Abraham Lincoln, Public Speaker

I: "Any Poor Man's Son": The Public Image of Lincoln

I "ANY POOR MAN'S SON" The Public Image of Lincoln The politician of today knows how important the right public image can be in winning elections. The boyish haircut ofJohn E Kennedy issaid to have added to his appeal; Jimmy Carter made no secret of the fact that he was a born-again Christian; and Ronald and Nancy Reagan are adept at revealing signsoftheir conservatism. Some public figures pay thousands of dollars to promote attractive views of themselves, embracing a conviction that dates from Aristotle, who advised the Greeks that credibility (ethos) was the most powerful means of persuasion. Although he lived before the advent of Madison Avenue, Abraham Lincoln learned the importance of his image as he worked his way upward from store clerk and hired hand to become an eminent figure throughout Illinoisand among Republicans. During the period from 1830 to 1860 Lincoln actively projected the persona of a poor man's son, an underdog. "Keenly aware of his role as an exemplar of the self made man," Richard Hofstadter writes, Lincoln "played the part with an intense and poignant consistency that gives his performance the quality of high art. The first author of the Lincoln legend and the greatest of the Lincoln dramatists," concludes Hofstadter, "was Lincoln himself."1 In his first political handbill, addressed to the people of Sangamon County, Lincoln wrote on March 9, 1832: "I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations to recommend me. My case isthrown exclusivelyupon the independent voters in this county, and if elected they will have conferred a favor upon me. . . . But if the good people . . . shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined." Lincoln wasnot engaging in public confession 1. Richard Hofstadter, American Mitical Tradition (New York, 1948), 94. 4 "ANY POOR MAN'SSON" or an expression of modesty, but pursuingvotes, using the same theme of humility that he was to use throughout his life.2 It has frequently been said that he understood ordinary citizens because he was one of them and that, consequently, he was able to identify his causes with their aspirations and prejudices. While traveling about the state, politickingand practicing law, he became a familiar and favorite figure whose judgment was sought and greatly respected. Lawyers, judges, editors, and other opinion makers enjoyed his camaraderie, especially his storytelling. "The good people," fascinated by his quaintness, sensed his good humor and friendliness. He never changed his familiar habits and practices, continuing his rapport with his day-to-day associates even after he became associated with the aristocratic Whigs (one of whom, Mary Todd, he married) and began representing large corporations before the courts. Lincoln was particularly mindful of the way he characterized himself in his confrontations with Stephen A. Douglas. In a speech in 1852 he recalled the "old times . . . when Judge Douglas was not so much greater than all the rest of us, as he now is." At another time Lincoln contrasted Douglas as "the giant" to himself as "a common mortal."? Sometimes when he was engaging in self-depreciation, Lincoln was also subtly ridiculing the 5-foot 4-inch senator for his bravado and displayof affluence. In their 1858 debates, Lincoln never missed an opportunity to stresstheir differences. Sometimes it seemed that he wasin manylittle ways remindingthe common citizens that he was more like them than was the famous Douglas, who traveled in such high company in Washington. Douglas, cocky and urbane, did much to foster this impression. In 1858, much in the limelight for his opposition to the Buchanan administration and asa presidential hopeful for 1860, Douglas made a dramatic return to Illinois to seek reelection. He opened in Chicago with a speech leveled mainly at Lincoln, his old rival, who had won attention with his remark that the Union could not exist half-slave and half-free. Douglas, in venting his determination to defeat his enemies , whether Buchanan Democrats (Danites) or Republicans, compared his intentions to those of the Russians at Sebastopol, who had fired "broad side" at their enemies, unconcerned about whether they 2. Roy E Easier (ed.), The Collected Vforks of Abraham Lincoln (9 vok; New Brunswick, N.J., 195?), I, 5-9. 3. Ibid., II,136. 5 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PUBLIC...