Dr Jeffrey Lant Worldprofit Abraham Lincoln eBook

7/30/2019 Dr Jeffrey Lant Worldprofit Abraham Lincoln eBook

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Abraham Lincoln a Reconsideration of the Great American President through the Articlesof Dr. Jeffrey Lant


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Table of Contents

1. Abraham Lincoln... captivated by words, created by words, empowered by words, glorified bywords. Reflections on his Cooper Union Speech, February 27, 1860.2. Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool reopens. Thoughts on the man, his enduring greatness, andwhy over 24 million people visit annually and come away refreshed in mind and spirit.3. Is there a future for the GOP? Yes, but only if they heed these admonitions and recommendations.Otherwise the party's marginalization will continue, its end certain, ignominious.


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Abraham Lincoln... captivated by words, created by words,empowered by words, glorified by words. Reflections on hisCooper Union Speech, February 27, 1860.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. 150 years ago, March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln (born 1809), became 16th

president of the United States. And if you do not believe in destiny, fate, or kismet, even you willwonder at the undoubted fact that at the time of its maximum peril, the Great Republic should havefound the perfect man to guide her affairs and so preside not over her premature dissolution (as somany thought and even wished) but her greatest trial, from which, terrible forge though it was,emerged the greatest of nations. Oh, yes, here was the hand of God, indeed... to the wonder of all...and as we know His ways are mysterious so we shouldn't wonder at this man and his story... a storyto be told in the words he loved, the words he mastered, the words he used to effect his greatpurpose... the words we all have at our disposal... but which only he used with such grace andpower... and such resolve... the mark of the consummate master of our language and the great uses towhich it can always rise...

For this tale, I have selected as the occasional music a tune Abraham Lincoln loved and tapped histoe to, "Jimmy Crack Corn". It's a frolicksome number thought to be a black face minstrel song ofthe 1840s. Like so much that touches Lincoln, it's not quite what it appears to be.... that is, a blackslave's lament over his master's death... it has indeed a subtext of rejoicing over that death andpossibly having caused it by deliberate negligence.... "Dat Blue Tail Fly"... It is a feeling every slavemust have thought at some time... which every master must have understood and feared... and fromthis seemingly unsolvable conundrum Lincoln freed both, saving the people, cleansing the GreatRepublic.

Without benefit of formal education... yet with every necessary word to hand.

Consider the matter of Illinois, the 21st state, frontier of the Great Republic in 1818 when it was

admitted to the Union. It was a land firmly focused on the bright future all were certain wascoming... the better to obliterate and make bearable the rigors and unceasing travails of the present.The land was rich... the richness of the people would soon follow.

In this land of future promise, inchoate, Lincoln, like all those who delight in words, found hislabors lightened and vista magnified by books, and thanks to the good and helpful work of RobertBray (2007), we may learn just what books he possessed, and so which words he knew, by whomrendered, and how.

It is impossible to know in just what order young Lincoln found the books, read the books, and withwhat degree of joy and enthusiasm, for Lincoln (unlike many who love and live by words) was not a

great writer of marginal commentary, in which reader engages in often enraged tete-a-tete withauthor. Such marginalia are cream to any biographer, but in Lincoln's case were infrequent.

In any event, we can surmise that he learned his words first from the great King James version ofThe Bible, perhaps the most influential and certainly most lyric book in the language. If so, itbestowed on him not only the words but their sonority, cadence and above all, moral certainty, all ofwhich were critical in the development of his mature style and so helped save a great nation fromself-destruction. There followed first the odd volume, happily received, then a steady trickle, thenthe glorious days when he could have as many books, and so as many words, as he wanted; paradiseto a man for whom each word, and every book, was a key to greater understanding of the cosmos...and himself...

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Abraham Lincoln a Reconsideration of the Great American President through the Articles of Dr. Jeffrey Lant
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Thus, E.A. Andrews and S. Stoddard "A Grammar of the Latin Language" (1836); Nathan Bailey"Dictionary of English Etymology" (1721); James Barclay "Dictionary" (1774); George Bancroft"History of the United States (1834); Francis Bacon "Essays" (1625); John Bunyan "The Pilgrim'sProgress" (1678); Benjamin Franklin "Autobiography" (1818); Edward Gibbon "Decline and Fall ofthe Roman Empire" (1776)...

