Civil War: 'Both sides prayed to the same God'

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AMERICAN MINUTE
Civil War: 'Both sides prayed to the same God'
Bill Federer recalls faith of Abraham Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson
Published: 2 days ago
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/06/Bill-Federer_avatar.jpg

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Bill Federer About | Email | Archive
William J. Federer is the author of "Change to Chains: The 6,000 Year Quest for Global Control" and "What Every American Needs to Know About the Quran: A History of Islam and the United States."
Stonewall-Jackson.jpg


Death of Stonewall Jackson

During the Civil War, on March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer: “Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and Whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/civil-war-both-sides-prayed-to-the-same-god/#tkOEYtI6WxpctZb7.99
 
Thank you for this thread - I had forgotten about this and it's nice have a reminder.

I have posted this before on the site - but it deals with the title "Both sides prayed to the same God'. President Lincoln struggled with this same concept as seen when after his death, one of his secretaries found a scrap of paper with the following thoughts - - -

"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party - and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true - that God wills this contest and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds."
 
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In his youth and middle age, Lincoln was at the very least an Agnostic, if not atheist, a true child of the enlightenment, IMO.

Leading up to and during the Civil War, I think we see that even Lincoln was beginning to see the conflict so vast, so all consuming, so beyond the control of any man or groups of men to control, that it was difficult to not see some working out of some unknowable plan. or order.

I think we can see in Lincoln's note posted by DBF, that he was quite ready to accept that there was a God, but, to me, it seems he is more willing to accept the possibility than he would have at an earlier time.

I, myself, believe Lincoln had not yet come completely to God, but was working his way to him, but for his untimely death.


P.S. All events allowed by an Omnipotent God, is for the instruction of Man, about his relationship with God. Often misconstrued by Man as 'why God allows bad things to happen to good people?'.
 
In his youth and middle age, Lincoln was at the very least an Agnostic, if not atheist

That's wrong. Lincoln was not, at any point in his life, even minimally, an agnostic, much less so an atheist. Close as you can get to that is that he was, like many of the founders, a Deist: those who believed in a God but not through any particular religious sect. It so happened that in Lincoln's case he trusted and consulted the Christian bible his whole life, not to make more of it but not to make less of it either.
 
In his youth and middle age, Lincoln was at the very least an Agnostic, if not atheist, a true child of the enlightenment, IMO.

Leading up to and during the Civil War, I think we see that even Lincoln was beginning to see the conflict so vast, so all consuming, so beyond the control of any man or groups of men to control, that it was difficult to not see some working out of some unknowable plan. or order.

I think we can see in Lincoln's note posted by DBF, that he was quite ready to accept that there was a God, but, to me, it seems he is more willing to accept the possibility than he would have at an earlier time.

I, myself, believe Lincoln had not yet come completely to God, but was working his way to him, but for his untimely death.


P.S. All events allowed by an Omnipotent God, is for the instruction of Man, about his relationship with God. Often misconstrued by Man as 'why God allows bad things to happen to good people?'.
That's wrong. Lincoln was not, at any point in his life, even minimally, an agnostic, much less so an atheist. Close as you can get to that is that he was, like many of the founders, a Deist: those who believed in a God but not through any particular religious sect. It so happened that in Lincoln's case he trusted and consulted the Christian bible his whole life, not to make more of it but not to make less of it either.

This is from an interview with Prof Allen Guelzo, a histrorian of the 19th century. He is interviewed by Brian Lamb of C-SPAN. More of the interview is at the link:

