Allen Guelzo, professor of history at Gettysburg College, spoke of the influence of the Enlightenment and capitalism on President Abraham Lincoln’s core principles. The talk was delivered as a part of the political theory colloquium entitled, “A. Lincoln, Philosopher” on March 21.
Since he was a boy, Lincoln was a “persistent thinker,” consuming many books on diverse subjects such as natural philosophy, astronomy, the natural sciences, and American history.
“Whatever he needed, he taught himself out of the textbooks of the day,” Guelzo said.
Although he did not have much formal education, Lincoln had an uncanny ability to remember and comprehend just about all that he read, Guelzo said. He ensured that he had a full understanding of the material before him.
“I am slow to learn, but slow to forget what I have learned,” hesaid, quoting Lincoln.
Guelzo outlinedthree major influences that shaped Lincoln’s ideology and thought process. Exposed to Calvinism while growing up in Kentucky and Indiana, Guelzo characterizedLincoln was a firm believer in predestination.
When making decisions, Lincoln would stand back from the situation and examine the evidence to determine how things should proceed. He would take time to make decisions, but once he decided he was dead set in his ways.
“I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards,” Guelzo said, quoting Lincoln.
The second major influence on the sixteenth president was the political ideas of the Enlightenment. Lincoln’s writings evince afirm conviction that humans were endowed with the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Lincoln’s study of American history led him to admire the American Founding Fathers, particularly Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. He read abundantly about the American Revolution and sincerely believed that “economic opportunity and social mobility” were being fought for by the Americans.
Endowed in the founding of the United States was universal equality derived from natural rights, whereby everyone had a chance to succeed. Guelzo said that many of Lincoln’s writings and speeches contained language from Jefferson, Washington, and others who advanced Enlightenment principles.
The third major influence on Lincoln was Henry Clay and the Whig Party platform. Lincoln admired Clay’s support of natural human liberty and free market capitalism. He supported the pro-growth Whig platform, which included a protective tariff, national bank, and public investment in infrastructure.
Lincoln, like Clay and the Whigs, supported building a strong middle class industrial society, in stark contrast to Jackson and the Democrats, who favored an agrarian land-owning society.
Guelzo said Lincoln can be classified as a classical liberal, which was the “political application of the eighteenth century Enlightenment.”
Proponents of capitalism who wished to promote social mobility, notably John Stuart Mill and Francis Wayland, were heavy influences on Lincoln’s economic philosophy.
“The most important intellectual influences on Lincoln were history and political economy,” Guelzo said.
Mill and Wayland espoused the invisible hand of the free market that was articulated by Adam Smith as the engine that fueled self-improvement and upward social mobility.
For Lincoln, Guelzo said, government ought to be limited to things individuals cannot achieve themselves.
Lincoln combined his beliefs of natural rights and social mobility to oppose slavery, which “annihilated” both. He used the writings of Wayland to make his argument that slavery stripped people of their liberty and pursuit of happiness.
There was no competition under slavery because slaves stayed slaves and owners remained owners. connection of Enlightenment principles and a capitalist economic philosophy, Lincoln understood abolishing slavery as a moral obligation.
According to Guelzo, that today’s society shies away from moral issues, thinking there can be no general agreement. For Lincoln, moral issues were what united the nation.
In Lincoln’s day, Guelzo said, there was a totally different understanding of rights than there is today. A commitment to rights did not mean a break from moral principles. Lincoln’s moral opposition to slavery was born from the belief that liberty and the pursuit of happiness were natural and part of human nature.
“Lincoln was a classical liberal, an enemy to hierarchy, and a friend of trade and business,” Guelzo concluded.
Mickey Gardella is a sophomore political science major who resides in Knott Hall. He can be contacted at mgardell@nd.edu. He enjoys a good appletini and watching his toy poodle, Mr. Snickerdoodle.
