Comments on: What Lincoln Was Hiding

By: Julie Beenblossom

Julie Beenblossom — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:47:27 +0000

As I was reading this article, I couldn’t help but compare Obama with Abe Lincoln. Do you suppose Mr. Obama has learned these things about Mr. Lincoln and is emulating him?

By: John Adams

John Adams — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:04:51 +0000

Your faithful paraphrasing of Barzun between quotations from “Lincoln, the Literary Genius” (Saturday Evening Post, February 14, 1959) leads to a curious conclusion. Seems to me that Barzun elucidates “the true, inner nature of Lincoln” in a way that reduces some of the mystery while enhancing the wonder.

Barzun’s regard for Lincoln went beyond the pages of the Post. Anyone enticed by your fine retrospective, Mr. Nilsson, may discover Barzun’s wonder in “Lincoln’s Philosophic Vision,” and proof of his assertion that selection and criticism are worthy scholarly duties in “A Lincoln Anthology in Brief,” The American Scholar, Spring 1959, pages 166–182.

By: Jeff Nilsson

Jeff Nilsson — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:07:51 +0000

Mr. Weston raises a good point about Lincoln’s opposition to slavery. When he attacked slavery in his debates with Douglas, he was careful not to emphasize its immorality, which wasn’t a strong issue for many Illinois voters.
Instead, he talked of slavery’s destructive effects on workers who had to compete with Southern farmers and manufacturers whose slaves gave them nearly free labor.
The cheap labor of slavery threatened every worker who earned a living wage. Cheaper produce and materials that came from slave states forced free workers to lower their prices. And investors preferred to put their money for new enterprises into the area where they could get labor for the lowest rate.
(The same points could be seen today; American manufacturers have a hard time competing with the nearly-slave wages in China.)

By: Jeff Nilsson

Jeff Nilsson — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:47:32 +0000

I agree with Mr. Neumann; I can’t reconcile the term “arrogant” with the Lincoln I’ve seen described elsewhere.
An arrogant man couldn’t have written the heartfelt letter to Mrs. Bixby on the (presumed) loss of her five sons in the war. Where is the touch of arrogance in the phrase, “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”?
And the author of the First Inaugural Address, or the Gettysburg Address, seems to write from a sincere heart.
No, Lincoln put too much effort into make himself understood by others; an arrogant man wouldn’t care.
Perhaps Mr. Hay’s opinion of Lincoln was shaped by the circumstances of their relationship. Hay served as Lincoln’s secretary.

By: sharon r.o.

sharon r.o. — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:37:23 +0000

sounds like he had bi-polar depression.

By: Ima Ryma

Ima Ryma — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:51:07 +0000

“If I did not laugh I should die,”
Abe Lincoln was said to have said
To his Cabinet, as to why
An amusing book he had read
Aloud to make the others laugh,
Which he did but others did not.
Lincoln turned to his other half.
His raged scorn the Cabinet got.
Many noted Lincoln’s two sides,
One of light and the other dark,
With hardly any hint divides,
Lincoln would bounce with contrast stark.

Honest Abe – bipolar? Maybe!
But not for textbook history.

By: Evelyn Long

Evelyn Long — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:14:30 +0000

This is certainly very interesting about Lincoln. I would never have imagined
his being that kind of multiple personality.

Thanks!

Evelyn Long

By: Charles Neumann

Charles Neumann — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:03:55 +0000

There is no doubt that Abraham Lincoln was a complex human being. His periods of melancholy are well known. What I found interesting was the discussion about his intellectual arrogance. I doubt it was arrogance as much as he was sure of his own abilities, something a great leader must have. That he was not a bumbling farm boy anymore is a given.

By: Mark Weston

Mark Weston — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:24:07 +0000

I’ve often wondered if Lincoln was so involved with freeing the slaves…why did he wait until 1863 to present his proclomation? Many and I agree that Lincoln’s first
belief was to preserve the union…over the slavery issue. Why? Could it possibly
have been that he realized slavery was a major factor in the early death of his mother? Going further on my theory…Lincoln’s father was a carpenter. Have you ever wondered why as a child Abe travelled with his family to so many states?
Could it have been that his father had to keep moving to find employment…
since many land owners had slaves who were able to make tables, chairs etc?L
Lincoln’s mother’s health wasn’t helped by having to move so often.
Her death could have been hastened by that fact…among others.