Ten score and ten years ago, Abraham Lincoln was born in a small cabin in the tiny unincorporated town of Hodgenville, Kentucky. His father was uneducated, his mother died when he was nine, he was forced to give up his education shortly afterwards and they lived in an unending cycle of poverty. If we were to dive deep into his beginnings, given his circumstances, it would be easy to believe that he would have never amounted to anything. Like most other men, his story could have easily faded into nothingness, registering not even a blip on the radar of history. Instead he grew into one of the most influential leaders in our nation’s history. Instead he united a country ready to tear itself apart in two. Instead he lead the Union through its most trying times, and, indeed, one of its bloodiest. He led men to their death in order to set others free. He fought with words, he battled with pen and ink, his weapons were the thoughts of the great men who came before him, and at the end of it all, he gave his life for what he believed in. There is an old saying that goes, “May you live in interesting times.” While seemingly a blessing, the saying is used ironically to suggest that times of peace and happiness are more enjoyable. But times of tranquility require much less from the human spirit. In our time, thankfully we no longer fight over slavery and property rights, the idea that men can own one another. Every man and woman is as free as their neighbor to choose the life they want to live. But make no mistake, like the Israelites when they forsook God time and again, the world is turning on its head. The 24 hour news cycle portrays a world falling apart. Children no longer play in neighborhoods, violence is escalating, racism and sexism on all sides has reared their ugly heads, and no longer do we build communities with one another but instead hide in isolated pods only to echo the thoughts we selectively want to hear. Meanwhile political opponents can no longer agree on anything and are constantly infighting. Suicide and drug use are at all time highs. Churches are emptying at record rates, biblical policies and principles are being abandoned, and the nuclear family has all but been been disused, disparaged, and disregarded. May we live in interesting times indeed. But take heart, for it is in these times when true leaders can rise up and take hold of the things that God has entrusted them with. The shadows seem darkest before the dawn, and like Lincoln used examples of others who came before him, we too can look to Lincoln’s example on Lesson 1 how to handle situations like these.
Of the qualities of leadership, none is more readily apparent than backbone. It is the cornerstone of great men and women, from Gideon to Rahab to Jesus and everyone else in between. Without backbone, it is impossible to stand against adversaries. It is impossible to hold rigid for what is right and good and true. And it is impossible to have faith in God’s words and promises for our lives. Like most qualities, backbone is not developed overnight. It often takes repeated use in order to grow, much like our faith grows in response to the need that God places in our lives. For Lincoln, it started when he was a kid. Around the age of 10, Lincoln’s education was cut short by his father, who viewed school as a waste of time. Instead, young Abe was put to work on the family farm where he cut down trees, dug up stumps, split rails, plowed fields and planted crops. Not one to be held back, Lincoln would often walk for miles to the nearest library so he could continue his own education. He also borrowed books routinely from the nearby school and whenever he had a free moment from farm work, he would pull out whatever he was reading and study much to his father’s chagrin. At times his father caught him studying and would beat him, but Lincoln remained steadfast and committed to his education, for he viewed it as his ticket to a better life. Abe’s defiance helped build the character he needed when he, at the age of 23, would run as a member of the Whig party in an Illinois county that was primarily Democratic. During that political campaign run, he also volunteered to join the militia during the Black Hawk War, willing to risk life and limb for his country. After safely returning, he lost the state election only to try again two years later and won. This allowed him to register his first official statement against slavery, despite the fact that the state assembly had voted 77-6 in favor of keeping it. At the time, this was tantamount to political suicide, but Lincoln remained undeterred. As his political ambitions continued, he remained true to his stance, never wavering for money, fame or political prowess. His word remained his bond, his “chief gem” as he called it, and he always followed through on his commitments. As the nation continued to rend itself between abolitionists and pro-slavery groups, he stood alone and proposed a solution for both sides despite it being unpopular. He became known as the great mediator, and this mediation between political rivals, both in his own party and the opposition party, took him all the way to the white house. At every step of the way, his opponents were more qualified, better educated, and had larger followings, but he took every challenge head on. And lastly, when war was inevitable and already on his doorstep, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing some 3.5 million slaves. “Abraham Lincoln may be slow,” Frederick Douglass said of him, “but Abraham Lincoln is not the man to reconsider, retract, and contradict words and purposes solemnly proclaimed over his official signature.” God holds our word as bond because we can trust His word. We can trust that at the end of the day, as we continue to push ourselves towards the greatness that God has for our lives, we are saved. Our salvation is our strength, it’s what gives us the courage to face the enemy head on, to tackle challenges far greater than ourselves, and to bring about lasting change the world can only marvel at.
