History 105

Fall 2015

Hieu Cong Nguyen

Dr. Vaught
Oates Paper.
Abraham Lincoln, even though his time being the president was not as long as other great
Presidents of the United States, is considered one of the greatest. This fact is illustrated through
hundreds of books and, stories written about him. Furthermore, within our childhood, we had
been told myths about Lincoln as a Saint who came to this world to rescue the Slaves, unite the
whole nation during the Civil War, contribute to the economic success and strengthen the federal
government. On the other handperspective, within the book Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind
the Myths, Stephen Oates has shown to the readers the reality about the life of their mythical
Lincoln who was just a normal person like all the others. He made mistakes in life, he had his
weaknesses but he was special in a way that he could create remarkable achievements. The book
did not change our perception about Lincoln based on the myth but help the readers to
understand the president deeper, since myths were created to reveal our deepest longings as a
people. (Oates, 1984)
On the Lincolns myth told by Carl Sandburg, Carl Sandburg describes Lincoln is
described as a boy who was born to be a Savior. He was simple, honest, ambitious, humorous
and wise. During his childhood, Lincoln had to shuck corn from the early morning until the
sundown so he could only read books under the light of a fire through the night. Different from
the myth, Oates stated that although Lincoln is a book maniac, the boy actually read books in the
field whenever he was away from work. Lincoln immersed himself in the language and the

literary devices of the book, which explain for his amazing language and writing skills later in
life. Furthermore, Lincoln was not an outgoing, but rather a secretive person. He kept his inner
feelings deep inside his heart and was obsessed with death. Therefore, it is obvious that Lincoln
had strengths and weaknesses.
Not only were there myths about Lincoln, but there were counter-myths about him as
well. In the eyes of the Southerner, President Lincoln was the cold-hearted villain who started the
civil war and signed the Emancipation Proclamation which they blamed for the loss of their main
source of labor. They compare him with any terrible things that they can think of. They said
Lincoln was unqualified and ill-suited to be the President, but they did not recognize that in order
to be the President of the United States, Lincoln must have something special. Born in a working
class family, Lincolns father had no formal education, and Lincoln tried hard to educate himself
for improvement, with an aspiration for high station in life that burned in him like a furnace
(Oates, 1984). Lincoln received his lawyer certificate all by his own self-teaching and earn
respect from his colleagues. High self-determination, great ambitious and a huge love for his
country is what made Lincoln a great President. Very few know Few are aware that in the first
place, Lincoln was not an abolitionist of slavery. He had no intention to abolish it even though he
acknowledged that slavery was totally wrong. This is because of the ultimate Constitution
written by the Founding Fathers. They did not explicitly write down the word slavery in the
Constitution. The contradiction created a painful dilemma for Lincoln: a system he deeply loved
had institutionalized a thing he abominated. (Oates, 1984).
When the Fort Sumter crisis happened as the restriction of the Southern States toward the
new President, Lincoln was very confused. He thought about the consequences if the Civil War
really happened but finally decided not to surrender to this rebellion. He had won fairly in the

1860 election and became the official President of the United States so he would not let any State
separate from the Union without his permission. Lincolns response results in a Civil War was
not only the act of protecting the President power, it is the act to prove to the world that a
republic is the most idealistic form of government. Furthermore, the Civil War led to the
Emancipation Proclamation, not the fact that Lincoln had been elected as the new President of
the United States. During the Civil War, Lincolns action goes far from the imagination of the
Southern people. He tried by all means to make the deaths as few as possible. He was always in
the telegraph office whenever he had spare time to receive the latest news about the war. He
even brought documents to the telegraph office and worked on them at a borrowed desk (Oates,
1984).
On January 1st, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation
as a military measure to encourage the slaves and give them hope that the Government will win
the war. The Emancipation Proclamation was not even free the slaves, but also free Lincoln from
his dilemma. Lincoln then was able to abolish slavery the act that is morally wrong but as a
President of the States, the Constitution prevented him to do so. Now the public statesman
could destroy what he regarded as a cruel wrong that had always besmirched Americas
experiment in popular government. (Oates, 1984).
This spectacular book had deepen the understanding of the readers about one of their
greatest President significantly. All the myths about Abraham Lincoln became understandable
and believable since after reading this book the audience appreciated more on what he had done
during his life. Oates is not trying to remove the demigod status of Lincoln, he is trying to show
that Lincoln is just a normal person like the others, but he can achieve miracle things that no one
can ever imagine. The Lincoln of mythology carries the torch of the American dream, a dream

of noble idealism, of self-sacrifice and common humanity, of liberty and equality for all. (Oates,
1984).
Bibliography
Oates, S. (1984). Abraham Lincoln, the man behind the myths. New York: Harper &
Row.