Second, I will be on vacation next Sunday. See you in two weeks.
Third, I give you Abraham Lincoln.
I have always been fascinated with the image and story of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States of America. When I was seven years-old, my family was passing through Washington, D.C. on our way to visit my grandparents in Miami Beach, Florida. I was looking forward to walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to pay my respects. Unfortunately, as a result of an infection in my right knee, I could not climb the steps of the Memorial on this particular trip. Since then, I have made several trips to Washington and I remain in awe of the Lincoln Memorial and what it stands for, the man who preserved the United States of America.
Abraham Lincoln was born 207 years ago this month, in 1809. As a direct result of his election as president (Republican candidate) in November 1860, seven southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) seceded from the Union and formed a separate country, the Confederate States of America. Lincoln was opposed to slavery, an integral part of the economy and culture of the above seven states. However, he clearly stated that if elected president he could do nothing to end slavery since it was an issue of state law, not federal law. Many southern slave-owners distrusted Lincoln and feared his position opposing slavery's expansion westward into the new territories. The sitting president, James Buchanon, while waiting for Lincoln to be inaugurated in March 1861, declared that, while the so-called secession was illegal, there was nothing he could do to force the seven states to return to the fold.
When Lincoln was finally inaugurated, he faced the worst crisis in the history of the USA, an existential threat to its very existence. I believe that, had he followed the advice of his predecessor and allowed the secession to proceed unabated, we would today be, like Europe, fifty independent nations in North America. After all, if these seven states could leave whenever they chose, what was to prevent the remaining states from doing the same thing at some future date when so disposed. Try to imagine Twentieth Century history with no USA, only a large number of mostly small, independent nations in its place.
However, Lincoln decided to initiate an armed struggle to bring an end to the rebellion, as he referred to it. In the four years that followed, over 600,000 Americans were killed as a result of his decision and the decision of those to sever the southern states from the Union. Hundreds of thousands more were injured. Plus, there was a great amount of property devastation.
In the summer of 1864, when the number of casualties was rising and the war seemed to be at a stalemate, there was significant pressure on Lincoln from peace advocates within the Democratic Party (called Copperheads), including its presidential candidate, former Union General George McClellan, to end the bloodshed by ending the war at any price. Lincoln resisted, won re-election in November, and the following April the rebellion collapsed, preserving the Union. Unfortunately, he was assassinated by a southern sympathizer shortly thereafter.
I'm glad Lincoln did what he did and, with the support of millions of Americans who agreed with his desire to keep the Union together, was able to achieve such a noble goal. As he stated in his remarks at the commemoration of the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863, "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead (victims of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863) we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."
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