Prof. GUELZO: . . . Many religious people, many Christian believers who read this book experience a sense of disappointment, because they may have read in a number of other places or heard from a number of other quarters that Abraham Lincoln was a Christian.​
Well, the truth of the matter is that, no, he was not. He was exposed to Christian influences all through his life. He knew Christian people. He worked with Christian people, worked with Christian ideas. But Lincoln never joined a church, never was actively involved in any kind of Christian organization; in fact, really had only the most minimal religious profile in his own day.​
What has happened, though, is that after Lincoln’s death, there was no shortage of people who wanted to claim Lincoln as being one of their own. They could do this because Lincoln was a very private person. He was often described as being shut-mouthed and reticent, and he really was. He did not like to talk about himself or his inner life.​
His law partner, Herndon, who knew him probably as well as anybody could know someone not being part of the immediate family—Herndon said of Lincoln that Lincoln kept half of himself secret, away from the general public, and then he kept half of what was left even from his closest friends. People have rushed into that vacuum and tried to suggest, well, Lincoln was really heading in this direction or Lincoln made some kind of secret statement about this direction.​
There was a very famous story that suggests that Lincoln was about to join the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church on Easter Sunday 1865.​
LAMB: In Washington.​
Prof. GUELZO: In—right here in Washington. And, of course, he’s assassinated on Good Friday. And the line of reasoning is that had not Lincoln been shot, he would have joined. He would have made a public Christian association of himself with the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church the following Sunday. It’s a very famous story. I’ve bumped into it any number of times, and there is not a single shred of evidence that it’s true.​
LAMB: You say he was a deist?​
Prof. GUELZO: He was something close to a deist.​
LAMB: What is that?​
Prof. GUELZO: He believed in a very general sense that there was a God, or at least there was a force that gave order and shape and predictability to the world and to the universe. But he would not move beyond anything more than that, anything more explicit than that. He believed there was some kind of God. But whether this God was a personal God, whether this God gave active direction and intervention to human affairs, that was a subject which, over years, he tended to shift his position on a good deal.​
LAMB: I’m going to mention different things that you write about and–and just tell us what impact they had on his life. The Baptists.​
Prof. GUELZO: Well, he was born into a Baptist family—in fact, a Baptist group who were very sectarian, very come-outerish. They were radical predestinarians. In other words, they believed that God ordained every event, whatever comes to pass. For that reason, this particular Baptist group, sometimes known as the Separate Baptists, would not sponsor missionaries. If the heathen were going to be converted, God would do it. You did not put yourself into a place where you were going to accomplish it. They did not have a professional paid clergy. They did not have Sunday schools. They even frowned on involvement in reform movements.​
Lincoln grows up in that environment, and, in fact, he is so good at understanding that environment that, in his youth, he would get on top of tree stumps and deliver sermons that he had heard from the Sunday previous almost word for word, because his memory was so good. But this was acting; this was not being part of something. He never joined a Baptist church, never committed himself to a religious organization that way.​

- Alan
 
The rewriting of history continues, now the mission of this and other “historians “ coming out of the university system is to destroy the underpinnings of our foundation as a nation and society.
The new narrative coming from the once honorable institutions of our country is that none of our leaders were Christians, oh they may have read the Bible occasionally, but.....oh they attended churches occasionally but....
Soon the narrative will be that all were either atheist or Muslims.
I call BS. So what if the author was interviewed on CSPAN?
That gives him no credibility.
 
Let the man speak for himself

That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular.
--July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity
I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.
--July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity
In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows.
--August 17, 1858 Speech at Lewistown, Illinois
To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.
--February 11, 1861 Farewell Address
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.
--March 4, 1861 First Inaugural Address
The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong.
--September 1862 Meditation on the Divine Will
If I had had my way, this war would never have been commenced; If I had been allowed my way this war would have ended before this, but we find it still continues; and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose of his own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe, that he who made the world still governs it.
--October 26, 1862 Reply to Eliza Gurney
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/quotes.htm
 
It strikes me as odd that two men who were so instrumental in the saving of the Union - Lincoln and Grant - were not overly, and certainly not overtly, Christian men. Though their underpinnings were Christian. And yet you have a very deeply religious sentiment coming from the South where you see God written quite clearly and deliberately into the Confederate States Constitution. If we consider all men are God's instruments, and both sides were praying the same God, it is proof once again, in my opinion, that we should not lean unto our own understanding. He certainly had a plan that went beyond men's understanding at the time.
 
