Mr. President, Mr. Minority Leader, My fellow Senators, and all those in attendance, it is a true honor to stand before you tonight and speak about one of our nation’s greatest Presidents 203 years after his birth.  

We all know the narrative of Abraham Lincoln: our 16th President, the rail splitter, the great emancipator, the Gettysburg Address and of course that fateful night at Ford’s Theater.  

The Lincoln we know is a marbleized figure, sitting 19 feet tall, in his pillared monument, overlooking our nation’s capital.

But history has less to say about the man himself, the flesh and blood man who had more defeats than triumphs. A man who had vices and flaws as we all do.

What makes him worthy of our memory is not that he made no mistakes, but that he persevered despite them.  To study the life and times of Abraham Lincoln is to understand the qualities that made this a great country.

We can all apply the life and times of Lincoln beyond his greater achievements by studying what shaped him to be the leader of that time; and the lessons of his guiding principles of life and reasoned governance.

In an 1876 celebration of Abraham Lincoln the former slave Frederick Douglas said:

“there is little necessity on this occasion to speak at length and critically of this great and good man, and of his high mission in the world.  That ground has been fully occupied.   The whole field of fact and fancy has been gleaned and garnered.   Any man can say things that are true of Abraham Lincoln, but no man can say anything that is new of Abraham Lincoln”.

Looking at his early life you realize the diverse challenges he faced and had to overcome.

1. He entered into business with a partner and when it failed he was left with debts that he spent the next 17 years paying off.

2. He was defeated several times when he ran for the legislature in Illinois, the U.S. Senate, Vice President of the United States and was denied an appointment to the U.S. Land Office.

3. He was elected and served only one term in Congress.

4. He fell in love with a young lady, became engaged but she died before they were married.  Later, he proposed marriage to another young later but was turned down.  Eventually he did get married.

5. He and his wife had 4 sons, yet only one would reach adulthood.

Through all of these trials and tribulations in both his personal and professional life, he persevered and eventually sought the Presidency, exhibiting both tenacity and strong moral conviction.

The 1860 Republican Presidential Nomination came down to the convention.  The nominees were:

New York Senator    -  William H. Seward

Ohio Governor  -   Salmon P. Chase

Missouri Congressman    -  Edward Bates

And a former single term member of Congress from Illinois Abraham Lincoln.

William Seward was favored to win the nomination.  However, after 3 rounds of balloting the little known Lincoln stunned the convention by taking the nomination and eventually the Presidency.

As Lincoln began to make the transition from prairie lawyer to the White House he knew the great challenges that he faced.  In the famous “A House Divided Speech” before the Illinois legislature he said:

“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.”

As legislators ourselves we all have felt the pressure of making tough decisions and the inevitable consequences of our choices.  Whether it be from our constituents, our colleagues or even our own self convictions.

I invite you to consider what the pressure was like for President-elect Lincoln.  Knowing that what he campaigned on and believed in would divide this country and send it into war.  He followed through on what he believed was best for our nation and demonstrated true integrity and moral conviction.

Faced with a young country’s precarious future, Lincoln was mindful of his actions that would define our stability and hopeful unity as one nation.

As the sun began to rise the day after his election, President-elect Lincoln began to construct the most pivotal part of his presidency; his cabinet.  Although he had many great statesman to choose from he knew the foundation of his presidency and future of our nation sat on the shoulders of those who would help govern the executive branch.

As he began to pen the names for each position he chose an unconventional, yet effective strategy to surround himself with the greatest political minds of his time.  It could be surmised that Lincoln was determined to achieve victory not through diversity, but through consensus building and statesmanship.

Secretary of State – William H. Seward

Secretary of the Treasury – Salmon P. Chase

Attorney General – Edward Bates

These 3 gentlemen were the same 3 who Lincoln faced in the primary.  He also selected several Democrats for cabinet positions that had previously opposed his Presidency.

Lincoln looked beyond the ideological differences and put one of his fiercest detractors, Edwin Stanton, into what proved to be the most important cabinet position during those 4 years, the Secretary of War.

Lincoln surrounded himself with the brightest, strongest and best minds to help steer our nation to calmer waters, regardless of party or previous allegiance.

What he had was an administration that was better educated, more experienced, and more credentialed than he.  He knew that our young nation faced the greatest challenge in its history and his presidency would be like no other.

The attitude Lincoln had towards the selection of his cabinet was no different than the method he used in selecting the officers who would guide our nation’s military to victory.

At the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay near what is now Hampton Roads, Virginia stands Fort Monroe.

It is a six-sided stone fort surrounded by a moat.  It lies on a small peninsula stretching into the bay.  During the Civil War it played a vital role in the defense of our nation’s capital.  

Although lying in a Confederate controlled area it was able to block many enemy ships from traveling up the Chesapeake Bay and eventually making their way up the Potomac.  

In the spring of 1861 it was commanded by Benjamin Butler.  Butler was Democrat who served in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and State Senate.  With the start of the civil war he put his political career on hold and re-entered military service.  

Not far from Fort Monroe the Confederates were building a battery that was being constructed using slave labor.  Three of those slaves were able to escape one night and made their way to the Union held Fort Monroe.  

