Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) is one of the most mythicized historical figures in the United States. As the sixteenth president of the United States, Lincoln oversaw the most significant crisis in American history, the U.S. Civil War, orchestrated the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery, and finally was assassinated in dramatic fashion while in office. The popular perception of Lincoln is multifaceted and ever changing, influenced to a high degree by both historical work and artistic representations. The most comprehensive book to examine these images is Merrill Peterson’s Lincoln in American Memory, which identifies five distinct images of Lincoln that exist in American memory, or rather imagination: “The Savior of the Union,” “The Great Emancipator,” “A Man of the People,” “The First American,” and “The Self-Made Man.” Of these five, the latter three all have clear populist themes, making Lincoln an American folk hero.
Lincoln’s rise to prominence from obscure roots in poverty provides a historical basis for writers to portray him as a folk hero. This “Man of the People” image associates Lincoln with commoners and stresses his humble ancestry, poor upbringing, and life of hard work. Regarding his ancestry, Lincoln himself perpetuated an image of a man without lineage, which might have had something to do with his strained relationship with his father. He quoted Thomas Gray describing his early years as belonging to “the short and simple annals of the poor.” To be sure, Lincoln’s parents were modest homesteaders and his childhood was marked by hard work. Eventually he became a lawyer and politician, but for years he toiled as a rail-splitter and a flatboat man, as well as a storekeeper in a small town. The image of Lincoln as a man of the people is also deeply tied to democracy; Lincoln was induced to cultivate this image to win elections in Illinois, which was populated by uneducated frontiersmen and homesteaders. Later, Lincoln defined democracy quite eloquently in a phrase still used today, as a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” As a “Man of the People,” Lincoln was not only a man from among the people but explicitly a man, democratically, of the people.
The image of Lincoln as “The First American” centers on the idea that Lincoln was not affected, or corrupted, by European culture and tradition. In poetic accounts by the likes of Edwin Markham or Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lincoln is described as being born and raised out of the American soil. As such the same qualities that prior to his death were the source of ridicule and contempt became a part of his mythical stature. Lincoln was known to dress, act, and talk in a common way, embarrassing his wealthy and cultured wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Many newspaper editors and politicians from the Eastern Establishment saw him as crude and unqualified to hold office. In fact, Mary Lincoln’s parents initially disapproved of her planned marriage because they saw him as “boorish.” Lincoln’s vulgar sense of humor only added to this initial disapproval and subsequently to his deification as the First American.
Lincoln’s road to the presidency is at the center of the image of him as a “Self-made Man.” Again his roots in poverty are emphasized: he rose from the log cabin to the White House. Furthermore, he did it on his own, by trusting his own mind and wit. Lincoln never acquired more than, at the most, a year of formal schooling, and this consisted of country blab schools. Instead he taught himself not only law, but Western classics, such as Shakespeare, whom he frequently quoted. His avid interest in reading made people question his interest in work at first. Interest in books alone did not of course make Lincoln: it took hard work. Stories tend to emphasize the importance of his other moral qualities, such as honesty and kindness. According to legend Lincoln acquired his first law books accidentally, finding them in a useless barrel he purchased from a poor stranger just to help him out.
As Peterson acknowledges, the image of Lincoln owes itself not only to historical research but to a high degree of artistic license. Lincoln has been used both politically and artistically to advance various causes. Thus, depictions of Lincoln following Reconstruction tended to accentuate the folk themes, focusing on his background and his road to the White House. This was an effort to make him a national hero, rather than a regional or partisan figure. These depictions tended to avoid his tumultuous, politically polarizing years as president. This is especially clear in how he was portrayed to children. The lessons were educational as well as moralistic; to quote Lincoln, “I am a living witness that any of your children may look to come here [to the presidency] as my father’s child has.” Therefore, the stories of Lincoln’s hard work, honesty, and kindness serve as models of behavior that open up any number of possibilities in life. These themes can be seen in Wayne Whipple’s The Story of Young Abraham Lincoln (1915), Carl Sandburg’s Abe Lincoln Grows Up (1926), Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire’s Abraham Lincoln (1940), or in the popular construction toy Lincoln Logs, invented in 1916.
Artistic interpretations of Lincoln tended to tone down the issues of slavery and race, either opting to portray him before reaching the White House or portraying the war as solely about restoring the Union following the South’s secession. The result of this editing was the emphasis on Lincoln’s hard work, humorous wit, and his position among the people in popular folklore. This pattern is especially clear in feature films about Lincoln: D. W. Griffith’s Abraham Lincoln (1930), John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), and John Cromwell’s adaptation of Robert E. Sherwood’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).