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Let the man speak for himself

That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular.
--July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity
I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.
--July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity
In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows.
--August 17, 1858 Speech at Lewistown, Illinois
To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.
--February 11, 1861 Farewell Address
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.
--March 4, 1861 First Inaugural Address
The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong.
--September 1862 Meditation on the Divine Will
If I had had my way, this war would never have been commenced; If I had been allowed my way this war would have ended before this, but we find it still continues; and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose of his own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe, that he who made the world still governs it.
--October 26, 1862 Reply to Eliza Gurney
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/quotes.htm
It strikes me as odd that two men who were so instrumental in the saving of the Union - Lincoln and Grant - were not overly, and certainly not overtly, Christian men. Though their underpinnings were Christian. And yet you have a very deeply religious sentiment coming from the South where you see God written quite clearly and deliberately into the Confederate States Constitution. If we consider all men are God's instruments, and both sides were praying the same God, it is proof once again, in my opinion, that we should not lean unto our own understanding. He certainly had a plan that went beyond men's understanding at the time.

All of this comes down to the question, if you don't go to Church, then can you be called a Christian? Guelzo's point is that to the extent Lincoln did not go to Church, and engage in an organized religious body, then to that extent, he is not properly called a Christian.

Guelzo is NOT saying Lincoln was an atheist. Deists are by definition people who believe in a God. Lincoln was clearly a Christian deist.

Guelzo's position is not unique. It is impossible to get into this without getting into a debate about religion that could easily turn incendiary. But Guelzo is not the first person I have heard say that if a person doesn't go to Church (ie, not follow the Commandment "You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy") and engage with the liturgy, then their Christianity is suspect, even if they say they believe in God, read the Bible, and know the Bible quite well. {Refer to here for a discussion of this.}

Of course, if you believe that a presence in an organized religious body is not a necessity for being a Christian (or any other faith for that matter), then you might find Guelzo's comments troubling or even objectionable.

- Alan
 
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But Guelzo is not the first person I have heard say that if a person doesn't go to Church (ie, not follow the Commandment "You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy") and engage with the liturgy, then their Christianity is suspect, even if they say they believe in God, read the Bible, and know the Bible quite well. {Refer to here for a discussion of this.}
Thanks for the discussion link, and I would suggest that a 'satanist' is also a person who knows the Bible quite well for the purposes of misusing it. Even such a person can believe in a deity, but that doesn't mean they will have any respect for said deity or engage in any practices related to the Christian religion. So, a deist to me is someone who has a 'notion', but no power related to their beliefs. What's the point in believing if that belief is not to be put to some practical use? Perhaps I am in agreement with Guelzo ... part of being a Christian is to express your faith. Just acknowleging something in your own head is not an expression of faith. It is simply an acknowledgment of the possibility that God exists. Did Lincoln express faith or just the possibility of God? I'm not sure.
 
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Oh, I were to pick at any source it'd be Herndon. You just can't tell which of his recollections were real, which inventions. He plain old made up so much stuff, IMO, impossible to ascertain which is correct. I'm certainly not an historian and certainly respect those whose lives have been spent trying to open windows to our past but am always a little shocked to see that old shock meister Herndon sourced. Lincoln's PT Barnum.

Yes, the word Christian gets debated. It's a little annoying to have the term usurped by what seem to be a lot of folks who never heard of the Ten Commandants or they would be nicer. Lincoln's belief in God seems certain, he sure seems to have pondered a higher power greatly. Having been mostly exposed to only one form of recognizing a higher power we probably can call him a Christian although there doesn't seem to be a mention by him of the Trilogy. God's son is the basis of Christian belief, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Personally pretty happy to accept Lincoln as a religious enigma, living his faith if not proclaiming it. In fact prefer to not have this man 'claimed' by anyone.
 
Professor Guelzo begins his interview stating: “Many religious people, many Christian believers who read this book experience a sense of disappointment”. His use of the term “Christian believers” means to me those individuals that believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This it’s not about a religion - it is a relationship and a matter of the heart, and since I don’t know what’s in any heart except my own, I will leave the judgment of ones’ faith (whether mine, yours’ or Lincolns’) to Jesus.
 
