Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason

David Hirsch, Dan Van Haften

• Publisher: Savas Beatie
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781611210583
• Topic: Geschichte
• Subtopic: Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts

The secrets of one of history's greatest orators are revealed in "one of the most stunningly original works on Abraham Lincoln to appear in years" (John Stauffer, professor of English and history, Harvard University). For more than 150 years, historians have speculated about what made Abraham Lincoln truly great. How did Lincoln create his compelling arguments, his convincing oratory, and his unforgettable writing? Some point to Lincoln's study of grammar, literature, and poetry. Others believe it was the deep national crisis that gave import to his words. Most agree that he honed his persuasive technique in his work as an Illinois attorney. Here, the authors argue that it was Lincoln's in-depth study of geometry that made the president's verbal structure so effective. In fact, as the authors demonstrate, Lincoln embedded the ancient structure of geometric proof into the Gettysburg Address, the Cooper Union speech, the first and second inaugurals, his legal practice, and much of his substantive post-1853 communication. Also included are Lincoln's preparatory notes and drafts of some of his most famous speeches as well as his revisions and personal thoughts on public speaking and grammar. With in-depth research and provocative insight, Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason "offers a whole new angle on Lincoln's brilliance" (James M. Cornelius, Curator, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum).

Chapter One

Lincoln the Law Student

This is a story about a man with a secret ready to be revealed. But first it is necessary to see what this man, President Abraham Lincoln, was made of. Some think that as a political leader he functioned as a dictator.¹ But Lincoln scholar Emanuel Hertz points out that many of the toughest issues he faced were legal in nature:

The problems of Lincoln’s presidency were for the most part legal problems and it is short of amazing that historians and biographers overlooked his wide assumption of power; his willingness to compensate slave holders; his interpretation of the Constitution as to the President’s war powers. The legal features of the Civil War; the law of treason; the treatment of Confederate leaders; the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus; military rule and arbitrary arrests; martial law and military commissions; the Indemnity Act of 1863 covering the question of liability of federal officers for wrong done in their official capacity during the Civil War; the regime of conquest in occupied districts of the South; legal and constitutional problems of conscription; the right of confiscation; restoration of confiscated property; emancipation; state and federal relations during the Civil War; the partition of Virginia and the creation of West Virginia—these were some of the major problems which Lincoln the lawyer was called upon to define, interpret and pass upon.²

Friends from Illinois who knew Lincoln as a lawyer, such as Judge David Davis, former Lincoln law partner Stephen T. Logan, and fellow attorney Leonard Swett, were main backers who helped Lincoln obtain his third-ballot Republican presidential nomination in 1860. They believed in Lincoln’s ability to meet the looming challenges, whether political or legal in nature.³

In an 1895 Lincoln Day speech, William McKinley gave the following assessment of Lincoln’s preparation for the presidency. (Note: we have throughout retained the original spelling and punctuation in our use of 19th-century materials.) But the best training he had for the Presidency, after all, was his twenty three years arduous experience as a lawyer travelling the circuit of the courts of his district and State. Here he met in forensic contests, and frequently defeated, some of the most powerful legal minds of the west. In the higher courts he won still greater distinction in the important cases committed to his charge.⁴

Lincoln’s journey to this lofty level started with the basics. His formal education, birth to death, totaled less than one year.⁵ In 1858, Lincoln borrowed George Washington’s term “defective”⁶ to describe his own education.⁷ In a short 1859 autobiography Lincoln stated:

My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age; and he grew up, litterally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called; but no qualification was ever required of a teacher, beyond “readin, writin, and cipherin,” to the Rule of Three [a mechanical rule for solving proportions that emphasizes rote over understanding]. If a straggler supposed to understand latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.⁸

For an ordinary person, this backwoods (lack of) education would have been a serious impediment. But Lincoln refused to succumb to ignorance. He was a model for self-education. And that self-education, “picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity,” showed focus, vision, insight and pragmatism, and facilitated logical reasoning, communication, and conflict resolution. Several of these areas will be addressed separately below.

Close friend Joshua Speed reported that Lincoln considered himself a slow learner, but once he learned something, he did not forget.⁹ Study and experience taught Lincoln both how to think and how to do. What Lincoln learned was rather ordinary; how he learned it frequently was not. His selection and leveraging of his knowledge seems simple only because of its elegance. The result was stunning—including the improbability of someone with such a humble background achieving it. Humility was one secret of Lincoln’s ability to learn and do.

