How Lincoln Emerged in the Stratosphere of Greatness

From Conrad Black, at the New York Sun, "As Daniel Day Lewis’ Portrayal of the 16th President Is About To Hit the Silver Screen, Our Columnist Offers an Assessment of the Original" (via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit):

The mighty American star system has elevated and demoted thousands of people over the 236 years since the propagandistic arts were first torqued up in the Declaration of Independence. But the supreme champion of the American personality cult has been Abraham Lincoln. Given the hyperbole which frequently attaches to much-admired Americans, there is a temptation to assume that Lincoln could not possibly deserve the stratospheric elevation he has received. But he does.

Lincoln was born on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809, received only about a year of formal education, and moved with his family to the frontier country of Indiana, and then, at 21, to Illinois. He largely educated himself as a voracious reader, worked at a variety of jobs, had his first, disturbing, look at slavery on a trip down the Mississippi in 1831, and toiled in a law office until he became a member of the Illinois Bar in 1836.

His mother died when he was young and he had little rapport with his father. But he got on, was a tall and rugged man, companionable, and a fine raconteur with a good sense of humor, who gradually built up his legal practice and became a leading attorney.

He was troubled by slavery as fundamentally wrong: “I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our Republican example of its just influence in the world.” This seems an obvious position to hold now, but America was largely founded and built by slave-holders. Although Lincoln did not at first consider African Americans to be equal in talent and intelligence to Caucasians, he eventually amended that view, when he came to know more of them.

Lincoln came gradually to believe that the incongruity to proclaimed American values, and the outright evil of slavery, were so profound that the nation could not survive. He was for, above all, the preservation of the Union, and favored various methods of curtailing and gradually eliminating slavery. These included support for the original idea of paying for the emancipation of slaves and their voluntary return to Africa, to the purpose-created country of Liberia.

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I haven't been this excited about a new movie in a long time. Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president. The more I read about him the more fascinated I become. And I love sharing things like the Gettysburg Address with my students, especially because they too are fascinated by him, and of the sacrifice that he eventually made for the preservation of American democracy.

The trailer is in theaters. My oldest boy and I saw "Taken 2" over the weekend and we watched it. Daniel Day Lewis, when viewed at some angles, looks like he's Lincoln himself. It's an amazing likeness. I'm excited.