Abraham Lincoln: The Young Adult Years

This week I read a section in my book about Lincoln as he was growing up in his young adult years. Lincoln after a series of failed debts in New Salem, became a successful legislator in the Illinois state legislature and a very respectable practicing lawyer. One of Lincoln's friends is quoted as saying "he could write out a speech... and then repeat it word for word without any effort on his part"(Guelzo 84) to show how much of an amazing memory he had. This skill seems to have helped him out a lot in later years, as he could recognize faces and dates to help put people at ease. It also furthers the theme that there was a lot more to this man than most people think of, and he really was quite the intellectual. His choice to pick being a lawyer as a career was also an interesting choice, due to his rather humble roots. "To truculent Democratic yeoman and workers, this made lawyers appear as the secret trades union of the markets, bemystifying honest farmers and urban workingmen and winning enormous fee"(Guezlo 96). This quote on the other hand shows how the average person, as they do now, despises lawyers and sees them as confusing and unnecessary. Lincoln on the other hand wanted to further and support the law, and being a lawyer is the most common occupation for politicians.
One of the most interesting parts I found was how the book describes Lincoln as a religious skeptic. Lincoln frankly said "My father was a member of the Baptist Church, but I am not"(Guezlo 116). This seems very different from the person we think of as president. It seems even more unlikely that a person who had said that could be elected to the presidency. Even now there is only one person in Congress who openly says he does not believe in God. Lincoln himself realized this problem and and admitted it was "a tax of considerable per cent. upon my strength throughout the religious community"(Guezlo 116). He was however not a complete atheist, but instead more of a religious skeptic. It is extremely impressive that he managed to still get election to the Illinois State legislature with this type of handicap, and is really a testament to his amazing political expertise.

Abraham Lincoln

My biography is about the one and only Abraham Lincoln and how we contributed to society in general. Allen C. Guezlo has so far done an extremely good job with illustrating how society has evolved during the early years of America and how this influenced Lincoln. In the introduction he also compared him to Jefferson and how he differed from his supposed idol. Jefferson believed heavily in an agrarian society. It also showed how there is actually tons of literature and ideas being spread in the early days of America. After all, "republicanism infected Americans with the conviction that everyone should have access to learning"(22). This is counter-intuitive to ones image of the early days of America. You think of Daniel Boone, and frontiersmen, instead of a pursuit for ideals that infected the country. This really presents a better view of Lincoln as someone of his time, instead of a rare scholar, in a time of hillbillies. As the book says, Lincoln " is not often thought as an intellectual in an era which, unfortunately, is not often thought of as an arena for ideas"(24-25). This really shows how much of a misconception we have about this time period and how stereotyped it has become. As we think of America it goes from rebellious intellectuals and heroes, to pioneers. There was not obviously this big of a drop off, and the intellectualism of Jefferson and Washington was just not just a one-time event in American history.
The second chapter deals more with how he grew up, as a farm laborer, a character familiar to most Americans. His humble roots is one of the great stories of America and still celebrated today. There are even toys about it, namely, Lincoln Logs. However this book shows how not only did he overcome that, but he also overcame a father is at best unwilling to educate his son. At worst, he flatly prevented it. "Thomas Lincoln was easily irritated when Abraham began to bestow on reading time that his father might have better wanted to see him spend on hire-out labor"(35). However threw some inner desire Lincoln still managed to pursue a career in politics, and managed to self-educate. For all the foibles that most biographies discover about their subject, in an effort to sell books, this just seems to show how great of a man Lincoln was. He was amiable to all, and believed truly that liberty was a gift to be given to all.

Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln : Redeemer President. Boston: William B. Eerdmans Company, 2002.