It seemed like we narrowed down the driving forces behind Lincoln's to the family analogy, his understanding and dedication to his job as President, and the by-products of his devotion to the whig party.
Through the course so far, I would say that all three of these played a role in his vindictiveness to save the Union. With that being said, which one do you think had the greatest influence?
Hi Dominick,
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if vindictiveness fits. How about: what was Lincoln’s primary influence driving his plan to save the Union? Given the options posed, I say his family. Lincoln did not have the best familial ties with his father, as we have discussed on several occasions. Nor did he have a great relationship with his eldest son. Possibly in an effort to make up for that fact, he tried to save the Union.
This last suggestion strikes me as errantly reductive. One's ideals about family, or about nationhood, are often largely independent of the particuarities of one's own familial experience. The more obvious conclusion to the observation that Lincoln reacted against his paternal relationships with his father and first son is that this was a motivating factor in how he related to his other children. The other would be quite a leap.
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