LITR 4232: American Renaissance
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Student Presentation, spring 2001

Reader: Robert Buffum

Discussion notes: Sonja Phillips

Tuesday, 17 April 2001

Abraham Lincoln, "Gettysburg Address" &

"Second Inaugural Address"

President Lincoln was an avid reader, collecting ideas from many different writers of the American Renaissance. I want to quote from two of the writers of the age to show that their ideals of social activism pushed Lincoln to make up his mind about his policy decisions as President. Lincoln was known as a "black republican" who was hated by both sides of the aisle in politics. Pushing forward any action to free the slaves made him an abolitionist sympathizer. On the other hand, he was known to be very slow to move to political action, but once he did he went forward with diligence. Lincoln’s whole political vision was to keep the country together as a nation. There are speeches where he did not want to be involved in the slavery issue. Unless he was pushed into it, he would have rather left that situation alone. He had to push to a higher level of making the Declaration of Independence where "all men are equal’ a new reality. This would consist of even breaking constitutional law to achieve that goal.

John Stuart Mill wrote Liberty in 1863 to elaborate on the relationship of the individual compared to the oppression of society. Mill writes, " It is now perceived that such phrases as ‘self government’, and ‘the power of the people over themselves’, do not express the true state of the case. The ‘people’ who exercise the power are not always the same people with those over whom it is exercised" (Mill 6). He goes on to say, " The will of the people, moreover, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves as the majority, and may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this as against any other abuse of power. The ‘tyranny of the majority’ is now generally included among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard" (Mill 7). Mill is expressing the danger of a group known as the ‘majority’ to push its own agenda, such as slavery, for its own political and economic gain. Mill wants to warn us of ‘the majority’ having free power over the individual and his rights. The individual in Mill’s mind is sovereign.

Henry David Thoreau follows Mill’s line of thought in Civil Disobedience. Thoreau writes, "Governments show how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it" (Thoreau 83-84). Thoreau also speaks of the ‘tyranny of the majority’ to have free power over the individual and his beliefs and ideals.

In the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln is reaching for a higher ideal or law, which the country must follow. He must lead the country through a political crisis where the moral law is in line with the written law. Lincoln also uses biblical language to impose on the public the authority, which stands behind this higher ideal. Lincoln must complete what the originators of the country started. The forefathers put these higher ideals into written law, and Lincoln must make sure that they become in their ideals a reality for all men and women.

Discussion:

Dr. White: What is the higher law that you are relating to?

Robert: The ideal of the Constitution ‘written law’ was pushed forward to become a fact for each individual as far as rights were concerned. Lincoln had to break the letter of the law to achieve the spirit of the law.

Keely: Lincoln was used as a Christian image for the minorities. He becomes the sacrificial lamb. He knew it was the ultimate sacrifice to push for equality.

Robert: Almost as if it was his destiny to take this stand at any cost.

Lynn: We have seen this over and over in our readings. Stowe, Thoreau, Lincoln, activist for pushing for civil disobedience during a political crisis. Even modern day examples of Martin Luther King, Jr., all pushing for the spirit of the law over the written law.

Dr. White: Extending these rights to people who didn’t have them before. If you had rights you were protected, but if not, you were lost to the system.

Cleo: Martin Luther King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail represents this higher law of interpretation. Like Lincoln, he was an activist pushing for the rights of the individual.

Sheila: Lincoln represents himself as an Old Testament prophet in his speech. He uses the tone of the spiritual to emphasize his points in his speech.

Dr. White: Remember, his first name was Abraham.

Sources:

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. New York; Bantam; 1993.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden and Other Writings. New York; Bantam; 1981.