Lincoln In American Memory by Merrill D. Peterson Essay -- Book Review

O Captain My Captain Our fearful trip is through with(p) The ship has weatherd every rack, the prize we sought is won The ship is anchord safe and sound, its voyage closed and done From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won Walt Whitmans description of a ship weathering a powerful storm, and returning safe with its mission complete, perfectly illustrates the United States enduring the divisions of the Civil War. This poem is one of many commemorations to the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Merrill D. Peterson, author of Lincoln in American Memory, examines an interesting variety of sources, including statues and prints made of Lincoln over the years in supplement to the numerous biographies written, and attributes three prominent images to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln Savior of the Union, the Great Emancipator, and the Self-made Man. From the moment Lincoln died on Saturday, April 15, 1865, these images have developed in the wagon an d minds of the American public, withstood the test of time, and still remain to this day (Peterson 1).The day had been Good Friday on the Christian calendar when the commander in chief had been shot, and immediately his correlativity to the life of Jesus Christ as an American martyr began (Peterson 1)Both were born in forlorn hovels. Both Joseph and Thomas their fathers were simple carpenters. Both were humble, kind, sorrowful, and kind of their fellow man. Both spoke in parables. Both were sent to fulfill divine missions and preceded by prophets who were executed John the Baptist and John Brown. On Palm sunshine Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem, Lincoln to (or from) Richmond one had his Last Supper, the other his last cabinet meeting (Peterson... ...With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the action an d for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. (Faragher 477)The nation would eventually reunify and forevermore commit to memory the images of Lincoln as Savior of the Union, the Great Emancipator, and the Self-made Man.Works CitedBasler, Roy P. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5. Abraham Lincoln Association. 27 Feb. 2004 Faragher, John Mack, et al. out(a) of Many A History of the American People. New Jersey Prentice, 2000.Peterson, Merrill D. . Lincoln in American Memory. New York Oxford University Press, 1994.