Abraham Lincoln has been my hero for as long as I can remember. I probably wasn’t even 8 years old when I bought my first book at a garage-sale about America’s 16th president. My interest in his life started as blandly as it could have; I was amazed I shared the same birthday with someone with a pre-marked birthdate on every calendar. As dumb as that is that’s how I first decided he was going to be my hero.
As the years went by and I learned more about Abraham Lincoln I realized my young self was on to something. Now, years later, I’ve read dozens of books about his life, presidency, and assassination and I’ve realized I’m not the only one who has been fascinated by the greatest American to ever live.
So in honor of the man who defeated slavery and kept the union together against all odds and almost entirely by the force of his own will, here are three stories that show why he is one of my heroes.
From sneaking in at night to standing tall by day
Almost everyone knows the story of Lincoln being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth but few people know of the Baltimore Plot. The Baltimore Plot was an assassination plot made against President Lincoln’s life as he made his way to the capital to start his first term as president. It’s an interesting story that involves spies, disguises, and the famous detective Alan Pinkerton and his legendary detective agency.
During the trip from his hometown to Washington D.C. a plot by pro-slavery democrats to kill the president was uncovered. So instead of riding into Baltimore as the newly elected leader Lincoln snuck in by night to take over the highest office in the land. He even let his protectors dress him in a disguise. When people found out their new president had snuck into the capital instead of arriving like a leader, they lambasted him. He was the butt of every political cartoon and joke of the time. It was a lesson Lincoln never forgot.
Lincoln determined his actions spoke directly to his leadership and he determined never again to be talked into acting out of fear. In fact, on more than one occasion Lincoln stood toe to toe with danger in order to bolster the people under his command. On July 2nd 1864 he visited Fort Stevens and stood on the parapet while the confederate army attacked. The officer beside Lincoln was shot and it prompted another soldier to tell Lincoln to “get down or he would have his head knocked off.” That moment still counts as the closest a sitting American president has ever been to enemy fire. By that point Lincoln knew his actions weren’t just his alone, they belonged to the entire cause.
On another occasion, against the strong advice of his Secretary of War and in danger of being shot with every step he took, Lincoln walked the streets of Richmond, the day after the confederate capitol had been won. Lincoln wanted to be there to help mend the wounds of the nation and bolster the strength of his men so he walked the streets of a war zone without protection.
Lincoln never forgot the lesson he learned during his danger fraught arrival to take over the presidency and every opportunity he had after that to show courage he took.
Years later Billy Graham captured this idea when he said, “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand the spines of others are often stiffened.”
Life lesson 1: Fear and courage are both contagious and your message is your lifestyle.
From self-educated child to the greatest president ever
Most people deal with self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy at one time or another. Abraham Lincoln was no exception. Lincoln had no more than one year of combined formal education during his whole life. He was born to a dirt poor farmer who hired him out as child labor to help earn money to feed the family. Lincoln’s father wasn’t interested in education but Abraham was interested in learning. Growing up he read every book he could get his hands on. He memorized long passages from Shakespeare and studiously studied the King James Bible.
His father so discouraged his son Abraham wasting his time with “book learning” that he often beat him for reading instead of working outside. But despite this, Lincoln persevered. He became a prairie lawyer and then a mostly failed politician, until one day the self-educated rail-splitter became the leader that changed the fabric of a nation.
The self-educated Lincoln’s short 272 word Gettysburg address is still considered one of the all-time great works in the english language. Here’s a thought: Every school-child has to learn a speech written by a man who never got the opportunity to be a school-child.
Life lesson 2: Your background doesn’t have to determine your future.
(Education is costly and limited but knowledge and wisdom are free and freely available.)
From agnostic to firm believer in divine help
We know Abraham Lincoln as a man of faith and character. Many people know Lincoln for quotes such as, “we cannot but believe, that he who made the world still governs it.” Yet what people don’t know is that Lincoln went through a time of faithlessness himself. According to several sources he even penned a small agnostic booklet called, “his little book of Infidelity” that has been since lost to history. Lincoln often battled depression and hopelessness and once wrote a poem called “The Suicide Soliloquy,” published anonymously shortly after the death of very, very close friend.
But in the end it was the hard times he suffered in his life that led him to seek a more full understanding of “providence.” Death surrounded Lincoln from early childhood when his mother passed away, through his life as a young man when he lost a close female friend (possibly sweetheart), to adulthood when he lost two sons. By the time he was in the White House and trying to save the union he had already lost most of the people he loved in his life. This drove him to depend on a higher power.
Belief that God was helping him can be found in almost every speech Lincoln gave and work he wrote. During his first inaugural address Lincoln expressed the hope that the war could be avoided by “intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land.”
And as Lincoln left Illinois for his first term he spoke to the crowd about his task being greater than the one George Washington faced. He said, “Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended to
[Washington], I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail.”
Life lesson 3: Life is hard and doubt is human; reliance on a higher power is essential.
Here’s to hoping for a future of great Americans like Lincoln.
P.S. I understand not everyone loves to glean wisdom from the stories of great men and women of history like I do but for the one person reading this who might love knowledge as much as Lincoln, here are some of the best books I’ve read on America’s 16th president; most of the information found in these stories come from them: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is the hefty volume which Spielberg based his film Lincoln on and it’s the most exhaustive and complete work I’ve read. The Hour of Peril by Daniel Stashower tells the full story of the Baltimore Plot in entertaining fashion. And The American Miracle by Michael Medved is one of the top three books on American history I’ve ever read.
