SUSAN DUNN
AND
ROBERT
F.
DALZELL.JR.
653
And as "subtle and profound on the rights of minorities" as those politi–
cians were, they systematically ignored the wishes of the majority. In
almost every state in the South, Lincoln argued, secession was a minority
movement, and those who engineered it only proved what little respect
they had for popular government when, in the new Confederate consti–
tution, they substituted a phrase like "We, the deputies of the sovereign
and independent States" for the familiar "We, the People."
Of course Lincoln himself was a politician, but to his mind there
was a crucial difference. Unlike "the seceder politicians" of the South, he
felt bound by the wishes of those who had elected him: "The people
themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate
decisions," he declared. Furthermore he was convinced that "the plain
people" of the nation saw things as he did. Even with large numbers of
officers resigning their commissions to join the Confederate cause, the
lower ranks - to a man - had stood firm. "Not one common soldier or
common sailor is known to have deserted his flag." Such was "the patri–
otic instinct of the plain people."
And such was Lincoln's crusade for government "of the people, by
the people, and for the people." Framed in sharp contrast to a tradition
which took as the chief duty of government the protection of minority
interests and sought to accomplish that goal through the self-limiting
rule of a responsible elite, his vision was uncompromisingly democratic. It
was also undeniably revolutionary. For while he spoke of preserving
democracy, in reality he was calling for its empowerment, just as he
might have - had he wished to - proclaimed the death of James Madi–
son's republic. And the final justification for the new order was no intri–
cately wrought constitutional argument, but rather an abiding faith in
the capacities of ordinary citizens. Where Madison had feared the peo–
ple's passion and seen it as destructive of liberty and harmony, Lincoln
found in it the wellsprings ofjustice and patriotism and counted on it to
rescue the nation from the machinations of self-seeking, deceitful politi–
Clans.
More than anything else, too, it was his vision of the people and
their stake in the conflict that would sustain Lincoln through the horrors
of four long years of civil war. As the casualties on both sides multiplied,
as the cost in dollars and physical devastation rose steadily higher, it was
difficult in any terms to find meaning in the scene Lincoln surveyed. In
time he came to see an inscrutable higher will as the architect of events.
"The Almighty has His own purposes," he would declare in his second
Inaugural Address. Still, the basic vision endured - endured and gathered
strength from the very sacrifices it inspired. At Gettysburg, with memo–
rable eloquence, Lincoln eulogized those who had given "the last full
measure of devotion" in battle. Not only had their struggle "hallowed"