Lesson 2 Like backbone, every leader must possess ambition. It is the water that helps grow the seeds of purpose God places in our lives. It is what drives a leader through dark times when it seems like nothing is happening, through the times where we struggle to grow and change both ourselves and our circumstances. Ambition is what leaders use to inspire followers to identify with something larger than themselves. They call for sacrifice in the pursuit of moral principles and lofty goals. It is what helps them paint a picture of a better tomorrow, to look beyond the present and work towards a future worth fighting for. “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition,” Lincoln said of himself. “I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.” Lincoln’s ambition knew no bounds. Fresh off his father’s farm at the age of 21, he quickly found favor with the people of New Salem and decided to run for State legislature.
He remained unschooled, and no one knew of him outside the town. One might think him foolhardy and overly ambitious, and indeed it would certainly seem so as he failed to get elected, but his failure drove him all the more and two years later he accomplished his goal. After leaving office, he was poor and needed to work so he set about becoming a lawyer. He joined forces with Stephen Logan, an older but accomplished lawyer himself, and together they built a formidable law practice. Lincoln didn’t know the first thing about law besides what he had gathered from books and in person, but he somehow convinced Stephen to teach him. And learn he did. Lincoln was tireless in his pursuit of education and in the pursuit of excellence. One of Lincoln’s friends said of him, “The ambition of the man soared above us.” And as we know, his political aspirations didn’t stop there. The boy who had been beaten for reading books in between farming tasks next became a successful lawyer, then a US Senator, then a nationally renowned Republican, and finally president of the United States. During his presidential run, it was said that his hard work even bled through to his team. They worked tirelessly around him. Due to his passion, former political rivals came to work on his side. Even the others who had lost the Republican nomination to Lincoln helped him unite the party and get him to the White House. Whatever your better tomorrow is, whatever promise of God you are working towards, we can be sure it will come to pass. His promises are “Yes” and “Amen.” But that doesn’t mean it’ll just plop into our laps. We must put our hand to the plow, to commit ourselves to the daily work. Lincoln told his aide, “Always bear in mind your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” We too should remember that as we push forward in anticipation of the plans that God has for our lives.
Lesson 3 As a consequence of striving towards a better future, all leaders struggle. Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy, and with it often comes depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Whether it’s the sheer magnitude of the burden we place upon ourselves or the responsibility for the changes we desire to see in the world, lofty goals can lead to crushed souls. Lincoln was no stranger to depression, loss, suffering, and struggle. Shortly after his victory to state legislature, he lost the love of his life, Ann Rutledge, to typhoid. Even though they weren’t married, her death sunk him into a deep depression. He wandered the nearby woods with a gun in his hand, often contemplating suicide. Thankfully the people of New Salem and the friendships he had built within that community helped pull him back from the brink. With life back on track, Lincoln pushed for reform within the state’s infrastructure, only to meet more failure as the state sunk into recession. Lincoln and his projects took the lion’s share of the blame, causing the worst depression of his life. After leaving office, he was poor, his law practice had suffered while he was working for the state. He broke off his engagement to his new beau Mary Todd and he became emaciated, a ghostly shell of his former self. At one point, he wrote a letter to a friend saying, “I am now the most miserable man living… To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.” But his desire to engrave his name in the annals of history eventually spurred his return. He had to repair what he had lost and he began a new law practice with Stephen Logan. He fixed his relationship with Mary Todd and they became married. He rededicated himself to politics and eventually became a US Senator. Nothing