GettysBlog

Lincoln as a Cornell Student? by Ariela Rutkin-Becker

The past few weeks in exploring the New Student Reading Project with you I’ve tried to tie our 16th president in to modern times, to show how relevant Lincoln at Gettysburg really is.

This is the first blog I’m writing from Cornell itself and my message is directly to first-year students:  Cornell is now your body politik, a microcosm for the US at large.  And while you might feel that some political opinions are more prevalent than others here, I am confident that you can find a plethora of events and groups that share your political view.  Even if it’s not your view—explore a new one.  And as Lance wrote below, vote.

So what activities would Lincoln have been involved in here at Cornell?  Over the past few days I’ve asked this question to new students walking in to the Tatkon Center as well as some of my friends.  Everyone has chuckled at first, and then answered honestly.   I got answers such as:

• The debate team (Cornell has the Forensics Society and the Debate Club, and the honorary forensics society Delta Sigma Rho Tau Kappa Alpha)
• Student Assembly (whose president and executive vice president will be popularly elected for the first time in spring of this school year, after you vote in fall for your new student representatives)
• The Schwartz Center Theatre (as we all know, Lincoln was assassinated while enjoying a show)
• Maybe even the wrestling team (Lincoln’s six-foot-four frame might appear lanky, but wrestling was his favorite sport; check out the Friedman Wrestling Center near Bartels Hall)
• Last but not least, he could have been president of his namesake fraternity, Alpha Beta Epsilon (I’ve used this joke over the past few days to some blank stares…put the initials of the fictional fraternity together). 

Debate, Student Assembly, theatre, wrestling, Greek life… Honest Abe definitely would have a place here at modern-day Cornell.  Now, new students, you are charged with the task of defining your experience here over the next four years.  I wish you the best of luck and can’t wait to watch your class acclimate, unite and evolve.

Persuasive Power of Words

Anne Kenney, Cornell University's Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, sends library staff weekly messages about libraries, books, digital information, reading, and other topical issues. Like so many of us on campus, she read Lincoln at Gettysburg and joined a small group discussion on Monday. I wanted to share her message about our book with all of you:

"Last week during my annual cottage-at-the-lake vacation I thought a lot about words. Finishing up Lincoln at Gettysburg, the new student reading book by Garry Wills, and watching episodes of AMC's runaway show, Mad Men, provided grist for my thoughts. There is more similarity between these two than just my preoccupation of last week. Each focuses on the persuasive power of words. The former takes 317 pages to describe the impact of 272 words that constitute the Gettysburg Address; the latter is a series of hour-long episodes devoted to the advertising world of the late 1950s/early 1960s. Both trade in selling ideas. The subtitle to Wills' book is "The Words that Remade America" and his contention is that Lincoln wasn't in Gettysburg to commemorate a cemetery but to achieve a "revolution in thought." Similarly successful advertisers don't sell products but concepts, as exemplified in the Mad Men episode in which Don Draper, the Creative Director for Sterling Cooper Ad Agency, snags the Kodak account by describing its new carousel slide projector as a memory holder. Fourth, Lincoln's Address and advertisements alike achieve an economy of words. Lincoln broke with tradition by delivering a speech that lasted a little over 2 minutes; advertising depends on pithy slogans and 30 second pitches. Both invade our subconscious.  Many of us had to memorize the Gettysburg Address at some point in our education, and while you may not recall the full text, it's hard to forget the "Fourscore and seven years ago" bit. And advertising is meant to stick with you, as anyone who has had a jingle roll around in their head all day knows. Finally, both the Gettysburg Address and ads pack their greatest punch when they are heard, which is why the former figures prominently in solemn occasions and ad agencies spend a fortune on radio and television. Lincoln himself had a habit of reading everything aloud, including the newspaper. Consider, too, the 20th century equivalent to the Gettysburg Address: Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech, delivered to over 200,000 people 100 years after Lincoln's from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.  Its impact had as much to do with his delivery as it did with his words.

Don Draper was wrong. Kodak slide projectors aren't the real memory holders. Well-chosen, and well-spoken, words are.

