On July 1, 1854, then private citizen, Abraham Lincoln, who while hoping to be chosen by the Illinois legislature to become a U.S. senator, wrote the following about the possibility of blacks one day, not only no longer being slaves, but serving in government. This short paragraph comes from his short piece simply entitled, Fragments: On Slavery.
“Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of the equal rights of men, as I have, in part, stated them; ours began by affirming those rights. They said, some men are too ignorant, and vicious to share in government. Possibly so, said we; and, by your system, you would always keep them ignorant, and vicious. We proposed to give all a chance; and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant, wiser; and all better, and happier together.”
I do not think President Lincoln would be surprised that a black man is now the President of the United States of America. In fact, I think, he saw it coming as a result of properly understanding the words and the intent of the words rather than the inconsistencies, in terms of the practice regarding slavery, of our founding fathers. Given the undying passion by which he prosecuted a war that threatened to destroy from the face of the earth this nation and the risks he took in issuing forth the Emancipation Proclamation, I cannot believe that he was not in part fighting for this day that we have all witnessed, in which a black man has been elected President.
My hope is that in Abraham Lincoln’s far-reaching hope, President Obama, who has chosen to model the character of his presidency after Lincoln’s, will see in the very same words of our nation’s most sacred and foundational documents that the same truths that applied to him should be applied to the unborn.
Lincoln was not always as adamant and consistent in his own feelings about slavery as is oftentimes mistakenly thought. Just two years before becoming president, in a debate with Stephen Douglas, he said:
“I will say then that I am not, nor have I ever been in the favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races . . . There must be a position of superior and inferior, and I... am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race ... I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position that the negroe should be deprived everything.”
Was he talking out of both sides of his mouth to win an election? Some would say, yes. Others would say, no; and that his views had simply not been solidified by the pressure that comes when the decision of what to do about a particular issue would be his to decide.
We all know where President Obama has said that he stands on the issue of abortion. We have heard him say that he is not in favor of abortion, but that it is necessary in defending the rights of a woman to choose. I think President Obama means well and I think he, by virtue of divine sovereignty and providence, which put him in office, is the man to lead our country, for better or worse. I also believe he like President Lincoln can be brought to see, through the pressure of the office and by the concerned, compassionate, courteous, consistent, and continual prayers of God's people on his behalf, that the words and the intent of our founding fathers' hope for this nation does indeed extend to the unborn and the born alike.
In the end, what he does for or against the unborn is his decision to make. Whether we who know better, pray for him and this decision is ours to make. If we don't pray, and he doesn't change, the question that comes to mind is, "whose is the greater sin--his or ours?"
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