Because Lincoln did have some measure of a Christian upbringing, and was, to some extent, a student of the Bible, he could more successfully engage in discourse with other Americans. His speeches often made references to Biblical verses. Lincoln takes for granted that his listeners are Christians, and he engages with them by placing his comments within the context of that belief, and within the context of the book used by those believers.

Thus, Lincoln's Christian belief, such as it was, did enable him to connect to his Christian audience. I do think this was done out of a genuine belief in a Christian God, although some might say that the totality of his actions do not themselves establish him as a practicing Christian, for example. The point being, his Christian background, and use of Christian language, was a force in his rhetoric, and enabled his to meet his listeners and readers where they were.

- Alan
 
For another view of Lincoln: this is from "White analyzes Christian ethic within Lincoln’s second inaugural address":

Abraham Lincoln was a Christian president, and he embedded Christian ethics of inclusivity, humility and reconciliation within his speeches, writings and presidency, said Ronald C. White Jr., the author of A. Lincoln: A Biography and Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural. White, a professor and presidential biographer, {gave} a lecture titled “Abraham Lincoln’s Sermon on the Mount: the Second Inaugural Address.”​
“Within this 701 words (of the 2nd Inauguration speech), to the surprise of almost everyone in the audience, Lincoln mentions God 14 times, quotes the Bible four times and invokes prayer three times,” White said.​
...During his research, White discovered that not only did most of Lincoln’s predecessors only use the word “God,” or a form of God in the last paragraph of their inaugural addresses, but they used another word over and over: “I.” In Lincoln’s second inaugural address, there are only two personal pronouns used.​
The first Christian ethic that appears in the speech is inclusivity. “He wants to include everyone in that address: the people of the South as well as the people of the North,” White said.​
...Lincoln was born in 1809. He only received one year of formal education and did not read his first book on grammar until he was 23 years old. A half of the book focused on declamation, which involves recitation of classic works such as the Bible and Shakespeare. Declamation prepared students for public reading and speaking. “Lincoln became a public reader, and he had a variety of tools in his arsenal,” White said.​
...The speech began to change when Lincoln said, “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other.”​
In the first two lines of the phrase, Lincoln affirms the similarities between the two sides — Confederates read the same Bible. The semicolon serves a specific purpose in setting apart the last line of the phrase; the last line is not an affirmation of similarity but rather an admonishment to all.​
“Lincoln is really saying how dare each side invoke His aid against the other. Do we worship a tribal god?” White said.​
Most speeches stem from antecedents, but the precursors to the speech were difficult to track down, White said. The next line of the speech — “It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces” — came from a conversation Lincoln had with two Southern women whose husbands were jailed in the North. The women told Lincoln their husbands were religious men, and after three days of discussion, Lincoln confronted them with that verse from the Bible.​
“You see, for Lincoln, the Bible was not back there and then, it was here and now,” White said. “And he used this verse to say to them, ‘your husbands are involved in slavery,’ and then to these two startled women, he said, ‘And I don’t think that’s the way to get to heaven.’ ”​
He used the same verse in his speech, but he followed it with a line from the Sermon on the Mount, “Let us judge not that we be not judged.”​
“Right in the heart of the New Testament is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in which he offers for all of us who would follow him a new ethic not based in judgment, but based in grace and forgiveness; and this is the heart of this address,” White said.​
The speech continues on: “The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”​
Calling God the Almighty was Lincoln’s favorite way of speaking about God, White said. When Lincoln used to pray in church, he would stand up. A journalist covering the president once asked Lincoln why he stood. He responded, “I stood in prayer, because God is the Almighty; my standing is a mark of my respect to who is God,” White said.​
When Lincoln said, “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” he references the Bible once more. The line is another detour from the accepted inaugural address rhetoric. Generally, inaugural addresses are celebratory and congratulatory. With that line, Lincoln is saying that the nation is filled with a great evil. Lincoln says what the evil is with the line, “If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences.”​
“If Lincoln would have said, ‘If we shall suppose that slavery is one of those offences,’ I believe the crowd would have exploded in applause, because he’s pointing his finger at the South,’ White said. “But Lincoln very self-consciously uses this term ‘American Slavery’ — we are all involved.”​
The punishment for American slavery was metered for both the North and the South, Lincoln said.​
He continued in his speech to say, “Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”​
According to an article in The Times of London, at the moment that was said, the African-American contingent in attendance began to chant “Bless the Lord, bless the Lord,” White said.​
“They understood exactly what Abraham Lincoln was talking about,” White said.​

