Abraham Lincoln on Representation

I’m a member of a book club for over 10 years now. In June we read And There was Light, by Jon Meacham. It was extremely detailed in some ways, like about Lincoln’s rise to the presidency, and his struggle towards issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, and much less detailed on the carrying out of the civil war and it’s battles. As someone who grew up in Maryland, a border state, I didn’t really know how Maryland fit into the mix of North or South. I learned that keeping the border states, which included Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri somewhat “neutral”, allowed him to hold the Union together and was purely a political move despite the fact that all of those states had slavery.

And on the topic of politics and representation, I was struck by his view of representation itself. He wrote, in the context of running for Congress in Illinois in a district to include Sangamon the following: “If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my constituents. While acting as their representative, I shall be governed by their will, on all subjects up one which I have the means of knowing what their will is; and upon all others, I shall do what my own judgement teaches me will best advance their interests.”

Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1963, the year before the election of 1864. He won only 40% of the popular vote in 1864 (for his second term) but due to a split in the parties of the South (Democratic at the time), he was re-elected. So just who did he represent? Whose opinions was he to support? He stated, “I shall do what my own judgement teaches me will best advance their interests.”

I think that is a good philosophy for an elected official. I certainly would not compare myself to Lincoln. He was 6’4”, I’m only 6’ tall, and I’m not accused to my face to being outright ugly. But more seriously, he was an amazing orator and speech writer. But I can aspire to use my own judgement in ways that will best advance the interests of those I represent.