After learning the whereabouts of the slaves, their master sent for their return.  This was 2 years before the Emancipation Proclamation and under current federal law Butler was obligated to return the 3 men.

But in a surprise decision Butler declined the request.  He argued that the rebels were using slaves in the field to support their troops and were therefore contraband of war.  The Federal government was no longer obliged to surrender them to their masters.

Learning of this, President Lincoln immediately promoted him to Brigadier General.  Honored and very grateful Butler wrote Lincoln and said he would accept the commission.  Wanting to clear the air he also went on to say:

“there is one thing I must say to you, as we don’t know each other; That as a Democrat I opposed your election and did all I could for your opponent; but I shall do no political act, and loyally support your administration as long as I hold your commission; and when I find any act that I cannot support I shall bring the commission back at once and return it to you.”

After receiving Butlers letter Lincoln responded back:

 “That is frank, that is fair.  But I want to add one thing:  When you see me doing anything that for the good of the Country ought not be done, come and tell me so, and why you think so, and then perhaps you won’t have any chance to resign your commission.”

Moving forward is what is lost on many of us, and certainly escapes modern politics; where the actions and policies of the previous majority or last administration are used as a tool to neutralize the current minority.  

This is not the way of Lincoln.  He wanted settled business to be just that; for he believed that regardless of what transpired the best way forward was to learn from the past, not continually relive it.

After nearly 4 years of war, over 600,000 casualties, the end of the Civil War was near.  

Richmond, the Capital of the Confederates, fell on April 3rd 1865 pushing General Lee and his forces south.  Lee needing to make it to North Carolina where his weathered troops would meet up with Confederate reinforcements, resupply, and continue the campaign.

Retreating from Richmond, the Confederates entered Petersburg where, again, General Grant and the Union forces fought to bring this war to a close.

 Lee again was able to retreat south with his forces.  Eventually however, his luck would run out at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.

His troops, being chased from behind by Grant, were met head on by the Union Calvary.  As fighting broke out Lee and the Confederates fought to break through the Cavalry line and continue their march south.  

However, Lee soon realized that the Calvary was being backed up by 2 battalions of Union Infantry.  Surrounded, low on supplies, and greatly outnumbered, Lee realized that to continue fighting would futile.  

He decided to send notice to General Grant that he and the Army of Northern Virginia would surrender.  General Grant accepted and agreed to meet.

On his way to meet General Grant, Lee confided in his assistants that he figured he would be imprisoned by nightfall.  However, the Commander in Chief wanted to heal the nation.    

Lincoln had empowered his command to offer generous, even lenient terms of surrender echoing the timeless words of Lincolns’ second inaugural address:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

 Lincolns’ order to Grant were more than fair.  The final line of the surrender agreement read as follows:  

“each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.”

After signing the surrender, Lee mounted his horse and rode for home.  Following him was the Confederate soldiers from the Army of Northern Virginia.

As they began their march home they had to pass the now victorious Union Army.  The Union began cheering in celebration.

“I at once sent word, however, to have it stopped,” Grant later said. “The Confederates were now our countrymen, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.”  

Brig. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain was the Union officer that Grant had selected to preside over the surrender.  Knowing Lincoln’s wish to heal this nation, he ordered all Union troops to line the roadway.

As Lee and his battered and wounded Confederates came to pass, General Chamberlain swiftly called his troops to attention and “carry arms,” a traditional military salute.

As 27,805 Confederate soldiers began their long march home in defeat, they filed down that narrow dirt road past men who they would have fought to the death only a few hours before.  

Expecting to face hostility and malice, they were greeted with a show of respect and honor as the Union troops stood motionless and saluted as they passed by them one after another.  This was the first sign that this nation would heal from those deep wounds.

Lincoln wanted to move forward by learning the lessons of the past, applying them to governance, and work hard to dispense with the lingering animosities that accompany war, politics and life.  

Abraham Lincoln bemoaned the rancor of politics, yet excelled at politics and was able to end an existential conflict in our Union.

 

Now I ask every one of my colleagues in the Senate, in the House and in positions of high authority in our great State of Maryland to remember the lessons of Lincoln.

As we walk through these doors, make our way into this chamber and take our positions on this red carpeted battlefield.  All of us will have competing views of how best to improve our experiment that is democratic governance.  

We know battles will erupt, they will never be of the magnitude of Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Bull Run or Antietam, but they never the less will determine the future of our great state.

All of us should be compelled to remember that when the final shots are fired, the dust settles and the smoke clears, we will gaze upon these tote boards to see who is the victor.  

At this point let us remember the humility that Lincoln demanded of his cabinet, his troops and his presidency.  Let us show the respect that those victorious Union soldiers showed when the welcomed their brethren home.

As we embark on a new year, a new session, and a new presidential election, let us always hear the echoes of General Grants’ famous words to his Union troops, which was the embodiment of  Abraham Lincoln and how it applies to us today.

“WE ARE ALL AMERICANS, working together, striving to make our State and our Nation a better place to live, without regard to our differences.”