tothesource: Thank you, Mr. Lehrman, for your time. As a Lincoln scholar and promoter, you make the interesting claim that his importance hinged on one event, his October 16, 1854 speech at Peoria. Not the Douglas debates, the House Divided speech at Springfield, the Cooper Union address, his first inaugural, not even his election to the Oval Office. Why do you believe Peoria is Lincoln's "prelude to greatness?"
Lewis Lehrman: The speeches that Abraham Lincoln delivered in the summer and fall of 1854 were a direct response to passage that spring of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which reversed the prohibition on slavery in the northern section of the Louisiana Purchase. Lincoln believed that the Founders had intended to place slavery on the path to ultimate extinction, but that the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened up the country to the expansion of slavery rather than its contraction. The sponsor of the legislation was Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, whom Lincoln had known for nearly two decades and frequently faced in political debates and in the courtroom.
Lincoln researched the history of American slavery in the early summer of 1854 and began giving speeches by August in an effort to restore the policy limiting slavery that had been established in the Missouri Compromise of 1820. By the time he reached Springfield, Lincoln had already debated Douglas at Bloomfield and Springfield, Illinois. The speech at Peoria is the culmination of these debates. Douglas spoke in front of the Peoria Court House for three hours in the afternoon. Lincoln urged the crowd to take a break for dinner; then he spoke for three hours himself after which Douglas delivered a rebuttal. The sheer length of the interchange—over 9 hours—is impressive. More importantly, Peoria served to establish the foundational tone and substance that directed Mr. Lincoln's rhetoric for the rest of his life. Before and after Peoria, he worked diligently to commit the 17,300 words to paper and have them published in the Illinois State Journal. From 1854 to his death, Lincoln's major addresses all focused on the limitation of slavery within the context of the American Constitution and Union.
tothesource: We've featured Lincoln's commitment to universal human dignity in several broadcasts. You write of Lincoln's belief that in order for America to become a great nation, it must hold to the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence. Yet in the Peoria speech, Lincoln does not propose that we instantly free slaves and make them our "political and social equals." Just a few hundred words later, we get a glimpse deeper into the heart of his message as he insists that, there are few natural tyrants and even most Southerners must agree there is "humanity in the negro" who they have more in common with than the slave-dealer. In a new documentary, Looking for Lincoln, some scholars, such as Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr., criticize Lincoln for this ambivalence. Others see this as Lincoln at his best; his ability to comprehend and articulate the American peoples’ confusion about racial equality ultimately equips him to lead the way toward clear moral and legal affirmation of the Declaration of Independence. What’s your verdict?
Lehrman: First, one must understand how deeply racism pervaded the country in the 1850s. Even those who disliked slavery often disliked black Americans even more. And most scholars believe that Illinois was then the most racist state in the North. Lincoln was a politician; he had to deal with public opinion as he found it, not as 21st Century Americans would like to imagine it. Lincoln believed that slavery was a national, not a southern, problem. And he believed that limiting slavery was a congressional responsibility, not a local one.
He believed that the Declaration of Independence, which created the United States, set the universal standard by declaring "all men are created equal." This was the standard to which America must aspire. Under this standard, slavery was morally wrong. But, under the Constitution it was permitted. The Kansas-Nebraska Act would allow slavery to expand rather than to contract, as Lincoln wished it would. The first step was to convince Americans that the "equality principle" of the Declaration of Independence was central to their national heritage. Until they accepted that principle, there could be no hope of abolishing slavery or establishing the social equality of black Americans. Lincoln understood that he needed to educate and persuade Americans. Always the persuader—in personal conversation, in letters and in public statements—the discreet, subtle, tolerant Lincoln paved the way for his advocacy. "I do not seek applause, nor to amuse the people, I want to convince them," said Lincoln. His was a much tougher job than that undertaken by Douglas, who reinforced the prejudices of his listeners, or the abolitionists, who took strong moral stands that were politically unpalatable to most Americans.
The task Lincoln set for himself is illustrated when he said at Peoria: "Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature—opposition to it in his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely, as slavery extension brings them, shocks, and throes, and convulsions must ceaselessly follow. Repeal the Missouri Compromise—repeal all compromises—repeal the Declaration of Independence—repeal all past history, you still can not repeal human nature. It still will be the abundance of man's heart, that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak."
tothesource: Abraham Lincoln's legacies—the abolition of slavery and the unification of the country—distinguish him as one of our nation's most formative leaders. What, would you say, were Lincoln's most essential contributions to the United States, and which of his great skills would we do best to emulate?
Lehrman: With his Peoria message, Mr. Lincoln set the nation on the path to slavery's extinction—culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863 and the Thirteenth Amendment of January 1865. When the pressure to compromise on this issue was greatest, Lincoln stood fast. He determined that the Civil War must both preserve the Union and then abolish slavery. Americans believed in his leadership and accepted emancipation because he moved judiciously to enact it in a constitutional way. Mr. Lincoln's political faith was grounded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As President, he took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." It was an oath, he said, "registered in heaven."
The preservation of the Union required strong, prudential leadership. Americans wanted to preserve the Union, but were divided on how that might be achieved. Lincoln had to build a coalition that included both northern abolitionists and Border State slaveholders. The loyalty and participation of both groups—and many in between—were essential to the successful conclusion of the Civil War, which effectively reformed and reconstituted the American Founding. Lincoln could not accede to the wishes of Republican Radicals to rush to congressional emancipation. Nor could he accede to Copperhead Democrats who wanted the "Union as it is and the Constitution as it is" —meaning the continuation of slavery. Lincoln had a clear sense of priorities: The Union had to be preserved if slavery were to be abolished. And once black Americans fought alongside white Americans to preserve the Union, the continuation of slavery became untenable. The Declaration of Independence was vindicated.
 
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