... and one great poet after another, for as Lincoln learned, as every word smith must learn, there canbe no mastery of words where there is no understanding of poets and their precise, meticulous craft...and so one finds without surprise the works of Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Thomas Gray whose"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1751) he so loved... with its sad beauty, lines which,once read, seem to have been written for Lincoln himself:

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaitsalike the inevitable hour, the paths of glory lead but to the grave."

It was a thought Lincoln knew only too well, and he had but to touch this poem to think on itspowerful, unanswerable, haunting words, including these...

"Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne"... but not yet... not yet.

And so Lincoln on every day sought out the light enabling him to learn the words, all the words heneeded and his work demanded.... thus was he up with day's first light... to finish his work betimes,to snatch some minutes for the words..., then to pass the night and gain some further words by firelight and smokey tallow. Because the words would not be denied... Lincoln was not to be denied.They beckoned. He followed... until he was at last ready to begin, just to begin, his great work... thework that needed all of him... and so every word at his command.

Thus was he summoned from Springfield in Illinois to the greatest city of the Great Republic, NewYork, where its most renowned and anxious citizens, worthy, substantial, concerned, waited withimpatience, condescension, worry and, yes, even hope to hear what a prairie lawyer named Lincolnhad to say to them about the great issue of their day and how this great blot upon the Great Republic

could be resolved... and their great experiment in governance be purified. And so did AbrahamLincoln rise to speak, at Cooper Union, February 27, 1860.

The most important speech since Washington's Farewell Address (1796).

These days only specialists are knowledgeable about the Cooper Union speech... but this is wrong,for it gave the Union a new voice, a new leader, and a man fiercely dedicated to the preservation andtriumph of the Constitution. Without Cooper Union Lincoln would never have been nominated in1860, so never would have served, and could not have brought his signal talents to bear on savingthe Great Republic. And thus the greatest experiment in human history and affairs might well havecome to naught, to the impoverishment and despair of our species.

But Cooper Union did happen... and with every word the nation knew it had found not merely agood and honest man, but a savior... a man fiercely dedicated to truth... fiercely dedicated toworking together with even obdurate men who hated and outraged each other... fiercely determinedto find the formula to protect and defend the Union... And so he was fierce in his moderation... fiercein his implacable opposition to anyone threatening the great federal Union... fierce in asking all goodcitizens to step forward and work for the greater good... And such was the power of his fiercemessage of what must be done, such was the excellence, clarity and reasonableness of his words,that this audience of the great thrilled and cheered him to the very echo.

This single man whose ambition was defined (according to his law partner William H. Herndon) as"a little engine that knew no rest", was now in place for the uttermost struggle, a struggle for




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common sense, common purpose, common decency and the validation and acknowledgement of all.He was ready... for he had the ideas, the fortitude, the moral certainty... and, above all, the words heneeded, the words that saved the Great Republic and remind us still of what is possible when wehave a leader who summons the "better angels of our nature."




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Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool reopens. Thoughts on theman, his enduring greatness, and why over 24 million peoplevisit annually and come away refreshed in mind and spirit.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note: I am amongst the most vociferous critics of excessive government spending

and waste, but today I am proud of the overdue restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,a key part of what makes the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. such a serene and pleasingplace, an absolutely essential destination for all citizens; a place which like Mecca, one must visit atleast once in one's life, thoughtful, respectful, yearning to be touched and uplifted by its loftypresence, never disappointed or let down.

The $34 million spent to restore the reflecting pool, the largest in the capital, is chump-change byWashington standards... but even if the cost was far more than it is, it would be money wellspent...for the role of Abraham Lincoln, 16th president, is fundamental to understanding our GreatRepublic and reminding us just who we are and what we stand for.

