Lincoln called on divided Americans to hearken to their “better angels,” and politicians have invoked him in times of crisis ever since—but for Abe, it was greater than just words.

Following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, community leaders, clergy and politicians including President Joe Biden The Americans have called to tone down the heated political rhetoric. have quoted the words of a specific personality: Abraham Lincoln.

As a scientist who has written about: how American politics became so polarized and teaches a course on Lincoln, this doesn’t surprise me.

Lincoln escaped a murder plot when he traveled to Washington to assume the presidency in 1861, and when he took the oath of office, the nation was much more deeply divided than it’s today. As president, he brought together the deeply divided North to fight a protracted, costly war that saved the Union. Moreover, his ability to make prose poetic has resonated across the centuries—making him the plain go-to for politicians and pundits on the lookout for emotive language in times of crisis.

Hardly any of Lincoln’s aphorisms has been quoted more often than his appeal to “the better angels of our nature” in his inaugural address of 1861. liberal, conservative And the in between have used this expression to denounce the intractable partisan war that has escalated over the past decade and to call for a return to civility.

Edits for eternity

Lincoln didn’t coin the expressionAs David Blankenhorn, a political activist, noted the founding father of “Braver Angels,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to overcoming polarization. It appeared in Shakespeare’s “Othello,” and Charles Dickens noted in his 1841 novel “Barnaby Rudge” that “our own desires stand between us and our better angels.”

Although Shakespeare was a favourite Lincoln, the President adopted the phrase from one other politician, William Henry Seward. The former governor of New York and US Senator was significantly better known than Lincoln and had been his primary rival for the Republican nomination in 1860.

Lincoln recognized that with a purpose to govern, he needed to calm the factional conflicts inside his own party. So he brought his primary rivals into his cabinet and appointed Seward as Secretary of State. When the New Yorker proposed extensive revisions The President-elect took note of Lincoln’s inaugural address.

Lincoln believed the speech was perhaps the last hope of averting civil war. When he took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, seven states that allowed human bondage were had left the UnionSeparatist forces were at work in eight other countries.

Seward's influence was most evident within the crucial final paragraph. Lincoln ended his draft with the declaration: he hoped to avoid a warhowever the ball was within the Confederacy's court. The secessionists had no binding obligation to destroy the federal government, Lincoln claimed, while he had sworn the Constitutional oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” it. Although his language was moderate, logical, and lawyerly, it was abrupt. There was no peace branch He made no appeal to the common history and customary values ​​of Southerners who feared his leadership.

Seward urged Lincoln to appeal to the “bonds of affection” of Americans which have grown from “so many patriot graves.” The “mystic chords” that resonate within the “hearts and hearths” of all Americans would “harmonize again” if touched by “the better angel … of the nation.”

Lincoln followed Seward’s advice, but gave his language a poetic twist that echoes across the centuries:

I is not going to close. We usually are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion can have strained us, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic strings of memory, stretching from every battlefield and each patriot's grave to each living heart and hearthstone on this wide land, will still swell the chorus of the Union when again touched by the higher angels of our nature, as they surely will probably be.

More than words

It was graceful and moving, however it didn’t bring the Union back together. Nor did it prevent 4 more states from joining the Confederacy or a civil war that cost almost three quarters of one million human lives.

But the speech spoke volumes about Lincoln’s qualities as a frontrunner. He was open to advice, even from those that were rivals. Although he acted decisively and divisively when obligatory, he tried to be a unifier.

For example, the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves in Confederate-controlled areas free, was extremely controversial. By framing As a obligatory measure to defeat the Confederacy, Lincoln appealed to the abolitionists and radical Republicans on the left, in addition to to conservatives who cared little about slavery but cared about preserving the Union.

To defeat the determined South, Lincoln first needed to unite the fractured North. That began with appeasing divisions inside his own party and ensuring that key border states comparable to Kentucky and Missouri, where separatist sentiment was widespread, were on the Union side. It also meant reaching out to members of the Union's Democratic opposition who supported decisive motion to attain victory within the war. In 1864, for instance, he named a Democrat from Tennessee, Andrew Johnson, as his running mate.

Today, the United States is deeply divided, just 4 years after an rebellion to stop the peaceful transfer of powerIt could appear naive to hope that politicians will do greater than turn to “better angels” – to hope that they may follow their words with actions.

Lincoln also sought unity because greater division would have made victory unimaginable. If voters punish appeals to hatred and division, politicians could be forced to find their good sides as a substitute of just talking about them.