Abraham Lincoln: From Reader to Leader

Abraham Lincoln: From Reader to Leader

By Rob Chappell, M.A., Assistant to the Honors Dean, ACES Academic Programs

        Before Abraham Lincoln became a leader, he was a reader. Although he only had a year of formal schooling, Lincoln prepared for political leadership by reading countless books of history, law, and classic literature. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (1863) sprang from his reading of the Declaration of Independence, especially this famous passage:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Lincoln’s dedication to the abolitionist cause sprang from his firmly held conviction that these words of our Founding Fathers left no room for slavery in a free society:

“Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. Let North and South – let all Americans – let all lovers of liberty everywhere – join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and to keep it, forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it, that the succeeding millions of free happy people, the world over, shall rise up, and call us blessed, to the latest generations.” (Lincoln’s Speech at Peoria: October 16, 1854)

        When Lincoln was elected President in 1860, he inherited “a house divided”: the nation fell into civil war, and as the agonizing conflict dragged on and the casualties mounted on both sides, many began to question why the Union continued to fight on. Was the Civil War being fought merely to preserve national unity, or was there a higher purpose to the conflict?

        Lincoln answered this question in two of his “State of the Union” addresses to Congress:

“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.” (Annual Message to Congress: December 3, 1861)

“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We – even we here – hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free – honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just – a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.” (Annual Message to Congress: December 1, 1862)

        So it came to pass that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which freed all the slaves then held in captivity throughout the Confederacy. His championing of human rights led eventually (after his untimely death) to the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which ended slavery in our nation forever.

        Lincoln’s altruistic and heroic leadership ultimately led to his demise. He became a martyr for the cause of liberty and equality when he was killed by an assassin’s bullet in April 1865. “Now he belongs to the ages,” the inscription reads on his monument in Springfield – and Lincoln continues to challenge us to follow his example from beyond the grave. “Let us have faith that might makes right,” he said in an 1860 speech in New York City, “and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” That is what heroic leaders do: challenge the status quo, right wrongs, set captives free, proclaim liberty throughout the land – not counting the cost, but firmly embracing the destiny that has been laid out before them: to improve the world for generations yet unborn, so that even if they do not live to see the fruition of their labors, then their inheritors might live to see it, and rejoice with thanksgiving for the heroic leadership of their forebears.

        From Lincoln’s example, we can learn that reading and leading go hand-in-hand. So if you want to become a great leader – become a great reader – then go out and change the world!