Since the middle of the twentieth century, the image of Lincoln has been shifting away from the folk themes and from the image of him as “The Savior of the Union” toward being overwhelmingly focused on his role as “The Great Emancipator.” The folk themes are naturally losing relevance as the population becomes more and more urbanized and the days of Lincoln are growing ever more distant. However, the greatest force in this movement is the changing role of civil rights, race, and ethnic minorities in society. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s successfully adopted Lincoln as a symbol of racial equality, however problematic that image is historically, by referencing his name, his words, and his deeds, most famously in the 1963 March on Washington in which Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. As Barry Schwartz argues, the image of Lincoln is dependent on the present rather than on growing historical knowledge of the man. Not coincidentally, Steven Spielberg’s epic dramatization of the sixteenth president, Lincoln (2012), focuses almost solely on the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, the political triumph of the Great Emancipator Lincoln. Similarly, the fantasy reimagination of Lincoln as a vampire hunter, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), centers on Lincoln’s opposition to slavery and his victory over it. The folk themes of Lincoln’s background are not an engaging story in modern society, perhaps not surprisingly in a time when an ever-decreasing minority live in rural communities and most of the last ten presidents have reasonable claims to a poor, or at least common, childhood.
Log Cabin
The log cabin has endured as a potent symbol of the can-do American spirit at least since Andrew Jackson was elected to the presidency. Jackson, born in the wilderness in a log house, was the epitome of the early nineteenth-century archetypal self-made frontiersman. Since his time, many American politicians have embraced their connection with common people, and for years birth in a log cabin may well have seemed almost a prerequisite of a successful campaign. Most famously, Abraham Lincoln was closely linked with this signature structure of the American frontier, thus ensuring its long-lasting association with folksy charm and self-starting success. Expensive and elaborate log cabins are still popular to this day, especially as vacation homes. More recently and perhaps most intriguingly, this powerful American icon has been appropriated by the Log Cabin Republicans, who support the inclusion of homosexuals in the Republican Party, hearkening back to an evocative and abiding image of Lincoln, the first Republican president, as the Great Emancipator and as a champion of equality and equal opportunity.
C. Fee
Oscar Winberg
See also Lincoln Funeral Train; Lincoln, Abraham, Assassination of
Further Reading
Donald, David. 1947. “The Folklore Lincoln.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 40 (4): 377–396.
Donald, David Herbert. 1995. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Fehrenbacher, Don E. 1987. Lincoln in Text and Context: Collected Essays. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Peterson, Merrill. 1994. Lincoln in American Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schwartz, Barry. 2000. Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schwartz, Barry, and Howard Schuman. 2005. “History, Commemoration, and Belief: Abraham Lincoln in American Memory, 1945–2001.” American Sociological Review 70: 183–203.
Lincoln, Abraham, as Folk Hero—Primary Document
Horatio Alger, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, The Backwoods Boy: Or, How a Young Rail-Splitter Became President (1883)
Myths grow and develop when the deeds or personal qualities of a historical figure are embellished for the sake of entertainment, or for the sake of paying homage to a talented, accomplished person. This is true for Horatio Alger Jr.’s (1832–1899) biography of Abraham Lincoln, which is excerpted in this document. Lincoln’s strength, generosity, moral integrity, and enterprising spirit are on full display in this retelling of his early life, regardless of the historical accuracy of these accounts. Horatio Alger Jr. is better known for his rags-to-riches novels aimed at juvenile readers, which helped to solidify the myth of the “self-made man” in American culture.
CHAPTER VII. LINCOLN AS A CLERK.
YOUNG Lincoln’s successful trip to New Orleans led to his engagement for a similar trip in the early part of 1831. With him were associated John Hanks and John Johnston. Their employer was a Mr. Denton Offutt, of Lexington, Kentucky, and a part of the cargo consisted of a drove of hogs. Each of the three was to be paid at the rate of fifty cents per day, and the round sum of sixty dollars divided between them. Abe considered this very good pay, and was very glad to make the engagement. The three young men not only managed the boat, but built it, and this retarded the expedition. We read with some interest that while they were boarding themselves at Sangamontown, while building the boat, Abe officiated as cook to the entire satisfaction of his associates.
“At New Orleans,” says John Hanks, “we saw negroes chained, maltreated, whipped, and scourged. Lincoln saw it; his heart bled, he said nothing much, was silent from feeling, was sad, looked bad, felt bad, was thoughtful and abstracted. I can say, knowing it, that it was on this trip that he formed his opinions of slavery. It run its iron in him then and there, May, 1831. I have heard him say so often and often.”