Enjoy the week and the return of students to campus.
Anne"

We hope to see all of you in our libraries as the semester begins.  Good luck in your classes. Keep reading!

Lincoln and You

Now that we've read the book (or most of it), gathered as a large group in Barton Hall to hear our Cornell scholars' informed opinions, met in small groups to discuss Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, and turned in our essays, what's left to do?

Several students in my discussion group mentioned that they would be giving their copies of Lincoln at Gettysburg to their fathers to read, noting their parent's interests in Lincoln and Civil War history. Sharing a good book is what the Reading Project is all about.

If you have not already done so, please treat yourself to a visit to Kroch Library this week to see Cornell's copy of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's handwriting, which will be on public display for the rest of this week.

And check out the Reading Project-related exhibits on campus this month.  Reaching For Equality is on display at the Tatkon Center. (It is also available online as an interactive digital guide. Send us your thoughts and comments.)  Downstairs in Olin Library you will find a display, Mapping the Many Paths to the Address, in the Media Center.

Don't forget that our author, Garry Wills, will be here on September 17th to give a talk on the Lincoln Douglas Debates.

Most importantly, on September 6, President Skorton will read the Gettysburg Address in the Balch Courtyard Terrace at 4:30 p.m. to kickoff our campus voter registration drive. If you are 18 and a United States citizen, you need to participate in the democratic process.  You ARE the people that Lincoln is speaking of at the end of his address: "government of the people, by the people, for the people." 

Register and Vote!

The power to "remake" the world?

The old adage that "the pen is mightier than the sword" may be difficult to accept as we observe all the armed conflicts around the globe at the moment.  But you don't need to believe in the superior power of the pen to consider the possibility, as Wills puts it, that words are sometimes necessary "to complete the work of the guns." Yet how is it that words get their power?  To answer this question, if Wills is right, we must delve into the origins of "linguistic might," and we should expect that the more powerful the words in question, the more complex their origins are likely to be.  Wills leads us on a dense and sometimes complicated exploration of the literary, religious, philosophical, and socio-political roots of the Gettysburg Address.  In addition, his own language occasionally requires us to pick up a dictionary.  But if we stick with him, we can come to a deeper understanding of how 272 words helped to bring to completion what the massive death and destruction of the battle of Gettysburg (and indeed the American Civil War as a whole) could not do alone.

Does the power of words have anything to do with the greatness of political leaders?  We may not think so, especially if we believe that the careers of great leaders are best defined by the decisions they make and by actions they take in light of those decisions.  But what if the full measure of some political greatness will escape us until we understand the role that language and rhetoric might play in decision and action?  Wills has been influential in making the case that this is a reasonable assumption to bring to reflection on Lincoln's career and legacy.  But over the course of his career, Wills has extended this approach to discussions of the broader importance of language and its uses in political contexts.  You may find it interesting to look at a May 2008 article entitled "Two Speeches on Race," in which Wills makes some provocative comparisons between presidential candidate Barack Obama's speech on race and one of Lincoln's speeches delivered in the months before he won the presidency.  Whatever you might make of these comparisons, it is important to ask whether Wills's views in Lincoln at Gettysburg might help us reflect on the sources, power, and value of contemporary political language in the broadest sense.

Finally, why should you be interested in Wills's discussion of the Gettysburg Address if you are either not a citizen (naturalized or native) of the United States, or if you are perhaps an American citizen who is impatient with those who fail to focus on questions of global importance?   Well, if Wills is right, the power of Lincoln's words was partly a function of his conviction that America's national purpose was rooted in ideals of equality and democracy that have value for all human beings.  Consider, too, that Lincoln's words influenced the labor movement in nineteenth century Germany and political movements in mid-twentieth century India, and they resonate in the language of twenty-first century defenders of human rights around the globe. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru kept a cast of Lincoln's hand on his desk, along with a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, to remind himself to combine Gandhi's compassion with Lincoln's capacity for strength and unity.  A 2007 conference on Lincoln focused on his relevance as "A Humanitarian as Broad as the World," and an international conference to celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009 will be entitled "Lincoln Without Borders."   Might this long-standing global interest in Lincoln suggest that his words have the power not only to remake America, but to help remake the world?

