It has been 175 years since Abraham Lincoln was born in a Kentucky cabin, Feb. 12, 1809. Indeed nearly 119 years have passed since his years as America’s 16th president were abruptly ended by the tragic assassination at Ford’s Theatre.
But Lincoln’s imprint still lingers in the legacy of his resolve and leadership to reunify and preserve the nation and in his eloquent words that are still meaningful today, generations after they were spoken.
For years before Lincoln took office, North-South sectionalism had been building over a series of differences. Slavery dominated all other issues.
The divisive situation exploded Dec. 20, 1860, after Lincoln’s election, with South Carolina’s secession from the Union.
Between then and Lincoln’s inauguration March 4, 1861 six other states seceded. Four more pulled out later, joining an independent government called the Confederate States. That left 23 northern and western states in support of the Union.
The Civil War that followed remains a lamentable chapter in American history. Yet there shines from those page a story of courage, valiant struggle and persevering leadership amid monumental difficulties.
Lincoln reiterated his commitment to preserve the “new nation conceived in liberty” in his Gettysburg address Nov. 19, 1863, resolving “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
History memorializes the Gettysburg speech as one of the greatest gems of oratory. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address stands as another hallmark. In the words of Frederick G. Packard Jr., its final paragraph is ”a lasting memorial to, and a perfect portrait of Lincoln’s great soul.”
“With malice toward none,” the paragraph begins, “with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”
In his prize-winning biography on Lincoln, Carl Sandburg recounted that as the President concluded, “reporters noticed many moist eyes, and here and there tears coursing down faces unashamed of emotion.”
Lincoln lived to see the war’s end, with the nation on the brink of reunification – his cherished dreams. But the rejoicing was hardly over when on the evening of April 14, 1865 – an assassins bullet denied him the opportunity to preside over the reconstruction period.
The 16th President is still widely quoted after all these years – great words from his addresses, his folksy anecdotes, his pithy words of wisdom.
One of this writer’s favorite Lincoln passages came from his December 1862 speech to Congress asking support for his program of emancipation for the slaves and charging those “who hold the power and bear the responsibility” to do their duty.
“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history,” be said in his key line. “We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”
These words offer a challenge, even today, to all who serve the public trust.