CHAPTER 5
“The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail.”
The weather in Washington D.C. on March 4, 1861 was oddly prophetic. A sunny dawn held the promise of a bright spring day, but by mid-morning ominous clouds had moved in to cast shadows over a still unfinished Capitol Building. Unperturbed by the blustery conditions, Abraham Lincoln donned his new, silk-lined stovepipe hat and drove in an open carriage down Pennsylvania Avenue. Once the wheels stopped, the president-elect unfolded himself from his seat and walked up to the Inauguration platform where he remained still until called forth to read his first Inaugural Address. Minutes later, he was sworn into office.
The presidential oath of office has remained unchanged since George Washington first took office in 1789. It is thirty-five words long, and can be spoken with perfect elocution in less than a minute. Abraham Lincoln was not the first, nor the last man to utter this single sentence; but he remains the only man whose presidential oath would be tested in the streets of America's cities and in the backyards of its citizens.
Throughout Lincoln's White House years, he endured political scandals, military defeats, personal loss, and a nation in crisis. As a leader he was wise enough to listen to doubts and bold enough to question his own policies. Yet most importantly, he was strong enough to endure.
At a time of staggering loss and constant change, Abraham Lincoln became a rock upon which Americans could either spit their venom or build their hopes. Even in the darkest times, Lincoln managed to pair brutal honesty with empathetic hope. Lincoln was a leader who did not hide behind false security, when those he was responsible to deserved truth. Even when grim circumstances presented nothing but a bleak future, the sixteenth president was a man capable of understanding desperate reality, and inspiring a nation to fight on regardless.
Hope as the Strongest Weapon
The power of hope upon human exertion and happiness is wonderful.
—Fragment; written circa July 1854
Let us hope, rather, that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social, and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away.
—Address at the Wisconsin State Fair;
September 30, 1859
In a word, the people will save their government, if the government itself will do its part only indifferently well.
—Message to Congress; July 8, 1861
We can do it. The human heart is with us—God is with us. We shall again be able not to declare, that “all states as states, are equal,” nor yet that “all citizens as citizens are equal,” but to renew the broader, better declaration, including both these and much more, that “all men are created equal.”
—Speech at the Republican banquet in Chicago;
December 10, 1856
We simply must begin with and mould from disorganized and discordant elements.
—Lincoln's last public address;
April 11, 1865
Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost.… Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful result.
—Letter to James C. Conkling; August 26, 1863
No one, not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being, who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.
—Speech at Great Western Railway;
February 11, 1861
Since your last annual assembling, another year of health and bountiful harvests has passed; and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light He gives us, trusting that in His own good time and wise way, all will yet be well.
—Message to Congress; December 1, 1862
Know When to Ask for Help
The proportions of this rebellion were not for a long time understood. I saw that it involved the greatest difficulties, and would call forth all the powers of the whole country.
—Reply to Members of the Presbyterian
General Assembly; June 2, 1863
If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage.
—Speech at Cleveland, Ohio; February 15, 1861
I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. It is in order that each of you may have through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthright—not only for one, but for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.
—Address to the 166th Ohio Regiment;
August 22, 1864
Where there is a Will, There is a Way
And by the successful, and the unsuccessful, let it be remembered, that while occasions like the present, bring their sober and durable benefits, the exultations and mortifications of them are but temporary; that the victor shall soon be the vanquished, if he relax in his exertion; and that the vanquished this year, may be victor the next, in spite of all competition.
—Address at the Wisconsin State Fair;
September 30, 1859
Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her. I know that the great volcano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit that reigns there, is belching forth the lava of political corruption in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green spot or living thing; while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the waves of hell, the imps of that evil spirit, and fiendishly taunting all those who dare resist its destroying course with the hopelessness of their effort; and, knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept away. Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it I never will. The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, before high heaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, and my love. And who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adopt the oath that I take? Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed.
—Speech given at the House of Representatives at
Springfield, Illinois; December 20, 1839
The fight must go on. The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one, or even one hundred defeats.
—Letter to Henry Asbury; November 19, 1858
Two years ago the Republicans of the nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even, hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now?—now—when that same enemy is wavering, dissevered and belligerent? The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail—if we stand firm, we shall not fail.