Start by seeing and feeling what you see.One of the several excellent vantage points for this revered tableau is from the WashingtonMonument. From this grand obelisk forever pointing up, the only suitable direction for our greatendeavors, you see the long, rectangular pool which punctuates the National Mall. No trueAmerican, indeed no lover of freedom anywhere, can see this sight without a pang, for to walk theMall and regard its monuments is to be touched by the greatest people of the nation, their exalteddeeds and, always, their searing words which moved multitudes, inspiring the people, opening theirminds and shaping our mission for bettering not just our lives but the lives of people worldwide, forthat is a crucial and essential aspect of our national work.

How it all began.

There is a deep irony about the Lincoln Memorial and its jewel, the reflecting pool. If he had livedto complete his second term, it is unlikely Lincoln would have had such a monument. Instead, itmight have been something like the nearby Jefferson Memorial, respectful to be sure but without theimpact of what exists today. But a Southern sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth assassinated thepresident, and a nation riven by anger, rage, revenge, and a determination that this man and hismission be remembered forever, impelled the creation of an unparalleled civic temple which couldnot fail to impress and awe every visitor.

Its objective was to glorify Lincoln and the federal union he preserved. The resulting monumentmust, all agreed, make this abundantly clear, unmistakable, resounding through the years to come.Thus must Lincoln and his great deeds be remembered and raised high. The living Lincoln may not

have wanted so much, probably would not... but for the martyred president the grieving, adamantnation would have it so and so it was.

Squabbles.

But, of course, nothing in Washington then or now can be accomplished without disagreement,argument, posturing and rancor. Lincoln, for all that he was the savior of the Great Republic, was thefirst Republican president and as such anathema to the gentlemen of the defunct Confederacy and theNorthern Democrats who relied on their votes and block support. Monument to Lincoln there mightultimately be, but the road to that end would be as acrimonious and obstructed as the defeatedConfederates could make it and as unimpressive as their potent congressional power could




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influence.

Thus, starting in 1867, Congress passed the first of many bills designed to advance matters, this timeby creating a commission to erect a Lincoln monument. But it and a plethora of similar legislationwere stalled, not just for years but for decades, most notably by House Speaker (and Democrat) JoeCannon who between 1901 and 1908 made sure every such bill was defeated. Great Lincoln haddefeated these rebels and their pernicious notions in life. They would do what they could to defeathim in death. But even here they failed, and at long last in 1910 the necessary legislation was passed,

funds voted, design and location approved. Now the great work could be started in earnest...And so a classic Greek temple featuring Yule marble from Colorado arose. It had 36 fluted Doriccolumns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. Above thecolonnade, inscribed on the frieze, are the names of the 36 states in the Union when Lincoln died.Every aspect of this graceful monument of simplicity even severity, elegance and restrainedgrandeur reinforced just one concept: the integrity of our federal union, united, indissoluble, eternal.And there, in solemn majesty, the one man who more than any other made these words a reality.

There, as rendered by sculptor Daniel Chester French, Abraham Lincoln, 19 feet tall from head tofoot, resides for the numberless ages, a man of power, determination, resolution, contemplation...and most important a man of mercy, empathy, and love as evidenced by the words selected to adorn

the walls and make it clear to posterity who he was and what he believed.

Of course, the Gettysburg Address, once known by every school child (but not today), was inscribed.And so were the immortal words from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865): "With malicetowards none; with charity for all... to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lastingpeace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

Now it was time for the Reflecting Pool.

Along the way, it was decided that this temple as much to the Great Republic as to Lincoln, could bemade glorious with a reflecting pool that would dramatically show the treasures of the National Mallwhile magnifying in its waters the Mall's trees and an expansive sky seemingly without limit. And

so the Reflecting Pool of 2,029 feet (over a third of a mile) was added, modeled on the grand canalsof Versailles and Fontainebleau, to be dedicated along with the Memorial itself in 1922.

The last surviving Lincoln was present that notable day, eldest son Robert Todd, more a Todd than aLincoln. He never said what he thought about the apotheosis unto civic saint of the rough, ungainly,uncouth father who had so often embarrassed him. Whatever it was went with him to the grave.

Glorious again.

