Here is my hero report on Lincoln, if anyone wants to read it. I would love feedback.
Lincoln—Isaiah Pack
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Americans from Miami
to Juneau have heard these words. Do
they know what these words mean? Perhaps. Do Americans know the name of the man
who spoke these words? Probably. Does someone’s name tell a lot about them?
They may know his name, but do Americans know
Abraham Lincoln? Who was this man, and why did he do what he did?
Biographers have portrayed Lincoln
with many different masks. Many Americans know Lincoln
as a jokester, a politician, a president, and some may even know him only as a
man with a beard. Abraham Lincoln was more than this. Lincoln
was a man sent to Earth by God to save the United
States from crumbling into separate
countries. He was a man of God who did God’s work on Earth.
“My
early life can be summed up in a single sentence:” Lincoln
once said, “the short and simple annals of the poor.” Lincoln
was not raised up in a situation of prosperity or wealth, but in a humble
farming community. As a result of this, his education was not provided for him,
and even if it had been, he wouldn’t have had time for it. Lincoln
worked all throughout the day on the farm of his father, and he had little time
to do anything but work. Somehow, though, Lincoln
still found time at nights or during breaks to read books and educate himself.
Abraham Lincoln is the true definition of an autodidact. While others were getting
rest at night for the coming day, Lincoln
was sacrificing his sleep for an education and a chance to read, learn, and
ponder. Most of Lincoln’s books had
to be borrowed and returned to others because Lincoln’s
father did not have the means to purchase them. However, Lincoln
was brought up by his father as a humble, hard-working Christian through work
and study of the Bible. One time, Lincoln
was borrowing the book “Life of Washington” by Parson Weems from a neighbor,
but the book was damaged in the rain. In order to pay his neighbor back for the
book, Lincoln was required to do
three days worth of work for him, but Lincoln completed all of the work in only
two days. This simple story shows how
much Lincoln valued learning and how hard of a worker he was. Lincoln’s
childhood bookshelf also consisted of books such as Pilgrim’s Progress,
Robinson Crusoe, and Aesop’s Fables. Abraham Lincoln’s humble childhood gave
him good, God-like qualities for his mission in life, such as honesty,
industry, and passion for learning.
As
Lincoln grew older, his values were
tested through trials. He had a lot of hardship in his life, but the Lincoln
family was used to hardship. Lincoln
had already experienced many hard, bitter winters, deep snows, cold nights, and
poverty when his mother, Nancy Lincoln, passed away. Poverty continued in the Lincoln
family long after this. When Abraham was 21, he left his father’s household,
and at the age of 23 he enlisted as a soldier to drive the tribe of Black Hawk
to the other side of the Mississippi.
Other soldiers were so moved by Lincoln’s
leadership abilities that they chose him as their captain. Lincoln
was grateful for this, but more hardship came. At one point, Lincoln’s
company went three days without supplies or food after crossing a river. This
adversity took much endurance, but Lincoln
was able to bear it. Shortly after finishing his service, Abraham Lincoln
announced himself as a candidate for the Illinois state legislature. He
delivered many inspiring campaign speeches, but unfortunately, he was defeated
in the election. After practicing law for two years, though, Lincoln
ran for state legislature again, and this time he was voted in. During his
career as a Congressman, Lincoln experienced
firsthand and helped with many political campaigns, speeches and debates,
failures, and eventually success. Lincoln
helped with William Henry Harrison’s presidential campaign, which eventually
got Harrison elected. Lincoln
also debated a lot against his rival, Stephen A. Douglas, on the issue of
slavery. After all of this hardship, Lincoln
was eventually nominated as a candidate for president of the United
States. The election following the
nomination was exciting because Lincoln’s
debate rival, Stephen A. Douglas, would be his opponent in the election. Though
it took a lot of hard work, Mr. Lincoln was finally elected in November and
inaugurated the following March, 1861. The victory was short-lived, though, as
four years of a painful civil war would follow.
