“The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail.”
The weather in Washington D.C. on March 4, 1861 was oddly prophetic. A sunny dawn held the promise of a bright spring day, but by mid-morning ominous clouds had moved in to cast shadows over a still unfinished Capitol Building. Unperturbed by the blustery conditions, Abraham Lincoln donned his new, silk-lined stovepipe hat and drove in an open carriage down Pennsylvania Avenue. Once the wheels stopped, the president- elect unfolded himself from his seat and walked up to the Inauguration platform where he remained still until called forth to read his first Inaugural Address. Minutes later, he was sworn into office.
The presidential oath of office has remained unchanged since George Washington first took office in 1789. It is thirty- five words long, and can be spoken with perfect elocution in less than a minute. Abraham Lincoln was not the first, nor the last man to utter this single sentence; but he remains the only man whose presidential oath would be tested in the streets of America’s cities and in the backyards of its citizens.
Throughout Lincoln’s White House years, he endured political scandals, military defeats, personal loss, and a nation in crisis. As a leader he was wise enough to listen to doubts and bold enough to question his own policies. Yet most importantly, he was strong enough to endure.
At a time of staggering loss and constant change, Abraham Lincoln became a rock upon which Americans could either spit their venom or build their hopes. Even in the darkest times, Lincoln managed to pair brutal honesty with empathetic hope. Lincoln was a leader who did not hide behind false security, when those he was responsible to deserved truth. Even when grim circumstances presented nothing but a bleak future, the sixteenth president was a man capable of understanding desperate reality, and inspiring a nation to fight on regardless.
Hope as the Strongest Weapon
The power of hope upon human exertion and happiness is wonderful.—Fragment; written circa July 1854
Let us hope, rather, that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social, and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away.
—Address at the Wisconsin State Fair; September 30, 1859
In a word, the people will save their government, if the government itself will do its part only indifferently well.
—Message to Congress; July 8, 1861
We can do it. The human heart is with us—God is with us. We shall again be able not to declare, that “all states as states, are equal,” nor yet that “all citizens as citizens are equal,” but to renew the broader, better declaration, including both these and much more, that “all men are created equal.”
—Speech at the Republican banquet in Chicago; December 10, 1856
We simply must begin with and mould from disorganized and discordant elements.
—Lincoln’s last public address; April 11, 1865
Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost.... Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful result.
—Letter to James C. Conkling; August 26, 1863
No one, not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being, who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.
—Speech at Great Western Railway; February 11, 1861
Since your last annual assembling, another year of health and bountiful harvests has passed; and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light He gives us, trusting that in His own good time and wise way, all will yet be well.
Know When to Ask for Help
The proportions of this rebellion were not for a long time understood. I saw that it involved the greatest difficulties, and would call forth all the powers of the whole country.—Reply to Members of the Presbyterian General Assembly; June 2, 1863
If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage.
—Speech at Cleveland, Ohio; February 15, 1861
I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has. It is in order that each of you may have through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthright—not only for one, but for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.
—Address to the 166th Ohio Regiment; August 22, 1864
This excerpt is taken from “Leadership Lessons of Abraham Lincoln: Apply the Principles of the Sixteenth President to Your Own Work and Life“ edited with introductions by Meg Distinti. To read other articles of this book, click here. To buy this book, click here.
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