Logical Reasoning

Joseph Gillespie, a fellow attorney and later an Illinois judge, wrote: “He did not seem to think that to be of much value which could not be proven or rather demonstrated His love of and capacity for analysis was wonderful He analysed every proposition with startling clearness and only discussed those branches of his case upon which it hinged leaving the others clear out of view.”¹⁰

While a student in a one-room school, Lincoln showed a keen mind for arithmetic, for several years keeping a sum book with results.¹¹ In school, he was at the head of his class.¹²

Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois, in 1831.¹³ In 1834, he became a surveyor there.¹⁴ He studied A System of Geometry and Trigonometry: Together with a Treatise on Surveying.¹⁵ From it he learned basic geometric definitions, rudimentary logic of geometric proofs, and trigonometry. His primary aim was to lay a practical foundation for surveying;¹⁶ but a critical mental path was forming.

At 40, after returning to Springfield from Congress, Lincoln began serious self-study of Euclid’s first six books. His purpose was to improve his ability to make logical legal arguments, or “demonstrations.” William Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, reported that Lincoln, while traveling on the Eighth Circuit, stayed up late after everyone else was in bed. Concentrating through the snoring, Lincoln studied and learned Euclid by candlelight.¹⁷ Henry Whitney wrote about Lincoln: “I once knew of his making a pupil of a hostler [horse caretaker] in his study of Euclid on the circuit. He did not, like Archimedes, run through the streets crying ‘Eureka!’ but he was so joyous at his geometrical lesson that he must share his happiness, even though he could find no better auditor than a stableman.”¹⁸

George Anastaplo observed in 2005 that a knowledge of geometric logic improves one’s reasoning ability: “A proper study of geometry can help one grasp what it means not only to know something but also to be able to demonstrate (to share with others) what one has learned.”¹⁹ (emphasis in original)

Oral Communication

Lincoln learned not only how to think but how to speak—well. Stephen A. Douglas was nicknamed the “Little Giant” for his short stature and great oratorical skills. Early in his career Douglas was regarded as “far and away the foremost orator in Illinois.”²⁰ Douglas described his education:

Upon removing to the State of New York in December, 1830, I became a student in the Academy in Canandaigua under the superintendence of Prof. Henry Howe, where I continued until the latter part of 1832. Whilst connected with the Academy at Canandaigua I devoted myself zealously to my studies, the Greek and Latin languages, mathematics, rhetoric, logic, &c., and made considerable improvement.²¹

This was the Douglas whom Lincoln took on in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates during the 1858 United States Senate campaign—and Lincoln held his own, gaining national recognition.

From early on Lincoln seized opportunities to practice and improve his speaking. A young Abraham in Indiana gave speeches to children. He mounted a stump, chair or box and told stories and anecdotes.²² In one instance, at age 15, he amused children by standing on a stump and repeating “almost word for word the sermon he had heard the Sunday before.”²³ In his late teens Lincoln attended circuit court to observe trials. He attended an 1828 murder trial in Boonville, Indiana. At the trial, Lincoln heard attorney John Brackenridge speak. After 1828, Brackenridge moved to Texas, and Lincoln did not see him again until 1862. In 1862 Brackenridge met President Lincoln in Washington; Lincoln immediately recognized Brackenridge. Lincoln told Brackenridge that he had made up his mind to be a lawyer after hearing Brackenridge’s 1828 speech. Said Lincoln, “It was the best speech that I, up to that time, Ever heard. If I could, as I then thought make as good a speech as that, that my Soul would be satisfied.”²⁴

Even before he was a member of the bar, Lincoln represented people in the court of Justice of the Peace Bowling Green. Jason Duncan, a New Salem Lincoln contemporary, reported:

As there were no Attorneys nearer than Springfield his [Lincoln’s] services were sometimes sought in suits, at law. and he frequently consented to appear before Esq Bowling Greens’ court, to argue cases. but never charged his clients any fees so far as I Knew, the only lawbook which Mr Lincoln had in his possession was the first Old revised code of Illinois. from this he drew all his legal knowledge, the manner in which he used to force his law arguments upon Esqr Bowling Green was both amuseing and instructive, so laconic often as to produce a spasmatic shaking of the verry fat sides of the old law...