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 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.
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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] |
