From Scoop # 50 August 29, 2007
 

Scoop Visits Lincoln's Springfield
by Rick Sense

During the month of August my family and I had the great opportunity to explore the life of Abraham Lincoln. We piled into the minivan and headed to Springfield, Illinois, the adopted home of our nation’s 16th president. Lincoln moved to Springfield in 1837, the same year Springfield became the capital city of Illinois. At the time Springfield was a city of less than 2,500 people. It was not uncommon to see livestock wonder through the streets.

By the time Lincoln left in 1861 to start his presidency, Springfield had grown threefold and was fast becoming one of Illinois’ leading cities. In his farewell address to the citizens of Springfield a prophetic Lincoln talked about the Springfield that was near and dear to him. “To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything…here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young man to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return.” Four short years Lincoln did return, only to be buried in the city he loved.

Springfield is home to almost all things Lincoln. One can stop by the First Presbyterian Church and see the actual church pew rented by the Lincoln family and see where Abraham Lincoln sat on Sunday mornings to worship. (At that time, pew rentals covered most church expenses instead of today’s offering plate.)

A short walk later one can stop and tour the building where he practiced law and across the same square, tour the old state capitol building where Lincoln served in the Illinois House of Representatives between 1834 and 1842.

Literally down the street, a few short blocks away, is the Lincolns’ home. As part of the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Lincoln Home is open to tourists still today. Nestled in an 1850s neighborhood, the Lincoln Home is worth the stop. As one tours the home, one can use the same handrail that Lincoln did when heading up stairs to his bedroom, and one can view the desk where Lincoln wrote his “House Divided” speech.

Lincoln’s life has grown larger over the years and part of this growth led to the construction of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. About 6 blocks from the Lincoln Home, the new Lincoln landmark opened in the City of Springfield in April of 2005. Here the creators of the complex (Dr. Richard Norton Smith the first Executive Director of the facility is interviewed in this edition of the Scoop) have created one of the most compelling tellings of the story that is the life of Abraham Lincoln.

The museum divides Lincoln’s life into two journeys. The first, which starts on the left side of the museum, tells the life story of Abe Lincoln from his humble beginnings in Kentucky until the presidential election of 1860. In this ‘journey’ one discovers through dioramas, (which include life-like mannequins making the audio-animatronics at Walt Disney World pale by comparison), the highlights and low points of Lincoln’s life. Particularly disturbing was the diorama depicting Lincoln’s witnessing of his first slave auction in New Orleans. In stark contrast to this, the scene where Lincoln is courting Mary Todd (his eventual wife) is quite realistic and captures the awkwardness of the moment very well-reminding me of how I felt when I met my future wife’s family for the first time. Throughout the museum I kept looking to see if Lincoln’s chest was moving as his lungs filled with air.

At the end of the first journey is a wonderful segment that is hosted by Meet The Press’ Tim Russert. In the segment, Russert reports on the presidential election of 1860 in today’s style. This “television” coverage of the 1860 election even includes television commercials issued by the four candidates seeking the presidency.

The second journey begins on the right side of the museum with a beautiful reproduction of the south portico of The White House. In this journey, which covers Lincoln’s presidency and death, one can see John Wilkes Booth, Generals McClellan and Grant, and Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass all waiting for the Lincoln family to return from standing for a family portrait near the museum’s entrance.

This journey is much darker and rather emotional compared to the first. One experiences the Lincolns’ pain at the loss of a child, the heavy weight of the war, and the constant attack by the media of the day. One of the more somber moments is when one looks in on Mary Todd Lincoln as she stares out a window at The White House during a rain storm. The rain reflecting off Mary Todd Lincoln’s face gives the appearance that tears are running down her cheeks as she rocks in her chair mourning the death of her son Willie.

Also in this area of the museum, a movie is shown that captures the loss of life during the struggle between North and South, using a map of the battlefields during the US Civil War. Each second of the movie represents one week of the war and in the bottom right corner one can see the casualties mount as the war progresses. In all, more than 1.3 million people died because of the war. In today’s numbers that would be equal to the entire population of Chicago’s metro area.

Lincoln’s life is one of great contrasts. Vilified during his life, glorified in death, Lincoln has grown beyond the man and into the American icon. Lincoln’s life is a great example of how people view someone in the present day and then how they view that person differently with the passage of time. In one of the areas of the museum political cartoons and statements about Lincoln appear evoking a subtle level of discomfort-most of the drawings depict Lincoln as an animal, savage or sub-human. Later in the museum a reproduction of Lincoln’s casket lying-in-state provides another, much stronger emotional, deeply human reaction to the man-almost a complete turnaround from the view of the day’s pundits and political cartoonists.

Long a personal hero to me, this tour of the Land of Lincoln impacted me more than I thought it would. This visit reminded me of the tragedy that was Abraham Lincoln. However, it also reminded me of Lincoln’s ability to persevere in life’s struggles no matter the obstacles and loss. Lincoln indeed suffered much. But because he stuck to his vision, he lifted our broken nation out of war and was able to transform the fight of state versus federal rights into a championing of human rights.