Thinkin’ Lincoln

Okay, Friday is the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. It used to be a school holiday, but then some bastards went and combined Lincoln’s Birthday with Washington’s Birthday, called it President’s Day, and now we only get one day off instead of two. This ought to be reason enough to be angry. But what really gets to me when I stop to think about things and dwell upon them, and then ruminate some more, is the god-like status we give to someone like Abraham Lincoln. Being an American and loving your country is a lot like being at Disneyland. You really want to believe in the fantasy, even though you KNOW it’s a fantasy. And what we’ve come to believe about the great emancipator is certainly fantasy. At best, you would have to say that Abraham Lincoln was a human like the rest of us at best, and really kind of evil at worst.

It is a common misconception that Lincoln came from a poor family. This is somewhat true; however, the reality is that everyone in that part of Kentucky was poor by today’s standards and Lincoln’s family was better off than most. In fact, his family was in the top 15% of the county as far as wealth goes. He was born in a log cabin; however, it was a very nice log cabin…more like the Ponderosa than something you’d make with Lincoln Logs.

Most people know that Lincoln was a lawyer and have an image of him defending the rights of the people. The reality is that he was a corporate lawyer who often as not defended the rights of large corporations against little people like you and me. He was admitted to the bar, but was never terribly good at his craft. His partner complained of Lincoln’s lack of organization, noting that he had a stack of papers labeled, “If you can’t find it anywhere else, look here.”

Many folks see old honest Abe as the great emancipator. Lincoln, however, was no abolitionist. As he wrote to Horace Greeley in 1862, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it” The truth is that he freed the slaves only to encourage insurrection in the south of the slaves there. The Emancipation Proclamation makes no mention of freeing any slave except in those states which had left the union. He didn’t even have any belief in equality or equity. “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races,” he announced in his Aug. 21, 1858, debate with Stephen Douglas. “I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position.” And, “Free them [ the slaves] and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this. We cannot, then, make them equals.”

Well, he did hold the union together, after all, didn’t he? Well, yes, you could say he held the union together…geographically. But the type of government we had after the war was far different than the government we had before the war. Prior to the war our country was a voluntary union of sovereign states. After the war, there would be the strong central government we have now which holds little resemblance to the type of government our founders envisioned. Of course, that doesn’t mean it isn’t better. Still, many of Lincoln’s actions during his administration have led to the abuses of power we see in our government today. Lincoln also suspended the right of habeas corpus imprisoning hundreds of Americans without due process, without trial, for an indefinite period.

And I doubt the Native American/ Indians are celebrating much today. There is little to laud Lincoln’s policies (like my alliteration?) regarding the indigenous peoples. He was the author of the Homestead Act of 1862, which gave one square quarter mile free to any homesteader who could prove that the land had been improved and occupied for a period of five years. Unfortunately, that land already belonged to some other people who happened to be living there at the time, namely, the Sioux, who had been granted that land in perpetuity. The Sioux, as a matter of fact, had written to Lincoln to request that they be paid the 1.2 million dollars the government owed them for lands taken back in 1851. Lincoln informed them that he had no intention of paying them the money owed and sent General Pope to quell the insurrection there. Pope once said, “It is my purpose to utterly exterminate the Sioux. They are to be treated as maniacs or wild beasts, and by no means as people with whom treaties or compromise can be made.” Lincoln certainly did not challenge this statement.

The Indians were defeated. 303 male Indians were arrested and given trials which lasted an average of ten minutes each. All 303 were sentenced to death, although most were only guilty of inhabiting the land where the insurrection took place. In order to keep Europe from entering the Civil War on the part of the South, Lincoln pared the number to be executed down to 39. It was still the largest mass execution in American history. Lincoln promised to kill or remove every Indian from the state and provide Minnesota with 2 million dollars in federal funds. Remember, he only owed the Sioux 1.4 million for the land. So he would rather pay more money and kill the Indians, than pay the money owed them in order to avoid an insurrection.

Lincoln used much the same tactics against the Navajo. In 1863-64, General Carleton and his subordinate, Colonel Kit Carson, invaded the Navajo land, especially those concentrated in the Canyon de Chelly area. Crops were burned, innocents were murdered, women were raped and general chaos was rained upon these noble people simply because, like the Santee Sioux, they demanded from Lincoln what they had been promised; their land and to be left alone. General Carleton, believing there was gold to be found in the area, stated: “This war, will be pursued against you if it takes years until you cease to exist or move.” Again, there was no protest of this policy from Lincoln, his Commander in Chief.

The Navajo were forced to march over 300 miles to Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico. Over 200 Navajos died on this march and, eventually, over 2,000 perished before a treaty was signed in 1868. While at Bosque Redondo, the Navajo suffered under horrible conditions; bitter water, no firewood and poor growing conditions for crops. The soldiers and the Mexican guards subjected the women to rape and humiliating treatment. Children born at this “concentration camp” were lucky to survive their first few months of life.

Well, he was at least honest, wasn’t he? Well actually, he most likely stole the election of 1864. He sent federal troops to areas where he was unpopular in order to intimidate votes to vote “correctly”. Even the Homestead Act of 1862, which was so bad for the Indians and supposedly so good for the little guy gave all the best land to the wealthy railroads.

But we like the fantasy. It is hard to imagine standing at the Lincoln Memorial and NOT being moved. I so want to believe that all those things he said in the Gettysburg address were real, and perhaps they were, but not in Lincoln’s heart. They are real in the hearts of Americans everywhere who want our country to be all it promised to be, because it is such a good promise. And just because the fantasy isn’t real doesn’t mean that we can’t MAKE it real. But that part is up to us. It is our job to make this country what its founders told us it could be. Maybe they were lying. Maybe they didn’t mean a word of it. But that doesn’t make the fantasy impossible. And when we finally get that through our thick skulls, then maybe we, the people, can build a government that is by the people and for the people. And when we do, we must continue to be vigilant so that government does not perish from the earth.