CHAPTER 2
“Public sentiment is everything.”
Deep within the dark and dusty shelves of the Library of Congress lie two of the rarest photographs in American history. The first, bent and burnt with crisp edges crinkling on the sides, is a panoramic image of a crowd milling about on a grassy field and under a gray clouded sky. The second, similar in content to the first, is unique in that a tall stone gateway can be seen in the far distance at the left, while a perfectly erected canvas tent sits just at the right edge of the frame.
For all the scratches and distortions, each image conveys a sense of weighty anticipation. Civilians in stovetop hats and split coats are frozen mid-stride, their faces pointed resolutely toward some unknown destination. Intermixed in the crowd, Union soldiers in full uniform stand casually with their arms resting on their rifles, each poised and ready to be called to attention at a moment's notice.
Perhaps the most prominent feature of each photograph is the fact that almost every face in both images is utterly indistinguishable—thousands of individual features all blurred and condemned to obscurity by a technology unable to capture movement.
Yet this small historical defect is oddly appropriate, for these photographs were taken on November 19, 1863 at the dedication of the Union cemetery just outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—the day President Abraham Lincoln delivered what is arguably the greatest speech in American history. This day was not meant to be preserved in images or photographs. Instead, it was a day forever enshrined in the American consciousness by words and words alone.
Almost as revered in history as the actual three-day battle itself, the Gettysburg Address is one of the most well-known pieces of writing in the American lexicon. On the day Lincoln actually gave his short speech, reviews were varied. Some called the speech “dull and commonplace” while others described hearing “a perfect gem.” Whether witnesses appreciated or dismissed Lincoln's words, it is impossible to dismiss the weight of this singular piece of writing.
But why is the Gettysburg Address taught to generations of Americans almost one hundred and fifty years after it was delivered? What is it about those 278 simple words that allows them to echo in the American consciousness even today?
In part, the answer is because the Gettysburg Address is the essence of communication—the ability to create a message, an idea in other human beings, which lasts beyond lifetimes.
Lincoln's unparalleled ability to communicate, even from beyond the grave, can be traced to a combination of oratory skills, perceptiveness, and natural talent. As a lawyer, Lincoln learned to respect the power of persuasion—his living dependent on his ability to convince judges and peers that his opinion was correct. His experiences on the bench and on the campaign trail allowed him to hone verbal manipulation as well as master a few tricks of the trade. Perhaps most importantly, Lincoln appreciated the gravity of words, the weight of responsibility to live and act, not just preach. Edward Everett, the famed orator and keynote speaker at the Gettysburg dedication, captured Lincoln's communication skills best when he penned a note to the then-president the day after the ceremony, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”
The Power of the Public
In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity.
—Message to Congress; December 1, 1862
Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much. Public opinion, on any subject, always has a “central idea,” from which all its minor thoughts radiate.
—Speech at the Republican banquet in Chicago;
December 10, 1856
In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed. Consequently he who moulds public sentiment, goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.
—Reply to Stephen Douglas; August 21, 1858
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can not fool all the people all of the time.
—Fragment; written circa
May 1856
No party can command respect which sustains this year, what it opposed last.
—Letter to Judge Samuel Galloway;
July 28, 1859
The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
—Fragment; written circa
May 1856
Manipulating Definitions
The world has never had a good definition of the word “liberty,” and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word, we do not all mean the same thing.
—Address to the Sanitary Fair in Baltimore;
April 18, 1864
On the question of liberty, as a principle, we are not what we have been. When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that “all men are created equal” a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim “a self evident lie.”
—Letter to George Robertson; August 15, 1855
It might seem at first thought to be of little difference whether the present movement at the South be called secession or rebellion. The movers, however, well understand the difference. At the beginning they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any name which implies violation of law.… Accordingly, they commenced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. They invented an ingenious sophism which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps, through all the incidents, to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is that any State of the Union may consistently with the national Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully, withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union or of any other State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judges of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice. With rebellion thus sugar-coated they have been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted the farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, who could have been brought to no such thing the day before.
—Message to Congress; July 4, 1861
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the processes by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty.
—Address to the Sanitary Fair in Baltimore;
April 18, 1864
If any man at this day sincerely believes that the proper division of local from Federal authority … forbids the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal Territories, he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evidence and fair argument he can. But he has no right to mislead others who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it, into the false belief that “our fathers who framed the government under which we live” were of the same opinion—thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument.
—Address at Cooper Institute; February 27, 1860
The words “coercion” and “invasion” are in great use about these days. Suppose we were simply to try if we can, and ascertain what is the meaning of these words. Let us get, if we can, the exact definition of these words—not from dictionaries, but from the men who constantly repeat them—what things they mean to express by the words. What, then, is “coercion”? What is “invasion”? Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, for instance, without the consent of her people, and in hostility against them, be coercion or invasion? I very frankly say, I think it would be invasion, and it would be coercion too, if the people of that country were forced to submit. But if the government, for instance, but simply insists upon holding its own forts, or retaking those forts which belong to it, or the enforcement of the laws of the United States in the collection of duties upon foreign importations, or even the withdrawal of the mails from those portions of the country where the mails themselves are habitually violated; would any or all of these things be coercion?
