Seizing History: Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Relevant History welcomes back Warren Bull, award-winning author of two novels on Kindle about Abraham Lincoln as an attorney (Abraham Lincoln for the Defense and Death in the Moonlight), plus a collection of historically-themed short stories, Murder Manhattan Style. His Young Adult novel, Heartland, about a family living in "Bleeding Kansas," is available on Kindle and, in paperback, from Avignon Press. His short stories have been published in several anthologies and other venues including Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Sniplits, The Back Alley, and Mysterical-E. For more information, check his web site and group blog.

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Some people argue history happens when the right person shows up at the right time and place under conditions, which facilitate change. To some extent I agree with this idea. On the other hand, I contend that an individual can take steps to change history even when time, place and conditions are less than ideal.

Not Part of the Plan

In Bloomington, Illinois on May 29, 1856 the new Republican Party had an organizational meeting. A coalition was emerging from a political party known as the Whigs, which had both conservative and liberal members, men in the Know-Nothing movement, former Democrats and current abolitionists. Members had a single idea in common, i.e., opposition to the spread of slavery to new territories and states of the United States.

The main organizer, Paul Selby, could not attend. He had been severely beaten by a proslavery mob on the streets of his hometown and was left too injured to travel. The night before the organizing convention, Orville Browning met with leaders of the different factions and after considerable discussion and debate, they came up with a compromise agenda and a list of speakers for the convention. It did not include a circuit-riding attorney and former United States Representative whose opposition to the Mexican-America war eight years earlier left him very unpopular with voters. In other words, Abraham Lincoln was among the hopeful, ambitious men left off the agenda.

The convention agreed on a candidate for Governor. Lincoln was appointed chair of a committee to select candidates for lesser state offices, a necessary but secondary position within the party. The day wore on with others making speeches and positioning themselves for notice within the new Republican Party of Illinois. About 5:30 PM, the time scheduled to adjourn, friends of Lincoln in the crowd began to call his name and ask him to speak. It may well be that his reputation for delivering jokes and telling tall tales encouraged some in the audience to hope he would help end the day with a touch of levity and good feeling.

Sitting in the audience with time ticking away, ambitious consummate politician Abraham Lincoln realized he now had a chance, perhaps the only chance he would ever have, to elevate his status within the new state Republican Party. If he did nothing, Lincoln would very likely remain someone asked to nominate and support other men for state and national offices.

Lincoln rose and said, “I believe I will say a few words from here.” Delegates shouted, asking him to speak from the podium. Lincoln ambled to the front clutching a few notes he had scribbled over the last two days.

And then…

Lincoln delivered what has come to be known as “the lost speech.” He spoke for what was then a short time—ninety minutes. He talked with such eloquence that reporters (and even his law partner) assigned to transcribe the words got so caught up in the speech they stopped taking notes. With the rest of the audience, they listened and cheered. It’s impossible to know exactly what Lincoln said. Observers agree that early in the speech he calmly countered angry calls from a earlier speaker for invading Kansas with Sharps rifles with something like, “No, my friends, I’ll tell you want we’ll do. We’ll wait until November [the 1856 presidential election] and then we’ll shoot paper ballots at them.”

Observers also agree that after the calm opening Lincoln started to rouse the emotions of the crowd. Although we do not know the details of what he said, Lincoln had spent much of the prior two years speaking in opposition to an act of Congress, which allowed the extension of slavery into new territories and states. He constantly sharpened his arguments and learned from audiences what phrasing best elicited emotional responses. There is general agreement that close to the end of his speech he said something like, “We say to our Southern brethren, ‘We won’t go out of the union and you shan’t.’” At the end of the speech delegates surrounded him cheering, clapping pounding him on the back and pumping his hand.

It’s likely the speech was highly partisan. Lincoln made no effort to produce a version of the speech for publication as he did with many of his speeches. He may well have discouraged others from doing so. I suspect, having accomplished his goal, Lincoln did not lose the speech; he abandoned it. I believe Lincoln was aware, even then, of the importance of avoiding inflammatory language on the national stage.

Barely On The Agenda

On August 28, 1963, the one hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington, D. C. Planned by the head of the march, A. Philip Randolf, and organized by Bayard Rustin, the event coordinated efforts by six civil rights organizations, labor and religious groups, singers and artists. Between 200,000 and 300,000 protestors attended. There were speeches by leaders of the various sponsoring groups, and a speech written by James Baldwin was read by actor Charlton Heston. Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Josh White, and Peter, Paul and Mary performed songs.

Late in the afternoon as the event was winding down, Martin Luther King, Jr. rose at the not-quite-prime time he had been allotted by the better-known organizers and gave a seventeen minute speech he had carefully written out before. His remarks were scheduled sixteenth out of eighteen events on the day’s schedule. He was to be followed by a pledge by the organizer, A. Philip Randolf, and the benediction. King softened some of the earlier rhetoric by arguing against protest degenerating into violence.

