By
Bob Cox
America’s
16th
president was much more than that bearded guy looking back at us on
the five dollar bill. He was an extraordinary individual who
persevered in spite of numerous imperfections.
Abraham
Lincoln suffered the bulk of his life with "melancholy,"
a condition which we now call clinical
depression. He was considered lazy by many of his neighbors and
family members during his childhood. They believed that Lincoln
disliked the chores of frontier life so much, he would sneak away to
read or write in order to avoid manual labor. On top of all that, his
formal schooling was estimated to have been less than a year.
Historians
have speculated that his melancholy disorder was exacerbated by the
rigors of growing up on the frontier. The mortality rate in those
difficult conditions was extremely high. During his lifetime, Lincoln
would go on to survive the deaths of several close relatives. Among
those were his infant brother Thomas, his mother (when he was nine
years old), his sister Sarah and his first girlfriend, Ann
Rutledge. Later in life, he endured the tragic loss of two of his
four sons, Edward (age 3) and Willie (age 11).
What
historians do know was that Lincoln was primarily self-taught as he
cultivated a lifelong passion for reading and learning. Fortunately
for future generations, Lincoln did not allow his limited formal
education to stand in the way of becoming a pioneer of civil rights
and one of the greatest presidents in American history.
His
greatest accomplishment during his years as President of the United
States was his unwavering leadership during the Civil War. As the
Commander-in-Chief, he helped preserve the union while also
abolishing slavery. While his initial primary goal was to reunite the
union at any cost, Lincoln would go on to redefine the Civil War as a
struggle for the principles of equality, freedom and justice for all.
During
the war, he issued The Emancipation
Proclamation
on January 1, 1863. This was an executive
order
which changed the legal status of 3 million slaves in the South from
"slave" to "free." Eleven months and eighteen
days later, he delivered one of the most riveting speeches in
American history near the battleground of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Those 271 words were delivered in just over two minutes on the
afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863. His words gave our war torn
nation a renewed sense of energy, purpose and determination to
persevere.
Lincoln
began the Gettysburg Address by integrating the timeless principles
of human equality embraced in our Declaration
of Independence:
Four
score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent
a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal...
The
Civil War may have ended a century and a half ago, but the battle for
freedom and equality rages on. With recent events like those that
took place in Charleston, South Carolina, we clearly have a long way
to go to end the war against racism. Fortunately, because of the
courage and sacrifices of Abraham Lincoln and the brave soldiers that
served under him, our world; despite all its flaws is a better place
to live.
Abraham
Lincoln wasn’t the first person marred by character flaws nor will
he be the last. And yet, despite those limitations or perhaps because
of them, he found the inner wisdom and strength to stand up for what
he knew in his heart was right and changed the course of human
history forever. That was Lincoln’s legacy. What will be ours?
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