Lincon

Abraham Lincoln Today

Alana Tweedie
Mr. Gonsiewski
Democracy
January 17 2013

If Abraham Lincoln were alive today, he would tell the nation to be optimistic, he would tell America to save money for our future, to work harder and act “correctly” so we can bring our nation out of recession and back to prosperity. This is true because as our President, he did so much for our economy, our environment, our legal system, technology, the military, etc. He of course, would want future presidents to continue with his ideas and follow in his footsteps. If Abraham Lincoln were alive today He would even be able to recognize the Republican Party. When Abraham Lincoln initially became a part of the GOP (“grand Old Party”) it was led by a group of men who were considered to be radicals and their main purpose was to free the slaves. Lincoln had a massive appeal to majority of Americans due to leading a more moderate, yet progressive party. This is what helped him to become President in 1860. Lincoln was pushed and pulled in many directions during his time when the more Radical republicans tried to sway him into adhering to their policies. Lincoln made it quite clear that he was responsible for all Americans, noting how dangerous it would be for any group to take control over an entire party of people. “The radicals and conservatives, each agree with me in some things, and disagree in others... I do not question their right... I hold whoever commands... responsible to me, and not to either radicals or conservatives," Lincoln said, according to Don E. Fehrenbacher, author of Abraham Lincoln would advise modern day Republicans to not make the same mistakes as the Democrats did in 1860. I think he would certainly hear what the Conservatives/Tea Party movement would have to say because he said “It is my duty to listen to All” (Fehrenbacher). Lincoln would be shocked by the modern day human and civil rights. I think he would equate any of the different attempts by states for not allowing civil rights for gays, dictating to women what they can and cannot do with their bodies, equal pay for equal work, etc. That type of control was intolerable to Abraham Lincoln. “[They] deny his manhood; deny, or dwarf to insignificance, the wrong of his bondage; so far as possible, crush all sympathy for him, and cultivate and execute hatred and disgust against him and call the indefinite outspreading of his bondage ‘a sacred right of self-government,'" Lincoln said, according to (Fehrenbacher). My own personal views are supportive for marriage equality, I believe that ending the discrimination of same-sex marriage is consistent with how civil rights has evolved in our current democracy. This process was also served by a previous member of Illinois General Assembly, Abraham Lincoln. I think it is impossible to accurately know what Abraham Lincolns feelings on marriage equality would be but I do believe If Lincoln were a member of the General Assembly today, he would vote in favor of same-sex marriage. Both Liberals and conservatives considered Lincoln one of their own; Liberals suggest this because he put an end to slavery and Conservatives because he's a republican. Lincoln wrote a comic poem when he was a young man and it was about a man who married another man because no woman would accept his suit....this could have simply been written as a joke but it also displays how open his mind was. Further, Lincoln said of any black slave woman, it was “her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal, and the equal of all others." He would consider any limitation on civil rights, human rights, or legislation subjecting any citizen to “second-class” status just as loathsome today as it was then (Fehrenbacher).
If Abraham Lincoln were alive today he would want all Republicans to work together as a team and not fight each other, he would encourage better negotiating with Democrats. He believed in compromise and to be successful in America you had to be able to compromise. This goes all the way back to the founding Fathers who created our constitution. Abraham Lincoln ran for president in 1861 as a republican against John Breckinridge and Stephen Douglas. He was president for four years until his tragic assassination in 1865 in the Fords Theater. During Lincoln's presidency it was said that his experience in foreign policy was limited because he has never left the country before. He was able to abolish slavery in the south in 1863 during the civil war. Lincoln had to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on to abolish slavery because the confederate states would not return to the union. Lincoln believed that people of different color should have the same treatment as the white man and they shouldn't be slaves. Although the emancipation proclamation was very limited due the the fact that it only applied to the state that left the union. With the proclamation it aloud black men in to the union army and navy. With that thousands of black men had fought for the union and for freedom. "all persons held as slaves within any states...shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free".
Today the controversy of gay marriage is a huge deal. If Honest Abe was alive and president today would take a neutral stand when it comes to gay marriage. He wouldn't be actively for it or actively against it. During the Civil War Lincoln was trying his hardest to end it.
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the Country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war" (Abraham Lincoln)

Throughout my research, I have gathered enough information the conclude that Abraham Lincoln was a somewhat neutral, but made it a point to push his beliefs despite the fact that they were “morally right.” If he were alive today, he would would adopt a neutral stand with gay marriage, and free the prisoners from guantanamo bay.