was perfect, and of course, nothing ever is, but it seemed as though Lincoln was climbing out of the valley and into the mountain of the future. And then he hit yet another stumbling block. Everything was going according to plan, but try as he might while being a Senator, he failed to further the ambitious goal of ending slavery, or even constraining it. Embarrassed and frustrated, he withdrew from public life for five years. Focused on his law practice and his studies, it is here where he finally gained the upper hand on his depression. With his heart firmly fixed on containing and eventually ending slavery, his defeats in the Senate didn’t bother him any longer. And after he returned from political exile, he ran for president while he quieted the inner voice that anticipated his defeat allowing him to garner support to win the Republican Nomination and the eventual presidency. Struggle continued to follow him through his time in the White House. Before he had even gotten there, the nation had finally torn itself apart as seven states had seceded from the Union and declared themselves the Confederate States of America. As the war grew on, the deaths of all the soldiers haunted and tormented him. “If there is a worse place than Hell, I am in it.” In order to maintain his spirits, he visited the theater often and recited Shakespeare during countless sleepless nights. He liberally used the Presidential Pardon to save soldiers’ and deserters’ lives in order to stave off thoughts that countless people were dying day after day as a consequence of his decisions. He surrounded himself with men who not only pushed him towards bigger and better things, but also committed themselves to the cause of unifying the Union and ending slavery. Lincoln found joy in the small moments, and like him, we can do the same. We can engross ourselves in a hobby outside of our tasks, we can find joy in helping the individual while we struggle to change the masses, and we can surround ourselves with friends and compatriots who share in our struggle and build us up when we falter. And as we do, we must also stay committed to the mission at hand. We must balance the small joys with the large tasks at our feet. We must remain steadfast in our spirit, let God handle the worries, and trudge ever onward toward the future God has planted in our minds.
Lesson 4 Another great quality of all leaders is they have good timing. Timing is unique among talents in that it often seems like luck. The person who watches with great carefulness, who prepares long and hard for the opportune moment, who works for years to have a seemingly overnight meteoric success, will often be called lucky. But opportunity comes to everyone, and those who are prepared are the only ones to take advantage of it. We know Lincoln valued his education, even when he was a child. He did not “intend to delve, grub, shuck corn, split rails, and the like,” as he would say. “I’ll study and get ready, and then the chance will come.” He maintained this same attitude as he got older. During his time as state legislature, he paid close attention and absorbed as much information as possible. Others there during his tenure were 2 future presidential candidates, 6 future senators, 8 congressman, and 3 Supreme Court Justices. Assuredly, other members were quick to call attention to themselves in order to express their demands, but Lincoln was idle, gaining wisdom and insight about his state, its issues, its citizens, and his fellow politicians. Lincoln often withdrew and studied alone. He was an avid reader, something he would carry with him even through his presidency. He wasn’t afraid of looking foolish by gathering firsthand information and asked many questions of everyone from all backgrounds. When he “got on the hunt for an idea” he didn’t sleep until he “caught it.” And even then, he didn’t let it go until he had completely mastered the idea in his mind. All this knowledge allowed him to act with precision, from the law to his personal life to even matters as grand as slavery. He treated slavery like he did all subjects he didn’t know about, and he dove deep into research. Eventually he came to the conclusion, “The time is coming when we shall have to be all either abolitionists or democrats.” One portion of timing is knowing when to pursue a matter and when to hold back. While at the state, despite thinking slavery unjust, Lincoln chose to pursue it at a later time and instead focused on Illinois’ infrastructure projects. The country was largely settled on the issue of slavery, and his notion would have died with a