As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a Lincoln scholar from Bloomington-Normal is saying Abraham Lincoln relied on the Declaration all his life. Guy Fraker has written two books about Lincoln.
“He understood that the Declaration of Independence was the rock that this nation stood upon, and so everything he did was rooted,” said Fraker during a Sound Ideas interview.
He said that Lincoln thought of the Declaration as the moral and philosophical heart of the Republic, an almost perfect document, while the Constitution was an imperfect document born of a compromise that included slavery. Fraker said the formative moment Lincoln was exposed to the Declaration came early in his life.
“When he was 17 and still in Indiana, a neighbor loaned him a copy of the statutes of Indiana for 1826. And in the front of it was the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. That's when he first saw it. It did make a tremendous impression on him,” said Fraker.
Lincoln referred to the Declaration of Independence in more than 30 speeches. The Gettysburg Address was the most prominent occasion.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” said Lincoln.
Fraker said perhaps another instance that reveals Lincoln’s thought about the Declaration came in Philadelphia in 1861 as Lincoln traveled by rail to take office as President. He had speaking engagements all the way.
“That's sort of my favorite quote about the whole thing. ‘I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence,’” quoted Fraker.
The Declaration for Lincoln was “not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the motherland; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time,” said Lincoln in Philadelphia.
The earliest reference Lincoln made came in 1838.
“It was more of an intellectual group than a political thing,” said Fraker.
Lincoln had recently arrived in Springfield and was asked to make a presentation to an organization called the Young Men's Lyceum.
“'As the Patriots of 1776 did to support the Declaration of Independence, let us now support the laws and the Constitution,'” quoted Fraker.
Lincoln was something of a political opportunist in how he addressed various issues over the course of his career but his public utterances about the Declaration were consistent, Fraker said.
The Declaration of Independence in the public mind usually centers on the words “all men are created equal.” But a substantial portion of the document is a long list of grievances the colonists had against King George III and why they defined the king as a tyrant.
“Of course, he himself became somewhat of a tyrant during the war, because he took on war powers as a justification for getting us through the war, and I don't think people appreciate those stakes in the Civil War,” said Fraker.
Fraker said what was at stake was the preservation of democracy. The U.S. was the only democracy in the world at that time, he said.
“If it was established by the South that they could secede, then that meant that then some other — maybe a state in the Confederacy — could secede and democracy would just be wiped out. That's why the Gettysburg Address is such a powerful thing,” said Fraker.
As historians work up presentations, they often come upon little delights and discoveries. Fraker said one thing that tickled his fancy was how Lincoln came to know the Declaration as a teenager.
“The thing that impresses me… is that this 17-year-old kid would even read it or know what it meant; that's how bright he was,” said Fraker.
Fraker will give a talk about Lincoln and the Light of the Declaration of Independence at 2 p.m. on June 30 at the Activity and Recreation Center in Normal.
The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, but it did not become public until July 8. At 5 p.m. this July 8, there will be a reading of the Declaration at Connie Link Amphitheater in Normal at 5 p.m. with a band concert to follow. At that time there will be simultaneous readings of the Declaration all over the country.
