The Lincoln Mythology

What is one to do when one Institution in American life hurls itself against another Institution? Why, naturally, look the other way.

Among our cherished Institutions, Abraham Lincoln ranks near the top. He remains, in supereminent degree, what Mencken called Woodrow Wilson—the American solar myth. No matter what happens, Lincoln grows. The current “celebration” of the Civil War has caused a flare-up of “good-old-days” enthusiasm, and a spasm of reaction against this carnival in honor of a holocaust. But both those who fire toy guns at Antietam and those who engage in fastidious dissection of those who fire toy guns at Antietam; both those who take the side of the North, and those who feel a romance of the South; even those who are uncommitted in every other matter—all these men are committed to the view that Abraham Lincoln was what America should be.

GW

About the Author

Garry Wills

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What is one to do when one Institution in American life hurls itself against another Institution? Why, naturally, look the other way.

Among our cherished Institutions, Abraham Lincoln ranks near the top. He remains, in supereminent degree, what Mencken called Woodrow Wilson—the American solar myth. No matter what happens, Lincoln grows. The current “celebration” of the Civil War has caused a flare-up of “good-old-days” enthusiasm, and a spasm of reaction against this carnival in honor of a holocaust. But both those who fire toy guns at Antietam and those who engage in fastidious dissection of those who fire toy guns at Antietam; both those who take the side of the North, and those who feel a romance of the South; even those who are uncommitted in every other matter—all these men are committed to the view that Abraham Lincoln was what America should be.