whimper. Later on, shortly after the Louisiana purchase and the Mexican American war, was the perfect time to launch into an impassioned campaign for the abolition of slavery. When the nation was splitting apart, Lincoln tried to keep it together by proposing no new states should have slavery. Even though he wanted to completely abolish slavery, proposing it then would only further drive a wedge between the North and South. He knew from Scripture that a house divided against itself cannot stand. After studying the founders, he saw slavery “as an evil not to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because and so far as it’s actual presence among us makes that toleration and protection necessary.” By the time he was president, with the tides of war upon the country, just weeks after Robert E. Lee crushed General McClellan’s first offensive to attack the Confederate capital of Richmond, Lincoln announced he had founded a new position on slavery and delivered the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. He realized he could no longer keep the Union together and it was only War that could set captives free and bring the South into submission. Later he wrote to his staff, “It is my conviction, had the proclamation been issued even six months earlier than it was, public sentiment would not have sustained it. Just so, as to the subsequent action in reference to enlisting blacks in the Border States. The step, taken sooner, could not, in my judgment, have been carried out. A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap!” And finally, after ensuring his 2nd term as president, Lincoln introduced the Thirteenth Amendment. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Lesson 5 From an early age, it was often said that Lincoln was smart. But he would disagree. “My mind is like a piece of steel,” he would say, “very hard to scratch anything on it, and almost impossible after you get it there to rub it out.” Humility often sets a leader apart from a man leading others to a man leading only himself. And Abe had it in spades. One doesn’t need to look very hard to find Lincoln’s humility. During his debates, he refused to sensationalize the extreme hardships he experienced as a child for political gain. He also refused to disparage his rivals. Only one time early in his career did he verbally brutalize an opponent of his who broke down and cried in the audience. This moment haunted Lincoln for a long time afterward, and he promised never to do it again. Unlike his political rivals, Abe was consistently unassuming and quiet. If he could not be people’s first choice for a position or a job, he was happy to be second even though his desire was always to be first. He was happy to be second to his partner Stephen Logan, he was happy to be second in order to help unite the Republican party, and he was happy to be second when he was happy to be third in rotation to become an Illinois State Senator. Every time he wasn’t first he used the opportunity to gain knowledge and grow himself. Like any great leader, he assumed full responsibility for his failures and his decisions no matter how monumental. Whether it cost the lives of men, of his political gain, or his relationships, he put the burden of failure upon himself even when it was someone else’s fault. He realized that when you put the burden of blame on someone else, you can no longer accept the responsibility to change. Being a victim doesn’t solve anything, it puts you in a metaphorical cage in which there is no escape. In addition to better versions of tomorrow, leaders also look to individual self-interests in order to further their goals. Leaders use bargaining, trades, and rewards to influence their followers and solicit support. After all, if greatness attracts greatness, then assuredly great leaders will attract other great leaders who are working towards their own versions of the future. Lincoln worked diligently to help his friends and compatriots, pushing them to new positions and helping them achieve new goals in their lives. Realizing he couldn’t accomplish his dreams alone, as president, he pieced together the most unusual cabinet in American history: former Whigs, Free Soilers, and antislavery Democrats, a combination of conservatives, moderates, and radicals of hard-liners and conciliators. All of them were strong-minded, independent thinkers who had more experience, were better educated, and more celebrated. The top 3 positions he gave to his 3 chief rivals, Seward, Chase, and Bates. When asked why he was doing this—the country was in peril and he needed strong able men.