During New Student Orientation, on the day before the small group discussions, three distinguished Cornell faculty members will help us understand the power of Lincoln's words:  Professor Edward Baptist of the history department will deliver a talk entitled "A Nation Not Like Any Other Nations," Cornell President Emeritus and Professor of Classics Hunter Rawlings will talk to us about "Lincoln and the Athenian Tradition of State Funeral Orations," and Professor Tad Brennan of the philosophy department will deliver a talk entitled "Any Nation So Conceived."   

This faculty panel discussion will be held from 3:30 to 5:00 on Sunday August 24, 2008 in Barton Hall.  I look forward to seeing you there and then to learning more about your approach to Lincoln in the essays you will submit during the small group discussions on Monday August 25.

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education,  Michele Moody-Adams

150th Anniversary of the Lincoln Douglas Debates

On August 21, 1858 a then relatively unknown Abraham Lincoln first debated Stephen A. Douglas in Ottawa, Illinois during their campaign to become a U.S. senator. Their seven debates that summer and fall have become the gold standard for political debates. See the multimedia slideshow Debating Douglas on the National Stage, 1857-1858 (Requires RealPlayer) to learn more about their historical context and significance. 

You may recall that earlier this year Hillary Clinton challenged Barack Obama to a Lincoln - Douglas style debate during the primary season. I wonder if the American public would have found this interesting or not, since the 1858 debates featured an hour-long presentation by the first speaker (Lincoln and Douglas alternated going first), an hour and a half response by the second candidate, and then a half hour rejoinder by the first speaker. Would you be willing and able to watch a three hour political debate? How would the second-by-second 24 hour news cycle handle this kind of marathon?

Lincoln lost this election, but gained valuable national exposure. Two years later he defeated Douglas and others to become our 16th president. It was during these debates that Lincoln started honing and perfecting the rhetorical skills that we have been reading about this summer.

Our author, Garry Wills, will be speaking about the Lincoln - Douglas Debates when he visits Cornell on September 17th. 

See you all in Barton Hall on Sunday afternoon.

Welcome to Cornell!

Image: Lincoln and Douglas, November 3, 1903. Creator: Jaspard, J. M. Image Source: Chicago Historical Society

Before Lincoln: Some Remarkable Aspects about the Relations between Chile and the United States by Claudia Gilardoni

Did you know that 51 years before the Civil War, the 4th of July was celebrated with great pomp in Chile?

In 1812, the American Independence Day was commemerated in Chile at the Tribunales Palace, with fancy dessses and all the glamour of 19th Century diplomacy. Mr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the American consul in Chile, prepared the event, which was attended by all the best of Chilean society. The first Chilean newspaper, La Aurora de Chile, published the details of this social gathering and Fray Camilo Henriqez, the founder of the newspaper, wrote a special chronicle entitled "A Memorable Example." At that time, American citizens in Chile were mostly craftsmen and three of them held positions in the newspaper: Mr. Samuel B. Johnston, Mr. Simon Garrison and Mr. William Burdidge.

Chilean patriots, who were to play an important role in Chile?s first attempt at independence (the period known to us as Patria Vieja), had strong connections with the United States. Jose Miguel Carrera, a prominent figure popularly known as the "Roads Prince" because he was such a great horseman, had even been introduced to President James Madison.

In 1815, as a revolutionary fighting the for Chile's independence, Mr. Carrera travelled to the United States to seek military and financial assistance for his cause. David Porter, a North American army official helped him out and a year later Carrera obtained funds, four ships, all kinds of armaments and even soldiers. With this military treasure he returned to Chile and contributed enormously to our Independence, which was finally obtained in 1818.

David Porter was the father of two distinguished navy officers of the Secession War: David Dixon Porter and William D. Porter.