And then…

According to what may be a modern legend, Mahalia Jackson, called out, “Tell them about your dream, Martin.”

Without notes, speaking on themes he had used many times before, King delivered an eloquent oration incorporating the American Dream and scriptural reference beginning, “I have a dream.”

King took the risk of speaking from his heart on an occasion when little was expected from him. He went from one of the civil rights leaders in the United States to the preeminent civil rights leader. He gave voice to generations of oppressed and provided a vocabulary for all human rights for all time.

Lincoln and King each seized a moment when little was expected from him to capture and ignite the hearts and souls of an audience, thereby creating an immediate stir and, more importantly, setting up future opportunities that each man would use on the way to becoming a major influence in determining the direction of American history.

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A big thanks to Warren Bull. He'll give away a signed paperback copy of Murder Manhattan Style to someone who contributes a comment on my blog this week. I'll choose the winner from among those who comment by Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Delivery is available within the U.S. only.

 

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Comments

[Marja McGraw]

Warren, I'm so glad I stopped in. Your post was stirring and you presented these two men so well. Thank you!

[Liz]

Fascinating article. I'd like to think some reporter's descendant will find the "lost" speech while sorting through accumulated clobber.

[Suzanne Adair]

Marja, thanks for popping in. I know how busy you are. I, too, felt inspired after reading Warren's post. And how delightful to learn another nugget about both men. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be included in conversation with Abe or Martin? (I got to meet Coretta Scott King many years ago. She was magnificent.)

[Suzanne Adair]

Howdy, Liz! We can only hope that will happen, eh? And who knows, but maybe it's in a crate in someone's dusty attic!

[Warren Bull]

Thanks, Suzanne for letting me blog today. You have the most interesting information about history on Relevant History.

[Suzanne Adair]

You're welcome, Warren. Yes, we try to post here about the fun stuff that got omitted from History class.

[Tracy Smith]

Even all these years later, I still get goosebumps from hearing the eloquence in King's speech and, I suspect, I probably would have as well if I had been able to hear Lincoln's.

[Jake]

Thank you for introducing me to an author whose subject has always been a favorite. Yes, I majored in history & political science. Warren your presentation here leads me to add your writings on TBR list. Many thanks for time you took sharing knowledge. Today was perfect time. Would be pleased to receive your book & review.

[Suzanne Adair]

Tracy, me, too!

[Suzanne Adair]

Thanks for stopping by, Jake. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. This was Warren's third guest post here. Click on "Relevant History" in the Categories section of the sidebar and browse the entries. Have fun!

[Norma Huss]

That's an inspiring story. It's a wonderment, isn't it, how the two were able to take advantage of the moment, probably because they were well prepared to do so.

[Linda Rodriguez]

Great post, Warren! And I think the parallels between these two men were massive, not the least of which being that both were consummate politicians. And Jake, you will love Warren's books!

[Gloria Alden]

What a perfect and very interesting blog for MLK Day and President Obama's 2nd inauguration, Warren. I'd never heard that story about Abraham Lincoln before, and had forgotten Martin Luther King was to speak so late.

[Judy Dee]

I saw the Lincoln movie ads and I got to thinking I really don't know much about the man whose birthday we've celebrated almost 70 times in my life. So then I watched a 3 parts of a 7-part PBS special on Abe and Mary. But I still want to know more about him and MLK Jr. Love these history posts too.

[Suzanne Adair]

Norma, it's also a lesson to us -- not just about being prepared, but having the courage to take that leap when the rare opportunity appears. Thanks for visiting.

[Suzanne Adair]

Linda, I joke about reincarnated politicians all the time. :-) Thanks for commenting!

[Suzanne Adair]

I'm so glad people tuned in to Warren's post today, Gloria, with so much else going on. The Abe Lincoln story was a new one to me, too.

[Suzanne Adair]

Judy, from time to time, even biographers get surprised by new tidbits about their subjects. That's the wonderful thing about history. It's vast, and there's always a new discovery to be made.

[Warren Bull]

Both Lincoln and King provided a great deal of the vocabulary we use in our political discussions.

[Suzanne Adair]

Warren, please give us examples of this vocabulary.

[Warren Bull]

Lincoln's "house divided" speech and King's "I might not get to the promised land with you." both applied scripture to the political moment of their time. Each man had the ability to present arguments for change in words that reflected basic American values.
For example, Lincoln often used the words of the preamble to the constitution, "All men are created equal" to argue that legal equality should apply to all races.

[Suzanne Adair]

Fascinating, Warren! I admit to mostly tuning out the speeches of politicians lately as extra noise. Who in the current political scene embodies these concepts in speeches?

[Marilyn E. Rothstein aka: M. E. kemp]

I remember smiling and waving to a black man who was driving round and just honking the horn in joy at the first election of Barack Obama as president. Now isn't it nice to reflect that Obama is reelected with almost no notice of his being a 'black' man? And there's more comment on Michelle's bangs???

[Suzanne Adair]

Don't forget her red dress, Marilyn. :-)