Lincoln - Address to the Washington Temperance Society of Springfield, Illinois

It goes without saying that Abraham Lincoln was one of, if not the most, brilliant politician and orator the United States has had the benefit of calling their own. Before this class my reading and knowledge of his work extended little beyond The Gettysburg Address and a few other small speeches made over the extent of his career, but I never once thought otherwise of his abilities. Therefore when beginning the readings for our class I found myself grinning at some of the amazing subtlety executed in a number of his speeches. Especially in his address to the Temperance Society I couldn't help but notice his amazing ability to try and pull a country together without directly saying or showing he was doing so. Not once did he stray from the topic of commending those who had found their way back to the path of sobriety through the work of the Society but at the same time he was conveying an even more important and deep-seeded message to the people of the US. His speech infers through the example of the alcohol salesmen themselves, that people, by human nature alone, will be much more accustomed to compromise if treated fairly and with friendly intent than if attacked directly and demanded to change. With the arguments over slavery looming and potentially preparing to divide our country in two this is clearly a plea for reason, one of Lincoln's strongest beliefs, asking us not to vilify our brothers for their beliefs but to extend to them intelligent discussion and suggestion to show them the err in their ways. Nearing the end of his speech he praises those who have never succumb to alcoholism to continue to fight the good fight even if they feel there is nothing they can do, or no more they can contribute. In what I see as another allusion to the country's over-arching larger problems, Lincoln comments that when trying to peacefully change strongly rooted beliefs and practices in our fellow men, "[they] needs every moral support and influence, that can possibly be brought to [their] aid, and thrown around [them]." Change, he believes, is much easier to come across when those actually doing the changing can see, "all that he respects...admires...[and] loves, kindly and anxiously pointing him onward..." All in all I find it astounding how brilliant this speech is, as it serves its purpose at face value, and yet at the same time, is only the tip of a much larger and influential iceberg in the dangerous sea that Illinois was slowly becoming in regards to Slavery Reform.