While doing some research for this note, I found a captivating book about Chile and the USA: The First North American Mission in Chile, by Guillermo Cruz Feliu.

Lincoln at Cornell, Part 2

Back on July 21st, I told you about some of Lincoln's connections with our university. As you prepare to make your way to Ithaca this week, I thought I would share a few more Lincoln - Cornell stories.

I've already told you about Ezra Cornell meeting with Lincoln the night before his inauguration, but Cornell co-founder and first president, Andrew Dickson White, also knew Lincoln. Here is a passage from White's autobiography telling of Lincoln's death:

"On the morning of April 15, 1865, coming down from my rooms in the Delavan House at Albany, I met on the stairway a very dear old friend, the late Charles Sedgwick, of Syracuse, one of the earliest and most devoted of Republicans, who had served with distinction in the House of Representatives, and had more than once been widely spoken of for the United States Senate. Coming toward me with tears in his eyes and voice, hardly able to speak, he grasped me by the hand and gasped the words, "Lincoln is murdered.''  I could hardly believe myself awake: thething seemed impossible;--too wicked, too monstrous, too cruel to be true; but alas! confirmation of the news came speedily and the Presidency was in the hands of Andrew Johnson.

Shortly afterward the body of the murdered President, borne homeward to Illinois, rested overnight in the State Capitol, and preparations were made for its reception.  I was one of the bearers chosen by the Senate and was also elected to pronounce one of the orations.  Rarely have I felt an occasion so deeply: it has been my lot during my life to be present at the funerals of various great rulers and magnates; but at none of these was so deep an
impression made upon me as by the body of Lincoln lying in the assembly chamber at Albany, quiet and peaceful at last.

Of the speeches made in the Senate on the occasion, mine being the only one which was not read or given from memory, attracted some attention, and I was asked especially for the source of a quotation which occurred in it, and which was afterward dwelt upon by some of my hearers. It was the result of a sudden remembrance of the
lines in Milton's Samson Agonistes, beginning:

     Oh, how comely it is, and how reviving
     To the spirits of just men long oppressed,
     When God into the hands of their deliverer
     Puts invincible might
     To quell the mighty of the earth, the oppressor,
     The brute and boisterous force of violent men,"
     (lines 1268-1280)

The funeral was conducted with dignity and solemnity. When the coffin was opened and we were allowed to take one last look at Lincoln's face, it impressed me as having the same melancholy expression which I had seen upon it when he entered the East Room at the White House.  In its quiet sadness there seemed to have been no change. There was no pomp in the surroundings; all, though dignified, was simple."

To learn more about Lincoln's funeral, please see the book, Facing America: Iconography and the Civil War. Written by Cornell professor Shirley Samuels, its Chapter 5, "Lincoln's Body" continues Garry Wills's exploration of the Culture of Death. (For those of you with active Cornell NetIDs, this book is available as an e-book.)

Which brings us to the second battle of Gettysburg. The National Park Sevice recently opened its new visitor center at Gettysburg, but the building that once served this function is in the middle of a preservation controversy. The building was designed by Richard Neutra and his business partner, Cornell architecture graduate Robert Evans Alexander, whose papers and drawings are held in the University Archives in Kroch Library.

Lincoln never visited Ithaca, but he and Gettysburg are a part of our Cornell history.

And I will say...

I have been re-reading some of the more prominent passages and chapters in Lincoln at Gettysburg this week (gearing up for your arrival, class of 2012!) and I cannot get over my anger in Lincoln's Charleston speech quoted on page 94:

"I will also add to the remarks I have made (for I am not going to enter at large upon this subject), that I have never had the least apprehension that I or my friends would marry negroes if there was no law to keep them from it, but as Judge Douglas and his friends seem to be in great apprehension that they might, if there were no law to keep them from it, I give him the most solemn pledge that I will to the very last stand by the law of this State, which forbids the marrying of white people with negroes."

