Identifier: biographiesstor00linc (find matches)
Title: Biographies and stories of Abraham Lincoln
Year: 1886 (1880s)
Authors: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Presidents
Publisher:
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: Friends of The Lincoln Collection of Indiana, Inc.

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60, he said that the fit man was chosen on thevery ground of his supposed unfitness. Lord Charnwood appreciated Lincolns common origins,but he dwelled particularly on Lincolns statesmanship.Secession, to Charnwood, was a broadly popular movementin the South aimed at saving slavery, and Lincolns efforts tocounter it were noble, progressive, and somehow Christian.Following a current of British military opinion at the time, hepraised Lincolns abilities as a commander in chief. He didnot belittle the Emancipation Proclamation. It could beinterpreted as a narrowly military measure only in law,Charnwood argued. Given the limited research he did for thebiography, one is not surprised to learn that Charnwoodrepeated some spurious quotations and anecdotes. He oftenhandled these well. Of the apocryphal story of Lincolnsclemency for the sleeping sentinel William Scott, Charnwoodconcluded: If the story is not true—and there is no reasonwhatever to doubt it—still it is a remarkable man of whom
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From the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum FIGURE 3. Jesse Weik. LINCOLN LORE people spin yarns of that kind. A man of deepreligious interests himself, Charnwood notedLincolns growth in that realm to the language ofintense religious feeling in the Second InauguralAddress. Charnwood kept his focus on the meaning ofLincolns efforts to save the Union. These, he thought,were attempts to save democratic government for thewhole world. He properly stressed Lincolns praise forHenry Clay as a patriot who loved his country,partly because it was his own country, and mostlybecause it was a free country. Maintaining focus in a Lincoln biography was areal achievement, and focusing it on the trulyimportant questions was Charnwoods greatestachievement. It is difficult to discover the means bywhich he did this because Charnwood letters arerather scarce in this country. This institution, thoughit seeks the letters of Lincolns biographers, has not asingle Charnwood letter. The Illinois State Hi

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