Lesson 6 Without adversity, a tree cannot grow strong. It is the wind and the rain, the fire and lightning, the animals and other trees that threaten to kill a young sapling. But if it survives, it can become the mightiest of oaks, the tallest of redwoods. Likewise, if they are without challengers, leaders cannot attain new heights. In the marketplace, it is competition that drives innovation. In the political arena, it is the pundit with the best ideas and the brightest words that always take center stage. As with struggle, Lincoln was no stranger to adversity. When his mother died when he was 9, his father, Thomas Lincoln, left him and his sister alone for seven months to go find a wife. The cabin they stayed in was floor less, door less, had little furniture, no bedding, and was surrounded by wilderness. For the next 11 years, Abe worked tirelessly on the farm, only to move when he was 21 with little more than the clothes on his back. Lincoln took these experiences in stride. He didn’t grow bitter, but instead turned his misfortune into favor with the people of New Salem. As he stretched into new arenas he faced adversity from his own lack of knowledge and adversaries from both the law and political arenas. One such lawyer, Stephen Douglas, a prominent Democrat, continued to be a thorn in Lincoln’s side all the way through his career and even ran against him for the presidency. With every new challenge, Lincoln dove head first into it with gusto. He quickly made friends, astounded his opponents, and treated everyone with kindness and dignity. His attitude and hard work helped catapult himself over other more prominent leaders. When he ran for the Republican nomination for president, Lincoln faced New York’s youngest governor turned Senate, William Seward, who was the nation’s most celebrated antislavery politician. He also faced Salmon Chase, the first Republican Governor of Ohio and one of the founders of the Republican party. And also Edward Bates, a formal educated abolitionist lawyer who had already garnered support from numerous states in both the North and South. And who was Lincoln? A failed senator and failed state legislature who was largely unknown outside of Illinois. There was one thing he had that the others failed to possess—an impossible work ethic. And it was that work ethic that took him all the way to the White House. Little did he know his problems were about to begin. Before Lincoln’s first day as president 7 states had passed resolutions to secede from the Union and had formed their own government as the Confederate States of America. On top of that, the Republican party was once again divided between compromising with the South and hard-liners who demanded abolition or nothing. Within his own Presidential cabinet, they debated for months about the Emancipation Proclamation, whether they should do it or not, how to do it, when to do it, and whether President Lincoln had any right to even do it in the first place. Despite protests, despite the risks of alienating Border States and increasing the length of the Civil War, he proceeded anyway. The importance of ending slavery far exceeded all of these concerns. Many states, even Northern states, actively opposed the Proclamation for various reasons. Lincoln faced immense opposition during his reelection. There was a cry for peace at any cost. The war had dragged on for too long, and everyone wanted things to go back to normal. They pushed Lincoln to compromise, but in the end, he refused to meet with the Confederate president Jefferson Davis unless their meeting meant the end of slavery. In the end, Lincoln stood his ground and swept the Electoral College by a tally of 212 to 21 and began President for a second term. As we know, unfortunately he never got to see his ambition fully realized. Many leaders never do, the seeds they plant and the legacy they leave often continues long past their existence. But he did reach his goal in one way, his name will always be remembered.
Lesson 7 Determined to make an impact, during his final months as a US Senator in 1848, Lincoln gave an impassioned speech on slavery hoping to draw compromise from both abolitionists and pro-slavery forces. It didn’t work. He considered his only term as a Senator a failure. Even as a child, he always dreamed of a better future. Possibly due to the harshness of his living conditions, he dreamed of being on his own and making his name known across the land. But unlike most children, that dream never died. As Lincoln entered adulthood and became a leader in his profession, he kept pushing for greater things. His legacy is defined by his executive order that freed the slaves. He wrestled for months as President on how to make it law abiding and constitutional. He dreaded becoming an Alexander, a Caesar, a Napoleon, a man who exploited times of chaos to impose order from above. But in order to save the Union, that’s exactly what he did. Published in newspapers across the nation, it read, “As a fit and necessary military measure for effecting this object, [preservation of the Union] I, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do order and declare that on the first day of January in the year of our Lord 1863 all persons held as slaves within any state or states, wherein the constitutional authority of the United States shall not then be practically recognized, submitted to and maintained shall then, thenceforward and forever, be free.” Eighty words supplanted consti tutional law, property rights, and legislation that had taken place over three-quarters of a century. Roughly 3.5 million black people were finally set free. When signing the Proclamation, Lincolns said “I never, in my life felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper. If my name ever goes down in history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.” When we look at our lives, most of us will never accomplish something so monumental. But that doesn’t mean we can’t affect the people and areas God has placed in our charge. We must look to our greatest example, Jesus, and to those giants who have come before us. The world was forever changed by an uneducated kid who grew up on a farm. May we strive to accomplish such change as well.