Over the years, this grand conception went steadily downhill, fetid, fouled with dirt, duck droppings,and trash. It was a monument to nothing more than poor management and oversight and because ofits decaying fabric the loss of 500,000 gallons of city water a week, 30 million gallons a year. Now,

thanks to public outrage and good old American technology and expertise, these problems aresolved, not least the pool's water supply which has been updated to eliminate stagnant water (andthose noxious smells) by circulating water from the Tidal Basin. This place of a nation's venerationis now magnificent again, ready for its unending stream of visitors, all needing Lincoln's message ofhumanity and harmony, more necessary now than ever.

Author's program note. For the music to accompany this article, I have selected "Dixie" written byDan Emmett in 1859. Why this song, the finest reel ever written? Because of Lincoln himself. In1865, he said "I have always thought that 'Dixie' was one of the best tunes I ever heard." And so itis... You can find it in any search engine.




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Is there a future for the GOP? Yes, but only if they heedthese admonitions and recommendations. Otherwise theparty's marginalization will continue, its end certain,ignominious.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. Steven Spielberg's important new film "Lincoln" has just been released andnot a moment too soon. It's based on historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's best-selling book "Team ofRivals:The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."

It's about what it takes to move mountains, manage men, get things done and lead, bending but notabandoning every moral principle or strongly held belief. It is about politics, America's blood sport,and how they are played at the very top where angels fear to tread... and rightly so. There's nothingangelic about the participants or the process. It's a very messy... and absolutely crucial... businessthat ensures our Democracy works.

For the music to this piece, I have selected "Dixie", written in 1859 by Daniel Decatur Emmett. Yes,

the very anthem of sedition and treason. Why? Because Abe Lincoln thought it a fine tune... andbecause it reminds us that throwing away a good thing, the greatest reel ever written, makes nosense. Leadership, even in music, means enjoying the good; finessing the bad and rememberingwhat Scarlet O'Hara said: "Tonight I could dance with Abe Lincoln himself".... and sailed through asea of outrage and disapproval to prove her point and have a thoroughly good time.

Loss, bad loss, catastrophic loss.

John Boehner (R-OH), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is now again the highestranking Republican in the Great Republic. That wasn't the idea, but it is the result after anunenlightening campaign that rained money but where victory eluded them... and not by a narrowmargin either. Like most everyone in America Boehner has his ideas about why this happened... and

to his credit he didn't hold back when he addressed his chastened, subdued House colleagues bytelephone the day after the victory that didn't happen.

He made it clear they would have to work with the Democrats they viscerally detest... and in thisdeduction Boehner at last sounded less like the bombastic ultra-partisan, immutable control freakthan he usually does but, perhaps for the first time, actually a tad Lincolnesque. For no Americanpolitician ever labored so hard or so successfully to work with (and ultimately control) the peoplenecessary to the fruition of his administration and the nation than Lincoln.

He took his political competitors, even his avowed enemies, and plunked them down in his Cabinet...where he could see what they were up to, the better to control them to get his way. It was bold,

audacious, unprecedented maybe even fool hardy. And no one knew whether it would succeed ornot, not even Abe Lincoln, the most belittled, reviled, and underestimated American politician ever.He asked every candidate who had opposed his nomination at the Republican convention in Chicagoto take a portfolio.

They couldn't believe their good fortune and assumed their power and control of the newgovernment assured. After all they were men of merit, nationally known, nationally renowned.Seward of New York! Chase of Ohio! Cameron of Pennsylvania! Bates of Missouri! No wonder theweak and untried Lincoln wanted them at hand. He would reign. They would rule. Or so theythought...




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But Lincoln understood men, understood how to manage them, and bring them along, alwaysfinagling, brokering, deal making to accomplish the needful and always with country humor andgood sense. Speaker Boehner ought to ensure that every House Member, Democrat and Republican,gets Goodwin's book and masters it.

Don't bet the ranch on Aging White Men.

Lincoln had a goal and never lost sight of it: to preserve the federal Union. He made it clear what hewould do to achieve and maintain that goal: anything, everything. If it would help, it was on thetable.

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroyslavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it byfreeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone Iwould also do that."

