Presidents before him, looks to Abraham Lincoln as a
role model. Our 44th President has again reminded many that this
is a country of great opportunity and anyone can aspire to great things.
Abraham Lincoln has long been held up as proof of that possibility.
In celebrating
the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, we wonder at
the enduring affection we feel for a president who came from “nowhere”
(a log cabin, no less) and served during the most difficult period in our
nation’s history. This affection may stem from the fact that Lincoln was practical,
easily understood (at least on those matters he attempted to communicate),
and he exhibited a foundation of character that enabled him to face challenges
no president has faced before or since.
Lincoln was not perfect.
It would make him less accessible to us as a role model if he had been.
It’s worthwhile, however, to consider what character traits Lincoln exhibited
that we in the 21st century might emulate.
Lincoln held certain
unwavering beliefs. He is credited by many historians with bringing to the
fore again the first principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
He believed in the preservation of a Union
consistent with those principles at any cost. With hindsight, it is easy
to argue that this belief charted the right course. However, at the time
Lincoln
charted and stuck with that course, he was supported by only a fragile coalition
and faced criticism from all sides.
Lincoln led with humility
and humor. He took his job seriously, but never himself. He understood that
much lay beyond his control, but he was always striving to do his best.
Lincoln’s
efforts to persuade Gen. George McClellan to take action early in the Civil
War illustrate his willingness to place progress before pride. Lincoln went time
and again to see McClellan, hat in hand, only to be rebuffed. Although he
did finally fire McClellan, he showed that he was more interested in progress
than prerogative. He put what he understood to be the national interest
ahead of his own.
Lincoln also exhibited
a capacity for growth and a willingness to change. This is evidenced by
his shift from a policy of containing slavery to an eventual goal of ending
slavery. He has been described by historian James McPherson as a “gradual
emancipationist.” McPherson ably argues that Lincoln’s words and conduct must
be viewed in the context of his times and the ultimate goals he sought to
achieve. Lincoln
explained his changing views this way: “The dogmas of the quiet past
are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty
and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew
and act anew.”
Lincoln was
a lawyer. He approached problems thinking like a lawyer. He had a remarkable
facility for translating abstract principles into language most could understand.
But one need not be trained in the law to see Lincoln as a valuable role model.
Each
of us has a role in preserving the first principles expressed in 1776. Our
efforts should be practical, easily understood, and based upon a foundation
of character to withstand difficult challenges.
Imagine
a return to the first principles of the Declaration of Independence led
by ordinary citizens. The issues that divide us are different than in Lincoln’s time,
but the ideals that unite us are perpetual. Lincoln, at Cooper Union, on Feb. 27, 1860,
said: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith,
let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
Lincoln’s place
in history was not fixed by any single event, but rather by a lifetime of
effort resulting in both failure and success. It is a legacy built, in fits
and starts, that each of us has a stake in. Harper Estes is president of the State
Bar of Texas.
He is a lawyer and mediator in Midland.
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