A year later, in 1862, a great battle was fought at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, and many soldiers of the Union
valiantly gave up their lives for freedom. Pennsylvania decided to give the
battlefield as a burial ground, and in November of 1863, Lincoln gave his
famous “Gettysburg Address”. This speech inspired many Americans, especially
those of the Union, to value freedom and fight for its
cause. Lincoln would give many
other speeches during his presidency that would not only inspire freedom, but
promote morality and Godliness as well.
One
cannot plead with others to be moral or listen to God unless he himself is
moral and listens to God. Abraham Lincoln had every right to plead with the
people in 1863 at Gettysburg, not
only because of his trust and willingness to follow God, but because of his
awakening to what would happen to America
if the people would continue to be corrupt. In 1862, more than a year before
the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln
checked out a book at the Library of Congress. Through looking at records, it
was shown that Lincoln kept this
book longer than he should have, and he returned it late. After checking out
this book, a change happened in Lincoln’s
presidency, and he started making choices that would bring America
closer to God. The book that Lincoln
checked out, as well as Lincoln’s
Bible study, brought him to the knowledge that America
was not just a nation, but a covenant land. A memo that was written by Lincoln
in September of 1862 stated, “In the present civil war, it is quite possible
that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party…I am
almost ready to say this is probably true—that God wills this contest, and
wills that is shall not end yet.” This note was later found by Lincoln’s
secretary, so it is certain that Lincoln
did not write this for the praise of men. Abraham Lincoln (just like father
Abraham) made a covenant with God that if a battle would be won for the Union,
Lincoln would free the slaves. Lincoln
even admitted not only that Confederacy was in the wrong, but that the Union
was also. Just before this time, Lincoln’s
son and best friend Willie had passed from the world. Lincoln
was in deep distress, and he admitted that he often pleaded before God because
he didn’t have anywhere else to go. Lincoln
had turned back to God, and now God would turn back to help the United
States of America. At about the same time
that Lincoln was pleading before
God, a miracle happened for the Union near Frederick,
Maryland, where the Battle of Antietam
would soon happen. Union Corporal Barton W. Mitchell was walking in an empty
field when he stumbled across a package. He opened it, and he could not believe
his eyes. Inside the package were the battle plans of the Confederacy for the
Battle of Antietam! Was this not a miracle? Corporal Mitchell showed the plans
to Union General George McClellan, but McClellan was not so convinced. This
could easily be a trap, because the story wasn’t very believable. However,
McClellan was immediately able to validate the plans because his aid had been
good friends with Robert Chilton, who was Confederate General Lee’s secretary.
McClellan’s aid recognized Chilton’s handwriting, and as a result of the Union
obtaining the plans, they were able to win the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln
kept his promise to God by shortly afterwards placing the Emancipation
Proclamation on the table before his cabinet, and freeing the slaves. God kept
the United States of America
intact and united through his servant, Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln
was elected to a second term as president in November of 1864. The Civil War
was now over, and Lincoln gave his
2nd Inaugural Address the following March. God was certainly a theme
of this exceptional speech. Lincoln
wanted to secure the abolishment of slavery in the U.S.,
so he pushed for the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to be
ratified. However, Lincoln was
assassinated in April of 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. He never got to see the
adoption of the amendment, but it was adopted the following December. Many
trials and much hardship were present in Lincoln’s
life, but he proved his values and his trust in God through his persistence. Lincoln
showed the world that he was a man of God through his writings, speeches,
kindness, persistence after failure, and most of all, through his actions. The
actor Nicolas Cage once said in the movie National
Treasure 2: “Before the Civil War, the states were all separate. People
used to say, ‘The United States are.’ Wasn't until the war ended people started
saying, ‘The United States is.’ Under Lincoln...
we became one nation. And Lincoln
paid for it with his life.” Lincoln
truly kept this nation united through God. Though it’s very controversial, the
book that Lincoln checked out from
the Library of Congress in 1862 was called The
Book of Mormon, and that was a huge turning point in the war. Lincoln
knew that this was a covenant land. Abraham Lincoln was a man of God.
Bibliography
“Lincoln’s
Fireside Reading” by H. Jack Lang
“Abraham Lincoln: A True Life” by
James Baldwin
“The Covenant, Lincoln,
and the War” by Timothy Ballard
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