—Speech from the balcony of the Bates House in
Indianapolis; February 11, 1861
If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that such right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would be open to others to show that neither the word “slave” nor “slavery” is to be found in the Constitution, nor the word “property” even, in any connection with language alluding to the things slave, or slavery, and that wherever in that instrument the slave is alluded to, he is called a “person;”—and wherever his master's legal right in relation to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as “service or labor which may be due,”—as a debt payable in service or labor. Also, it would be open to show, by contemporaneous history, that this mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of speaking of them, was employed on purpose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that there could be property in man. To show all this, is easy and certain. When this obvious mistake of the Judges shall be brought to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will withdraw the mistaken statement, and reconsider the conclusion based upon it?
—Address at Cooper Institute; February 27, 1860
I should like to know, taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man?
—Reply to Stephen Douglas; July 10, 1858
Those Who Would Speak Must Bear Responsibilities
Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the government nor of dungeons to ourselves.
—Address at Cooper Institute; February 27, 1860
I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office–seekers, but with you, is the question, “Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generation?”
—Speech at Indianapolis; February 11, 1861
It becomes my duty to make known to you—the people whom I propose to represent—my sentiments with regard to local affairs.
—Open letter to the People of Sangamo County;
March 9, 1832
I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet, but I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, in the pleasure of Almighty God, die by.
—Speech at Independence Hall;
February 22, 1861
Fellow-citizens, I am not asserting anything; I am merely asking questions for you to consider.
—Speech at Indianapolis; February 12, 1861
It is with some hesitation I presume to address this letter and yet I wish not only you, but the whole Cabinet, and the President too, would consider the subject matter of it. My being among the people while you and they are not, will excuse the apparent presumption. It is understood that the President at first adopted, as a general rule, to throw the responsibility of the appointments upon the respective Departments; and that such rule is adhered to and practiced upon. This course I at first thought proper; and, of course, I am not now complaining of it. Still I am disappointed with the effect of it upon the public mind. It is fixing for the President the unjust and ruinous character of being a mere man of straw. This must be arrested, or it will damn us all inevitably.… The appointments need be no better than they have been, but the public must be brought to understand that they are the President's appointments. He must occasionally say, or seem to say, “by the Eternal,” “I take the responsibility.” Those phrases were the “Samson's locks” of Gen. Jackson, and we dare not disregard the lessons of experience.
—Letter to John M. Clayton; July 28, 1849
We know that there is not a perfect agreement of sentiment here on the public questions which might be rightfully considered in this convention, and that the indignation which we all must feel cannot be helped; but all of us must give up something for the good of the cause.
—Speech; May 29, 1856
I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.
—Letter to Allen N. Ford; August 11, 1846
Tips for a Worthy Wordsmith
When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a “drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.”
—Speech to the Washington Temperance
Society; February 22, 1842
Everyone likes a compliment.
—Letter to Thurlow Weed; March 15, 1865
When a man bears himself somewhat misrepresented, it provokes him—at least, I find it so with myself; but when misrepresentation becomes very gross and palpable, it is more apt to amuse him.
—Reply to Stephen Douglas; August 21, 1858
If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause really be a just one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart; and tho’ your cause be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper than steel can be made, and tho’ you throw it with more than Herculean force and precision, you shall no more be able to pierce him, than to penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw. Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interest.
—Speech to the Washington Temperance Society;
February 22, 1842
Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them.
—Letter to Thurlow Weed; March 15, 1865
Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed.
—Address at Cooper Institute; February 27, 1860
But, fellow-citizens, I shall conclude … upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.
—Open letter to the People of Sangamo County;
March 9, 1832
I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.
—Letter to James H. Hackett; November 2, 1863
I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are. Notwithstanding this copy-book preamble, my boy, I am inclined to suggest a little prudence on your part.
—Letter to George E. Pickett; February 22, 1842
I do not feel justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the political differences between radicals and conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it all. It obliges nobody to follow me. The radicals and conservatives, each agree with me in some things, and disagree in others. I could wish both to agree with me in all things; for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to do otherwise, and I do not question their right. I too shall do what seems to be my duty.
—Letter to Charles D. Drake & Others;
October 5, 1863
Invoking the Earnest Emotions Behind the Words
That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles—right and wrong—throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings.
—Reply to Stephen Douglas; October 15, 1858
In a great national crisis like ours unanimity of action among those seeking a common end is very desirable—almost indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply because it is the will of the majority.
—Message to Congress; December 6, 1864
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.
—Speech accepting the Republican nomination for
Senate; June 16, 1858
Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.
—Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois;
September 11, 1858
The Art of Rhetoric
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have no speech to make to you, and no time to speak in. I appear before you that I may see you, and that you may see me; and I am willing to admit, that, so far as the ladies are concerned, I have the best of the bargain, though I wish it to be understood that I do not make the same acknowledgment concerning the men.
—Address at Utica, New York;
February 18, 1861
I am not accustomed to the language of eulogy. I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women. But I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America!
—Address to the Sanitary Fair in Washington D.C.;
March 18, 1864
I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
—Address to the 140th Indiana Regiment;
March 17, 1865
I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.
—Reply to Stephen Douglas; July 10, 1858
I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.
—Address at Monogahela House in Pittsburgh;
February 14, 1861
Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech. And yet there is not a more fatal error to young lawyers than relying too much on speech-making.
—Fragment; written circa July 1850
Fellow–citizens, I am very greatly rejoiced to find that an occasion has occurred so pleasurable that the people cannot restrain themselves.… I see you have a band of music with you. I propose closing up this interview by the band performing a particular tune which I will name. Before it is done, however, I wish to mention one or two little circumstances connected with it. I have always thought “Dixie” one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it. I presented the question to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize.
—Lincoln's spontaneous address to a crowd that had
gathered at the White House to celebrate news of
General Lee's surrender; April 10, 1865
Navigating the Dangers of Public Opinion
And now a word of caution. Our adversaries think they can gain a point if they could force me to openly deny the charge, by which some degree of offence would be given to the Americans. For this reason it must not publicly appear that I am paying any attention to the charge.1
—Letter to A. Jonas; July 21, 1860
1 The “charge” referred to states that Lincoln spent a night at a lodge run by supporters of the Know – Nothing Party.
Every word is so closely noted that it will not do to make trivial ones.
—Speech at Frederick, Maryland;
October 4, 1862
We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read. Are we in a healthful political state? Are not the tendencies plain? Do not the signs of the times point plainly the way in which we are going?
—Speech at Bloomington, Illinois;
May 29, 1856
DEAR SIR:—Your letter enclosing the attack of the Times upon me was received this morning. Give yourself no concern about my voting against the supplies. Unless you are without faith that a lie can be successfully contradicted, there is not a word of truth in the charge, and I am just considering a little as to the best shape to put a contradiction in. Show this to whomever you please, but do not publish it in the paper.
—Letter to H. C. Whitney; June 24, 1858
As a general rule I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.
—Lincoln's last public address; April 11, 1865
Understanding the Opposing Mindset
Let us understand this. I am not, just here, trying to prove that we are right and they are wrong. I have been stating where we and they stand, and trying to show what is the real difference between us.
—Reply to Stephen Douglas; October 13, 1858
The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong.
—Meditation on Divine Will;
written circa September 1862
I admit that slavery is at the root of the rebellion, or at least its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act, but they would have been impotent without slavery as their instrument. I will also concede that emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant further, that it would help somewhat at the North, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent, imagine.… I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are fifty thousand bayonets in the Union armies from the border slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the rebels. I do not think they all would,—not so many indeed, as a year ago, nor as six months ago; not so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the rebels. Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have an important principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea, going down about as deep as anything. Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do. I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views, I have not in any respect injured your feelings.
—Reply to the Chicago Committee of United
Religious Denominations; September 13, 1862
What is true, however, of him who heads the insurgent cause is not necessarily true of those who follow.
—Message to Congress; December 6, 1864
The slaveholder does not like to be considered a mean fellow for holding that species of property, and hence, he has to struggle within himself and sets about arguing himself into the belief that slavery is right. The property influences his mind.… Whether the owners of this species of property do really see it as it is, it is not for me to say, but if they do, they see it as it is through two thousand millions of dollars, and that is a pretty thick coating. Certain it is that they do not see it as we see it. Certain it is that this two thousand millions of dollars, invested in this species of property, all so concentrated that the mind can grasp it at once—this immense pecuniary interest—has its influence upon their minds.
—Speech at New Haven, Connecticut;
March 6, 1860
You cannot destroy that judgment and feeling—that sentiment—by breaking up the political organization which rallies around it. You can scarcely scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into order in the face of your heaviest fire; but if you could, how much would you gain by forcing the sentiment which created it out of the peaceful channel of the ballot-box, into some other channel?
—Address at Cooper Institute; February 27, 1860
If the loyal people, united, were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided, and partially paralyzed, by a political war among themselves?
—Speech at the White House; November 10, 1864
No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man.
—Lincoln's last public address; April 11, 1865
Thinking it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right; but, thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them?
—Address at Cooper Institute; February 27, 1860
The ant, who has toiled and dragged a crumb to his nest, will furiously defend the fruit of his labor, against whatever robber assails him. So plain, that the most dumb and stupid slave that ever toiled for a master, does constantly know that he is wronged. So plain that no one, high or low, ever does mistake it, except in a plainly selfish way; for although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery is a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself.
—Fragment; written circa July 1854
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.
—Gettysburg Address; November 19, 1863