I am married to a man of a different race and, therefore, find his words particularly offensive.  Yet, upon further reflective, I find the speech a politically savvy and bold move.  In order to get support for the freedom of slaves, Lincoln needed to argue that blacks would not be equal to whites.  What better way to demonstrate this than the imagery of marriage between white and black.  Lincoln played on the fear of the time that blacks and whites would begin to intermingle.  He gained trust by assuring his audience that even the man arguing for the freedom of slaves did not believe them to be equal; a clever tactic for winning over opposition.

I love Will's statement on page 96, "Lincoln's accommodation to the prejudice of his time did not imply any agreement with the points he found it useless to dispute."

What do you think?  Do you believe Lincoln manipulated the people with his speeches or that he, too, believed in the inequality of the races?

Who was William Seward?

As the front runner for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination before I was selected as the party’s nominee, William H. Seward was my political rival. He was to be my Secretary of State and later my close personal friend. He helped me write my First Inaugural address (see p. 158 of our book) and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Seward also served the public as a New York state senator, a Governor of New York, and a United States Senator. He was gravely injured in an attack by one of John Wilkes Booth’s accomplices that awful night in April 1865.  He survived and continued as Secretary of State for my successor, Andrew Johnson, and in that position he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia­-then commonly mocked by the public as “Seward’s Folly.” Seward House, his home in Auburn, NY, just north of Ithaca, is now a museum.

On November 18, 1863, the night before I gave my speech at Gettysburg (see p. 31 of Lincoln at Gettysburg) Seward addressed a crowd outside the house where he was staying:

"When we part to-morrow night, let us remember that we owe it to our country and to mankind that this war shall have for its conclusion the establishing of the principle of democratic government; ­ the simple principle that whatever party, whatever portion of the community, prevails by constitutional suffrage in an election, that party is to be respected and maintained in power, until it shall give place, on another trial and another verdict, to a different portion of the people. If you do not do this, you are drifting at once and irresistibly to the very verge of universal, cheerless, and hopeless anarchy. But with that principle this government ours ­ the purest, the best, the wisest, and the happiest in the world ­ must be, and, so far as we are concerned, practically will be, immortal."

I could not have said this better myself. Actually, I did. But I do not wish to be critical of my colleague.

For all of you Cornell readers, let it be known that Seward was a "voracious reader" and had "a mind crammed with information gleaned from the literature of Europe and America, and from a host of American contemporaries ranging from Washington Irving to Jean Louise Rodolphe Agassiz."(Glyndon Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 209.)

Reading a Scholarly Book

You may have noticed by now that Lincoln at Gettysburg can be a challenging read at times. Challenging in that it is not easy to read, and challenging because it asks you, its readers, to think deeply and critically about what you are reading.

Garry Wills offers us many perspectives of Lincoln's speech with his insights and interpretations of the historical data that he has read and analyzed. He provides us with 60 pages of Notes so that we can track and trace the sources of his scholarship. But I am sure this can be overwhelming or a bit daunting to those of you not used to reading scholarly books.

Let me offer a few suggestions on ways to read this book:

Use the tools provided.  Look at the Table of Contents. Our chapter titles organize and arrange the author's arguments for us. Be sure to focus on the final pages and paragraphs of each chapter, as Wills often summarizes his main points there while adding a few rhetorical flourishes of his own.

You can also use the Indexes at the back of the book to identify and locate passages on key themes, ideas, and historical people.

Read the Appendices.  Especially Appendix II.  It gives you an idea of just how hard it is to read History--figuring out what happened and where it happened can be difficult to determine. Historical events can be ambiguous. Historians can make mistakes.

Question what you read. Just because our author won a Pulitzer Prize for this book doesn't mean you have to agree with or accept all of his conclusions. Did the Gettysburg Address really remake America? And what do you make of his assertion on p. 38? Referring to the crowd listening to Lincoln give this speech, Wills writes: "Everyone in that vast throng of thousands was having his or her intellectual pocket picked." Do you think Lincoln was a "thief?"

You may want to read reviews of this book or other essays by Garry Wills as a way of reviewing other readers' opinions and thoughts and see how they compare with your own reactions.

And you can always send us your comments and questions here.