LHM Director Anne Moseley - The leaders from whom Abraham Lincoln drew inspiration

 

[February 26, 2019] 

Abraham Lincoln’s words and deeds have been an inspiration for generations of Americans. Over eighteen thousand books have been written about him. Yet little has been said about the great Americans who preceded him, and whose actions inspired Mr. Lincoln.

The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society invited Anne Moseley to their February meeting to speak about Abraham Lincoln’s predecessors from whom he took inspiration. Anne is the director and curator of the Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College, and her topic was “Lincoln and the Founding Fathers.”

Mr. Lincoln believed that the Declaration of Independence was the most important document crafted by the founding fathers. “To Abraham Lincoln, the Declaration of Independence was more important than the Constitution because the Declaration represented a covenant between the government and the people,” said Moseley.

She went on to say that the Declaration of Independence spoke to Mr. Lincoln with words crafted by Thomas Jefferson that “all men are created equal.” The Declaration of Independence and the bravery of the founding fathers in fighting the injustice of King George were the stuff of legend to Abraham Lincoln. He found great inspiration in what the founding fathers had done to separate from Great Britain.

"Lincoln did quote three of the founders of the United States as his most important inspirations, and credited them with crafting his views on governing,” she said.

The first of the founders that Lincoln revered was Thomas Paine who wrote the book “The Age of Reason.” Paine was a journalist in the 18th century who chronicled the Revolutionary War. Paine also was a skeptic on many matters, especially organized religion. A young Lincoln found that these views coincided with his.

“Growing up in a strict Baptist household, Lincoln chaffed under the strictures of an organized religion,” said Moseley. He never became a member of a religion. But a curious thing happened as Lincoln became more mature. He came to realize that a strong faith in a higher power was important.

“While he was a skeptic on the subject of the various denominations, Lincoln believed in a spiritual father and was an inveterate reader of the Bible using quotes from it in his later speeches,” she said. The Bible speaks to freedom and equality, and teaches what is important in life.

During the darkest days of the Civil War, Lincoln read the Bible and drew inspiration from it. The Bible imparted solace to a grieving Lincoln after the death of his son Eddie.

Thomas Paine also imparted to Abraham Lincoln the use of humor in speaking. Lincoln used humor all his life to convey serious points. While some of his compatriots on the Eighth Judicial Circuit described him as a jokester, Lincoln’s humor was a calculated tactic to make a point or befriend someone he considered important.

During the Lincoln Douglas debates while traveling the state in the Senate race of 1858, Lincoln was able to get the huge crowds on his side by using wit to make his points when he explained his views on some of the most controversial issues of the time.

“Thomas Jefferson was a rare man, a renaissance man in the late 19th century who was interested in everything. He is another of the founding fathers that Abraham Lincoln looked to for inspiration during his days as a lawyer and politician,” said Moseley.

Among many of Jefferson’s abilities was his exceptional writing style. This is what drew Lincoln to him. “Jefferson crafted the Declaration of Independence, the document that Mr. Lincoln considered the foundational idea of the United States,” she said. Think of the words in the Declaration. “We hold these truths to be self-evident” and “all men are created equal” and “all men are endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights” are quintessential Jefferson prose.

Lincoln Heritage Museum Director and Curator Anne Moseley discusses Mr. Lincoln’s respect for the founding fathers.

The Jeffersonian writing style flowed through Abraham Lincoln’s speeches. “Lincoln referenced the Declaration of Independence at least forty times in speeches he made,” said Moseley. Think of one of the greatest speeches of all time, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. “Four score and seven years ago” is pure poetry influenced by Thomas Jefferson. Lincoln could have said a mundane “eighty-seven years ago,” but he chose a phrase that grasps the heart instead.

A two minute speech describing the horror of war, the bravery of troops, and hope for the future will endure forever. Lincoln may be channeling Thomas Jefferson’s immense descriptive powers of writing.

Mr. Lincoln never tired of telling his audiences that the Declaration of Independence was a call to them to live up to the stirring words and the concept of a new nation that Thomas Jefferson described.

What could be more appropriate than the man often selected as our greatest president to choose the man credited with founding the United States as the one who influenced him the most?

Abraham Lincoln felt a strong connection to George Washington. Lincoln read the biography “The Life of George Washington” as a young man and was influenced by the passionate fight for liberty that Washington led.

“Mr. Lincoln thought that George Washington was a hero, a man of immense vision who was willing to sacrifice his life to help found this unique experiment that is the United States,” said Moseley.

“Abraham Lincoln was a poet, prophet and politician,” said Moseley. He was self-taught and was able to take the best ideas from the world around him and use them to craft his world view of the United States, what it was and what it could be.

He read the United States Constitution and saw the laws that a new country could use to help its citizens. Mr. Lincoln even contributed to the Constitution with his ideas for the 13th and 14th Amendments, two of the most important. “These two amendments are like a second rebirth of the United States,” said Moseley.

He read the Bible and saw what those words could mean to the individual and relationships guided by his spiritual father.

He read the Declaration of Independence and saw the vision that the Founding Fathers had for a new nation. He always stressed the duties that citizens must commit to in order to make this vision successful. His words ring true today.

Mr. Lincoln always exhorted his fellow Americans to never lose their passion for freedom, and the equality of all men, to never lose the principles of the Revolution as espoused by the Declaration of Independence.

From Kentucky, to Indiana, and on to Illinois, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Washington served as guides for Abraham Lincoln.

The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meet the third Monday of each month at their research facility in Lincoln at 6:30 p.m. The public is invited, and they always have an interesting guest speaker.

[Curtis Fox]