A House Divided

I wrote the following piece for the New Sunday Times (NST), Learning Curve Section. It appeared on June 2, 2013, page 4. I had written previously on Abraham Lincoln for Learning Curve and this article continued themes I have used in my writing.

A house divided

IN the book, Lincoln on Race And Slavery edited by Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a long list of speeches and letters by Abraham Lincoln. The work is a useful resource for those who want to delve into the words and writings of Lincoln and I find myself going back to it from time to time. Compounding the value of the speeches and letters are Gates' introductory essays which presage the speeches and letters. His brief writings and his longer introductory essay Abraham Lincoln ‘On Race And Slavery’ are very worthwhile reading and the eloquence and empathy that he shows for his subject recognises the contradictions, tensions and struggles that characterised the development of Lincoln's thinking.[1]

In recognising the contradictions and inconsistencies in Lincoln's views on Race And Slavery, I am also reminded of George M. Fredrickson's, Big Enough To Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Race And Slavery.[2] Fredrickson's book is derived from the W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures and is another useful and nuanced discussion of the character, strengths, limitations and inconsistencies of The Great Emancipator.

The common refrain in public discussion is to always bring down politicians by pointing to their errors and contemptuously asserting that these reveal the true character of a man, which -- according to this way of thinking -- is always reduced to the basest and meanest analysis possible. Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.[3]

Of course what Emerson meant by this is more complex and nuanced than it may appear at first. Emerson used the phrase foolish consistency and, therefore, it is critical to note that what is being developed in this argument is not a suggestion that consistency per se is foolish or unnecessary, but rather that we must take into account context, history and other factors in our understanding of and engagement with people's positions and give due consideration to these when appropriate. However, the fact that people who have to deal with difficult and dynamic circumstances may, at times, appear inconsistent and that this is not necessarily a sign of some moral failing is, upon reflection, not too difficult an idea to grasp.

Let us, however, come back to Lincoln. One of the reasons that I decided to write in reference to Lincoln whom I have written about previously (Learning Curve, Oct 21, 2012) is because I am constantly drawn to a speech he made which is known as, The House Divided Speech. It was delivered in Springfield, Illinois on June 16, 1858. It was Lincoln's acceptance speech for the state Republican Party's nomination to challenge incumbent US senator Stephen A. Douglas.[4] In this speech, Lincoln drew upon a well-known biblical metaphor from Mark: 3: 25 - And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. - and he delivered it from memory as well. The following is the relevant part of Lincoln's speech which appears in Gates' excellent book:

“Mr President and gentleman of the Convention: If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. `A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other”.[5]

Lincoln's famous words draw our attention to the problems of deep conflict and division. A house divided against itself cannot stand. I find these words and Lincoln's oratory still moving but above being stirred by his words, the essential insight which is captured in his use of the biblical metaphor remains educative and provocative. Sometimes when I think about the conflicts of contemporary times, I recall Lincoln and the way he captured the essence and tragic dimensions of his time through his rhetoric.

I wonder to what extent does this famous biblical metaphor still speak to us in our current travails?

References

[1] Henry Louis Gates Jr., ed. Lincoln on Race and Slavery (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009)., p.xxvi

[2] George M. Fredrickson, Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Race and Slavery (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2008).

[3] Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," in The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Brooks Atkinson (New York: The Modern Library, 2000)., p.148

[4] Gates Jr., Lincoln on Race and Slavery., p.103

[5] Ibid., p.104