I am greatly indebted to the students in my Jurisprudence class. In three hours yesterday evening they gave me more insight into Lincoln's thought and work than I had gained in thousands of hours of solitary work. I shall be drawing upon their ideas for some time to come. In this posting I shall present simply one of the ideas suggested by a student and discussed by the class last night. It concerns the stucture of Lincoln's letter to Horace Greeley, dated August 19, 1862.
Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, had written an editorial addressed to Lincoln entitled "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" in which he stated that the people who had supported Lincoln were "sorely disappointed and deeply pained by the policy you seem to be pursuing" – namely, Lincoln's failure to confiscate slaves from persons in rebellion. At the time that this editorial appeared, Lincoln had already drafted the Emancipation Proclamation and told his cabinet that he intended to issue it, but he believed that it should be released in the wake of a great victory, which until then had eluded the Union army. Lincoln wished to respond to Greeley, not primarily to reinforce his personal political popularity, but rather to prepare the Nation for emancipation – to convince people, when it was issued, that it was a necessary wartime measure by the Commander-in-Chief, and not a moral imperative uttered without constitutional authority. Here is Lincoln's response to Greeley:
Dear Sir,
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.
I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.
The second paragraph of the letter contains a parallel construction that Lincoln had used before: successive sentences beginning with the word "if." The "if …if…if" device is poetic, even lyrical – it is entrancing – it builds suspence as we await to learn what Lincoln does controvert in Greeley's editorial, what he does argue against, what he does not waive.
The third one-sentence paragraph is deliciously misleading: Lincoln had already settled upon the decision to free the slaves, and despite what he says he was deliberately leaving us in doubt as he prepared the Nation for this act.
The fourth paragraph makes the simple point that as President Lincoln was charged with the duty to save the Union, and that if the slaves were to be freed it would be in the service of that overarching goal. Virtually all northerners and most citizens of the border states and even many southerners were unionists, and Lincoln planned to free the slaves to achieve that common objective. The time was not yet ripe, but it was rapidly approaching. The power of Lincoln's prose in making this point, however, is fueled by the complex grammatical and syntactical structure that he employs in this paragraph.
First, note the repetition of the term "save the union." It is like a chorus or a rhyme, occuring seven times in full, and another three times in the form "save it." Second, note the repeated use of contrast between the phrases "save the union" and "save slavery," between "save slavery" and "destroy slavery," and between "without freeing any slaves" and "freeing all slaves." Third, as in the second paragraph, Lincoln returns to the "if…if" construction, using it word "if" five times, forcing the reader to carefully consider the choices that the country faces.
We now come to the point suggested by one student in last night's class. Consider the tense and mode of the verbs that Lincoln employs in the fourth paragraph of the Greeley letter.
"I would save the union." … "If I could … I would" (repeated)
"What I do … I do … because I believe that it will help to save the union; and what I forebear … I forbear"
"I shall do less … I shall do more"
"I shall try to correct errors … I shall adopt new views"
In the fourth paragraph Lincoln progresses from what he intends to do, to what he is doing, to what he will do, and he prepares the public mind for the eventuality that he will "correct errors" and "adopt new views" to achieve the objective of saving the union.
In the fifth and final paragraph of the Greeley letter, Lincoln contrasts what he intends to do as President as a matter of "official duty" with what he would prefer to do as a private citizen as a matter of "personal wish." He makes this point to defend the constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation, and to avoid the charge that the Proclamation simply represents the personal preference of a politician, and not the lawful act of a military commander.
One month later, and five days after the Union victory in the battle of Antietam, Lincoln publicly issues the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, which is expressly based upon the war powers of the Commander-in-Chief to seize and destroy the property of opposing combatants in war. The draft states that it will be officially issued and become effective on January 1, 1863. And on that date the Proclamation is issued to great joy in the North.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Professor, Thank You.
The last paragraph is hardly ever included in student's text. It thus leaves out Lincoln's "personal" belief on the immorality of slavery. This is very significant. Students (or at least the HS students I teach) believe the Lincoln letter to Greeley proves that Lincoln did not hate slavery and that the war was never about ending it.
Still confusing to me