One day, soon after his return from his second river trip, Abe received a visit from a muscular, powerfully-built man, who accosted him thus: “You are Abe Lincoln, I reckon?”
“Yes,” said Abe; “you are right there.”
“I’ve heard you can wrestle some,” continued the stranger.
“A little,” answered young Lincoln, modestly.
“I’ve come to wrestle with you to see who’s the best man. My name’s Daniel Needham.”
The stranger announced his name with evident pride, and young Lincoln recognized it as that of a man who had a high reputation as an amateur pugilist.
“I’m glad to know you,” said Lincoln, “and I don’t mind accepting your challenge.”
Abe valued his popularity among the boys, and, though he did not feel sure of the result, he felt that it would not do to back out. He would lose his reputation, which was considerable.
“Where shall it be?” asked Needham.
“Just where and when you like,” answered Abe, promptly.
So the meeting was fixed in the “greenwood” at Wabash Point, and there it was that the two met in friendly rivalry.
Though Daniel Needham was older and more firmly knit, Lincoln was sinewy and strong, and his superior height, and long arms and legs gave him a great advantage sufficient to compensate for his youth and spareness.
The result was that Abe achieved victory in short order. He threw his older opponent twice with so much ease that Needham rose to his feet very much mortified as well as astonished.
“Lincoln,” said he, making the confession reluctantly, “you have thrown me twice, but you can’t whip me.”
“Are you satisfied that I can throw you?” asked Abe. “If you are not, and must be convinced through a thrashing, I will do that too for you.”
“I reckon we’ll put it off,” said Needham, finding his young rival more willing than he had expected. He had hoped that, though not shrinking from a friendly wrestling contest, Abe might hesitate to meet him in a more serious encounter.
I have told this story partly because I know my young readers would be interested in it, partly to give an idea of the strength and athletic power of the hero of my story.
But wrestling contests would not earn a living for young Lincoln. He was in search of employment, and found it. As one thing leads to another, the same man who had sent him to New Orleans in charge of a flatboat, opened a store at New Salem, and needing a clerk, bethought himself of young Lincoln. Abe unpacked the goods upon their arrival, and worked energetically to put them in order. With a new store-book, serving as a ledger, and a pen behind his ear, he made his debut as a “first clerk” of the leading mercantile establishment in the town. In the readiness with which he turned from one thing to another, Abe might well be taken for a typical Yankee, though born in Kentucky.
One day a woman came into the store and purchased sundry articles. They footed up two dollars and six and a quarter cents, or the young clerk thought they did. We do not hear nowadays of six and a quarter cents, but this was a coin borrowed from the Spanish currency, and was well known in my own boyhood.
The bill was paid, and the woman was entirely satisfied. But the young store-keeper, not feeling quite sure as to the accuracy of his calculation, added up the items once more. To his dismay he found that the sum total should have been but two dollars.
“I’ve made her pay six and a quarter cents too much,” said Abe, disturbed.
It was a trifle, and many clerks would have dismissed it as such. But Abe was too conscientious for that.
“The money must be paid back,” he decided.
This would have been easy enough had the woman lived “just round the corner,” but, as the young man knew, she lived between two and three miles away. This, however, did not alter the matter. It was night, but he closed and locked the store, and walked to the residence of his customer. Arrived there, he explained the matter, paid over the six and a quarter cents, and returned satisfied. If I were a capitalist, I would be willing to lend money to such a young man without security.
Here is another illustration of young Lincoln’s strict honesty:
A woman entered the store and asked for half a pound of tea.
The young clerk weighed it out, and handed it to her in a parcel. This was the last sale of the day.
The next morning, when commencing his duties, Abe discovered a four-ounce weight on the scales. It flashed upon him at once that he had used this in the sale of the night previous, and so, of course, given his customer short weight. I am afraid that there are many country merchants who would not have been much worried by this discovery. Not so the young clerk in whom we are interested. He weighed out the balance of the half-pound, shut up store, and carried it to the defrauded customer. I think my young readers will begin to see that the name so often given, in later times, to President Lincoln, of “Honest Old Abe,” was well deserved. A man who begins by strict honesty in his youth is not likely to change as he grows older, and mercantile honesty is some guarantee of political honesty.
Source: Alger, Horatio, Jr. Abraham Lincoln, The Backwoods Boy: Or, How a Young Rail-Splitter Became President. New York: American Publishers Corporation, 1883.