Skip to content
A school district in San Francisco has cancelled Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln High School is going to be renamed. Why? “Lincoln, like the presidents before him and most after, did not show through policy or rhetoric that black lives ever mattered to them outside of human capital and as casualties or wealth building,” Jeremiah Jefferies, the chairman of the school district’s renaming committee and a first grade teacher, virtuously pontificated to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Let’s see if we can get this right. The first Republican president who led a party that was dedicated to stopping and eventually abolishing slavery doesn’t pass muster? The president who fought to preserve the Union against the Slave Power, emancipated the slaves, and died at the hands of a racist southern sympathizer is not woke enough for San Francisco’s schools?
Personally, I empathize with those who want to remove statues of Confederate heroes. They were, after all, defenders of secession and the dreadful enslavement of people.
But those who seek monsters to slay never seem to be satisfied. They are targeting the very heroes of movements that have allowed our nation to make so much progress. This is a bit like the French Revolution, when yesterday’s revolutionary heroes became the latest victims of the guillotine because the expanding demands of the vanguard required universal conformity.
Let me state the obvious: Lincoln was far from perfect. Regardless of the moral superiority the new woke crowd holds to, no mere human being is perfect now, much less when one considers the changes in sentiments of morality and justice that have occurred since Lincoln lived. The perspective that to be honored, one must be completely in agreement with today’s expectations dooms everyone to cancellation. Give it time, and the current woke crowd will be seen as blind, immoral Neanderthals. Mr. Jefferies should be careful; the worm will turn on him, his allies, and his heroes.
Nevertheless, whatever criteria one might want to conjure, Lincoln is worthy to have a high school named after him.
First, he personally believed slavery was evil. With our modern sensibilities we say, “Of course!” – but that is just ignorance of history. The whole course of human history is riddled with slavery, and hardly anyone challenged its legitimacy until recently.
Second, Lincoln campaigned for president on stopping the expansion of the Slave Power. This was not widely popular. He only received about 40 percent of the vote in the Election of 1860. The South seceded rather than have him as president.
Third, he took the extraordinarily heartbreaking step of going to war to stop secession and preserve the Union. We take this for granted. President Buchanan fiddled while Rome burned, and many voices in both parties cried for peace.
Fourth, with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln freed the slaves in Confederate-held territory.
Fifth, he reenvisioned the American experiment. With the Gettysburg Address, he dedicated America to fulfilling the proposition that all men are created equal. Yes, that language was in the Declaration of Independence, but it was not a reality. Lincoln worked to make it real.
Sixth, he worked to ensure that slavery would be abolished through the 13th Amendment.
Seventh, he passed the Homestead Act, which aided the settlement of the West.
Eighth, he passed the Pacific Railroad Act and Morrill Land Act. Ironically, it linked San Francisco to the rest of the continent.
Ninth, he approved the National Currency Act, creating a national banking system.
Tenth, he renewed the annual tradition of Thanksgiving.
Eleventh, he was assassinated because of his leadership in abolishing slavery and seeking greater equality. One must wonder what exactly the woke crowd has sacrificed?
Lincoln should be celebrated. In fact, he should be celebrated more than he is today. Let the madness stop.
Hon. Michael Warren has served on the Oakland County Circuit Court for over 17 years, is host of the Patriot Lessons: American History & Civics podcast, and authored America’s Survival Guide.
Share:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
On Key
Related Posts
Continuing a Tradition of Civics Excellence
By Mike Sabo With new institutes emerging at colleges and universities in Florida, Ohio, Utah, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, and elsewhere, civics education may be
Give Me an Engaged Electorate
By John A. Ragosta On March 23rd in 1775, Patrick Henry rose at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, to urge his countrymen to arm
How Lincoln’s Assassination Changed American History
By Brian Matthew Jordan One hundred and fifty-nine years ago this Sunday, a 26-year-old white supremacist and Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth pointed a
Igniting an Appreciation for Abraham Lincoln in Children
By Jonathan W. White Historians and the general public regularly rank Abraham Lincoln as America’s greatest president. There is little doubt that he is widely
The Patriot Week Foundation achieved its 501(c)(3) status in December 2012 and has moved forward by building a sustainable, nonpartisan organization. Currently staffed with an Operations Manager and Education Consultant, the Patriot Week Foundation will be adding to its complement of talent shortly.
This unique, historically grounded, non-partisan approach is desperately needed in our toxic political environment. In no small measure, the fate of the nation depends on it.
Get in Touch
Fill out the form, our team will get back to you ASAP.
Copyright © 2021 Patriot Week
