Lincoln revered human life

Abraham Lincoln was a man of profound human compassion.

His farewell address to the people of Springfield, Ill., in 1861:

“My friends, no one not in my situation, can appreciate my feelings 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 be well.

“To God’s care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

Note: An extemporaneous speech on Feb. 11, 1861. Lincoln stood in the rain on the rear platform of his private railcar and spoke to the people among whom he lived, as he was leaving for Washington, D.C., and his inauguration as the 16th president of the United States. His birthday was the next day, Feb. 12.

Leo Tolstoy, a European (1828-1910), one of the greatest thinkers and writers of that time, said it best: “Lincoln’s supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar oral power and in the greatness of his character.”

Other than our lord, Jesus Christ, he is the benchmark by which we can judge a person.

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on Good Friday, the same day commemorating the crucifixion of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, April 14, 1865. He was fully spiritually aware that his life would likely be taken while he was still in office. As a father, he would have abhorred the destruction of expectant human life by willful abortion for reason of mere convenience. Every lawyer, physician, public official and each man and woman should follow his moral lead.

He would have concurred that a newspaper’s responsibility is not only to inform but also to educate.

Vincent T. LoCoco

lawyer

New Orleans

Comments

1) Comment by prbeav - 11/02/2013

DMJ, please clarify "Lincoln . . . personally authorized the largest mass execution in U.S. history." Thanks.

2) Comment by DMJ - 11/02/2013

Even if legal, safe abortion existed during the 1860s (it wasn't) and Lincoln was against it (impossible to know), so what? That still doesn't mean the government should have the right to compel a woman to bring her pregnancy to term. Oh, and Lincoln also personally authorized the largest mass execution in U.S. history. So much for the sanctity of life.

3) Comment by CountryBoysCanSurvive - 11/02/2013

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4) Comment by CountryBoysCanSurvive - 10/02/2013

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5) Comment by Bighug - 10/02/2013

Of course Lincoln made those remarks to the public indicating he was a Christian. Most politicians do it today. How else could they get elected? Perhaps the writer of this letter should spend a little more time reading up on the subject before commenting. I'm sure it doesn't hurt the lawyer trade in this area to beat the Christian drum a little, just as it helps politicians.

6) Comment by prbeav - 10/02/2013

Did Lincoln suggest Almighty God is fickle? Quoting Lincoln in his 2nd Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865: “The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’ [Matthew 18:7, KJV]. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?”>>>>Was Lincoln’s focus on North and South correct, or should he have harkened back to the Atlantic slave trade perpetrated by England, Holland, and Portugal? Or should Africa bear the woe?>>>>Is it justifiable to consider Lincoln anything more than a shrewd politician in a society of Christians?>>>>People who ascribe events to the influence of God have selfish motives, and Lincoln was exceptional only in his skills as The Prince. (I write opinion since I do not know the objective truth.)

7) Comment by Bouncer - 10/02/2013

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8) Comment by prbeav - 10/02/2013

Did Lincoln justly judge God?>>>>Abraham Lincoln to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864: “I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it.”

9) Comment by CountryBoysCanSurvive - 10/02/2013

Other than that (wink wink) Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play.

10) Comment by prbeav - 09/02/2013

Sorry; "join" should read "joint.">>>>Based on the Dred Scott decision, Lincoln established his position that the wording in the Declaration of Independence,"men created equal," justified ending slavery even of inferior races. He used this thinking to repeatedly trump the United States Constitution.>>>>When We the People discover injustice or finally agree we have supported injustice, we have the ability to amend the US Constitution. Any citizen who feels there is injustice, should uphold the US Constitution, but fight to amend it to correct the injustice. For example, I think freedom of religion is an injustice and have written many times proposing amendment of the First Amendment to revise "religion" to "thought," with clarification that practice of thought cannot harm others.>>>>Lincoln, if he were the defender of the US Constitution he claimed to be, would have proposed and used his superior political abilities to accomplish the Thirteenth Amendment without war.>>>>We can easily say, "But he would not have been elected president." That is so, but forfeiting his presidency for the lives of 750,000 Americans of 1860-1865 would seem a desirable swap perhaps to anyone but Lincoln.>>>>I am only speculating, but not about what Lincoln chose to do: not propose the 13th amendment until forced into war.

11) Comment by prbeav - 09/02/2013

Also, to quote Lincoln on the black race being inferior yet slavery being wrong; from the join debate at Galesburg, October 7, 1858: "I have all the while maintained that in so far as it should be insisted that there was an equality between the white and black races that should produce a perfect social and political equality, it was an impossibility. This you have seen in my printed speeches, and with it I have said, that in their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals. And these declarations I have constantly made in reference to the abstract moral question, to contemplate and consider when we are legislating about any new country which is not already cursed with the actual presence of the evil,—slavery.">>>>Lincoln was a great politician, but neither a great nor a just person.>>>>Also, he was not a defender of the Constitution, as he claimed. I will research that.

12) Comment by prbeav - 09/02/2013

misterfalcon, I liked your points, excepting the last one. I think Lincoln was merely among the smartest politicians the world has ever know. Take for example his attitude against the invaded people on this continent.>>>>In his Third Annual Message delivered in December 1863, Lincoln revealed inhumane Christian attitudes toward natives and their rights to property: “The measures provided at your last session for the removal of certain Indian tribes have been carried into effect. Sundry treaties have been negotiated, which will in due time be submitted for the constitutional action in the Senate. They contain stipulations for extinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to large and valuable tracts of lands. It is hoped that the effect of these treaties will result in the establishment of permanent friendly relations with such of these tribes as have been brought into frequent and bloody collision with our outlying settlements and emigrants. Sound policy and our imperative duty to these wards of the Government demand our anxious and constant attention to their material well-being, to their progress in the arts of civilization, and, above all to that moral training which under the blessing of Divine Providence will confer upon them the elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes and consolations, of the Christian faith.”>>>>Lincoln, like all the rest of Christians use Christianity to grant themselves political advantage. It is something I vainly attempted for five decades, and then I realized I loved someone so much I was willing to give up my religion so she could have hers without me changing. Thanks to her and my own perseverance, I discovered my religious preference: none.>>>>Any conversion of natives to Christianity may be the world's greatest tragedy, whether under Lincoln's influence or not.

13) Comment by misterfalcon - 09/02/2013

Lincoln also suspended habeas corpus, allowed for summary military executions without trial, thought of Africans as being fundamentally 'less-than' insofar as Europeans were concerned and sought to actively re-settle them, and was otherwise generally an historical figure ensconced in an historical milieu, as we all are. But as always, you pro-life types define revering life as some kind of maudlin hand-wringing for those in the womb, the devil catch the rest of us. You can't even open your mouths without lying or cramming wishful thoughts in the mouth of one who despite all of his flaws sorts out as one of the few and far-between more-or-less good guys of human history.