—Speech at the Republican Convention;
June 16, 1858
I have seen your dispatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bull-dog grip, and chew & choke, as much as possible.
—Letter to Gen. Grant; August 17, 1864
I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me.
—Letter to William H. Seward; June 28, 1862
Focus and You Shall Not Falter
“Must” is the word.
—Letter to George C. Latham;
July 22, 1860
And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
—Message to Congress;
July 4, 1861
We can succeed only by concert. It is not “Can any of us imagine better?” but “Can we all do better?”
—Message to Congress;
December 1, 1862
We have to fight this battle upon principle, and upon principle alone. I am, in a certain sense, made the standard–bearer in behalf of the Republicans. I was made so merely because there had to be some one so placed—I being in no wise, preferable to any other one of the twenty-five—perhaps a hundred we have in the Republican ranks. Then I say I wish it to be distinctly understood and borne in mind, that we have to fight this battle without many—perhaps without any—of the external aids which are brought to bear against us. So I hope those with whom I am surrounded have principle enough to nerve themselves for the task and leave nothing undone, that can be fairly done, to bring about the right result.
—Reply to Stephen Douglas;
July 17, 1858
Gen. Sheridan says “If the thing is pressed I think that Lee will surrender.” Let the thing be pressed.
—Letter to Gen. Grant;
April 7, 1865
A Battle is Lost, But the War Can Still be Won
Wise counsels may accelerate it, or mistakes may delay it but, sooner or later, the victory is sure to come.
—Speech at the Republican Convention;
June 16, 1858
DEAR SIR:—Yours of the 13th was received some days ago. The fight must go on. The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one or even one hundred defeats. Douglas had the ingenuity to be supported in the late contest both as the bestmeans to break down and to uphold the slave interest. No ingenuity can keep these antagonistic elements in harmony long. Another explosion will soon come.
—Letter to H. Asbury; November 19, 1858
I am older than you, have felt badly myself, and know, what I tell you is true. Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.
—Letter to Quintin Campbell; June 28, 1862
MY DEAR SIR:—I expect the result of the election went hard with you. So it did with me, too, perhaps not quite so hard as you may have supposed. I have an abiding faith that we shall beat them in the long run. Step by step the objects of the leaders will become too plain for the people to stand them. I write merely to let you know that I am neither dead nor dying. Please give my respects to your good family, and all inquiring friends.
—Letter to A. Sympson; December 12, 1858
I believe, according to a letter of yours to Hatch, you are “feeling like h—ll yet.” Quit that—you will soon feel better. Another “blow up” is coming; and we shall have fun again.
—Letter to Dr. C. H. Ray; November 20, 1858
Strength in the Bleakest of Moments
But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so. We still shall have the proud consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departed shade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment, and adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, we never faltered in defending.
—Speech given at the House of Representatives at
Springfield, Illinois; December 20, 1839
I think we have fairly entered upon a durable struggle as to whether this nation is to ultimately become all slave or all free, and though I fall early in the contest, it is nothing if I shall have contributed, in the least degree, to the final rightful result.
—Letter to H. D. Sharpe;
December 8, 1858
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
—Complete letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby;
November 21, 1864
I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.
—Speech at Independence Hall; February 22, 1861
On the contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out. These are disadvantages, all taken together, that the Republicans labor under. We have to fight this battle upon principle, and upon principle alone.
—Speech at Springfield, Illinois; July 17, 1858
The struggle of today, is not altogether for today—it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.
—Message to Congress; December 3, 1861
I know not how to aid you, save in the assurance of one of mature age, and much severe experience, that you cannot fail, if you resolutely determine, that you will not.
—Letter to George C. Latham; July 22, 1860
Of our political revolution of ‘76 we are all justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long-mooted problem as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind. But, with all these glorious results, past, present, and to come, it had its evils too. It breathed forth famine, swam in blood, and rode in fire; and long, long after, the orphan's cry and the widow's wail continued to break the sad silence that ensued. These were the price, the inevitable price, paid for the blessings it bought. . .. And when the victory shall be complete, when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth, how proud the title of that land which may truly claim to be the birthplace and the cradle of both those revolutions that shall have ended in that victory. How nobly distinguished that people who shall have planted and nurtured to maturity both the political and moral freedom of their species.
—Address to the Washington Temperance Society;
February 22, 1842