The rest of the article is at the link.

- Alan
 
We can take things Lincoln said in or out of context, a common practice by book sellers, and let’s be honest, it isn’t easy to sell books these day
But Prof. Guelzo has a perspective that should also be put into context. He is a historian now, but his first degree was a BS in Biblical studies from Cairn University, followed up with a MDv from Reformed Episcopalian University.
He may have desired to be a minister before attending the Univ. of Pennsylvania and majoring in history.
With that knowledge it maybe that he allowed his deep religious views to define his opinion.
Take into context the era that Lincoln lived, especially during his younger years on the frontier it would not be uncommon at all to be nondenominational as the only ministers available would have been circuit riders.
I would take issue with the opinion that one must be a member of a denomination in order to be considered religious, based on what the Bible tells us.
Saul aka St. Paul was a Jew and a persecutor of early followers of Christ, the Good Samaritan was a gentile, and all of Jesus’s deciples and Jesus himself were Jews. Not members of any Christian Churches. In fact, the first followers of Christ were call The Way, a Jewish sect.
 
We can take things Lincoln said in or out of context, a common practice by book sellers, and let’s be honest, it isn’t easy to sell books these day
But Prof. Guelzo has a perspective that should also be put into context. He is a historian now, but his first degree was a BS in Biblical studies from Cairn University, followed up with a MDv from Reformed Episcopalian University.
He may have desired to be a minister before attending the Univ. of Pennsylvania and majoring in history.
With that knowledge it maybe that he allowed his deep religious views to define his opinion.
Take into context the era that Lincoln lived, especially during his younger years on the frontier it would not be uncommon at all to be nondenominational as the only ministers available would have been circuit riders.
I would take issue with the opinion that one must be a member of a denomination in order to be considered religious, based on what the Bible tells us.
Saul aka St. Paul was a Jew and a persecutor of early followers of Christ, the Good Samaritan was a gentile, and all of Jesus’s deciples and Jesus himself were Jews. Not members of any Christian Churches. In fact, the first followers of Christ were call The Way, a Jewish sect.

Your comments bring two questions to mind:
1) Does Lincoln meet current ideas of what it means to be a Christian?
2) Did Lincoln meet 19th ideas of what it means to be a Christian?

I would note that to date, the US has never elected someone who is Jewish, or a self-professed atheist, or self professes agnostic to the presidency. John F Kennedy faced some measure of religious bigotry as a Catholic running for president; the stereotype was that a Catholic would be beholden to the Pope in executing the office of presidency. The voting population does seem to place some value in electing a Christian, preferably a Protestant, whatever the term "Christian" is defined to be.

From what I can see, Lincoln's religiosity was never a problem in terms of his being elected. It does not appear that his religious practice, such as it was, was out of the mainstream.

- Alan
 
Let the man speak for himself

That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular.
--July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity
I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.
--July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity
In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows.
--August 17, 1858 Speech at Lewistown, Illinois
To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.
--February 11, 1861 Farewell Address
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.
--March 4, 1861 First Inaugural Address
The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong.
--September 1862 Meditation on the Divine Will
If I had had my way, this war would never have been commenced; If I had been allowed my way this war would have ended before this, but we find it still continues; and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose of his own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe, that he who made the world still governs it.
--October 26, 1862 Reply to Eliza Gurney
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/quotes.htm

Shows he was a Politician.
 
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