Now have you ever heard Boehner and company say anything like this about the crucial matter ofrighting America's rickety financial house? You haven't because he hasn't. And until he does, untilhe says that everything is on the table to achieve the great goal of saving America's finances, thegoal will never be achieved and all our lives and endeavors blighted accordingly. This great goal, in

short, can not just be accomplished by aging white men, the foundation of the Republican party.Here are the bleak statistics the GOP must wrestle with, statistics which cost them not just the 2012presidential election but, if not radically improved, will cost them every future presidential electionas well:

Women: 55% Obama, 44% Romney.

Hispanics: 71% Obama, 27% Romney.

Young voters under 30: 60% Obama, 36% Romney.

Black voters: 95% Obama, 4% Romney.

Asian American voters: 80% Obama, 19% Romney.

Note: For the record, I must remind you that these numbers are based on various election-date exitpolls and other unofficial surveys. Still, the results of these polls are consistent, and therefore arevery much to the point.

Radical outreach required, starting at once.

The staff, offices, and work of the national committees dwindle significantly as soon as the electionresults are in. This model won't serve the GOP or solve its glaring problem, that it has come to relyupon a group of aging white men who cannot deliver victory in and of themselves. Anyone who can

count can see that and the fact that 7,000,000 fewer of these men voted in 2012 than 2008 ought toscare the bejesus out of anyone who wishes the Grand Old Party well. The natural mortality of itsfavored constituency promises assured cataclysm.

What, then, must be done?

1) Building the new GOP and measurably increasing its voter turn-out in each designated category(women, voters under 30, Asian Americans, etc.) must be an explicit objective. A vigorous titlesuch as "Building the NEW GOP!" should be adopted.

2) Respected office holders should be recruited to head each category and its outreach efforts.




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3) Adequate budgets should be drawn up and, with the full assistance of the national partyorganizations, ample funds raised. This is crucial.

4) IT professionals must be hired to advise on the best way to utilize Internet options, includingsocial media.

5) Internet recruitment campaigns along the lines of "And I'm a Mormon" should be implemented,e.g. "And I'm a Republican".

6) Focus groups should be established to ascertain reasons why designated groups would and,importantly would not, vote Republican. Congressional leadership should be involved in this matter.

7) State legislatures and local civic, business and elected leaders should be canvassed for desirablecandidates in each category for federal offices. Such information should be shared withcongressional campaign committees to allocate funding, etc.

8) A list of open or vulnerable Democratic representatives and senators should be drawn up.Resources should be raised and concentrated on the most likely targets.

9) All information from national headquarters should be "translated" into a form most likely toresonate with designated populations.

10) Study the great coalition and team builders who built the modern Democratic party.Congressman Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. (later U.S. Speaker of the House) whose work in ageneration changed Massachusetts from solidly Republican to solidly Democratic. Or SenatorGeorge McGovern whose signal work transformed overwhelmingly Republican South Dakota into astate "in play" for the Democrats. And, of course, the greatest Democratic coalition builder, FranklinD. Roosevelt, whose transforming brilliance ensured Democratic victories and Republicanirrelevance for a generation. These far-sighted, hardworking strategists set the objective forthemselves and the Democrats; then did the necessary to achieve it.

Study Lincoln, every fibre, every nuance, every move, every thought.

Remember, the Republican Party, the Grand Old Party, is the party of Lincoln. What this means isthat you are charged with doing whatever it takes to keep America strong by keeping its peoplestrong. Sadly too often, and glaringly in 2012, you have forgotten your great charge, lost amongstthe negativity and nay-saying which has turned the party of Lincoln into a petty shadow of itshistorical grandeur and significance.

Changing this reality into a vision to thrill America is your urgent task now. Restore the primacy ofgreat Lincoln's unsurpassed genius for governance and in the process you will not only save theGrand Old Party and make it grander still; you will save the Great Republic, our nation, our people,our mission. Your moment is here. Seize it... for the good of us all.




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Resource

About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a widerange of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home businesstraining, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting,hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online

Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today.

Republished with author's permission by James A Holmes http://MyWorldprofit.net.

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Dr Jeffrey Lant Worldprofit Abraham Lincoln eBook

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