The other day the state party sent out an email commemorating Lincoln’s birthday:
Well, yeah, I agree we would all do well to reflect on Lincoln’s legacy, but don’t start with this letter. It appears to be designed to display the Lincoln quote, but Mr. Milligan did not read or understand the speech in which Lincoln uttered the words. If he had just read the paragraph the quote is from, he’d have known that Lincoln was not an abolitionist. And the president alone is sworn to uphold the Constitution? What?
It gets worse. Here’s something the Massachusetts Republican Party put out on Facebook on Saturday:
What does this even mean? That Republican senators who voted Trump guilty (as he was, acknowledged by none other than Mitch McConnell) are overthrowing the Constitution?
Lincoln’s actual quote had nothing to do with anything like this. Lincoln spoke the words near the end of a two-plus hours Speech at Cincinnati on September 17, 1859. He was reiterating his oft stated position that the Republicans should not interfere with slavery in the states where it existed because the Constitution protected it. But the party should do all in its power to prevent the spread of slavery, to resist attempts to revive the African slave trade, and to keep Congress from passing a territorial slave code. “We must prevent each of these things being done by either Congresses or courts. The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts (Applause) not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert that constitution. (Applause.)” Here’s the entire paragraph:
I say that we must not interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists, because the constitution forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so. We must not withhold an efficient fugitive slave law because the constitution requires us, as I understand it, not to withhold such a law. But we must prevent the outspreading of the institution, because neither the constitution nor general welfare requires us to extent it. We must prevent the revival of the African slave trade and the enacting by Congress of a territorial slave code. We must prevent each of these things being done by either Congresses or courts. The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts (Applause) not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert that constitution. (Applause.)
Lincoln then said this: “To do these things we must employ instrumentalities. We must hold conventions; we must adopt platforms if we conform to ordinary custom; we must nominate candidates, and we must carry elections.” Nothing about Buchanan stole the last election, come to Washington it will be wild, or stand down and stand by.
Lincoln took up a lot of time at Cincinnati refuting Stephen Douglas. There’s logic in it and a lot of humor. He really goes after Douglas and it’s a fun read. But Lincoln also wanted to help tamp down the political project of Ohio’s Salmon Chase. Lincoln was afraid that Chase would push for a plank in the 1860 Republican Platform to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law. That would throw the election to the Democrats.
I mentioned some of this on Twitter on Saturday. That upset the GOP’s Anthony Amore, apparently because I shouldn’t be reading the party’s public email blasts, not because his party knows nothing about Lincoln. He mustn’t have thought it worthy of bringing to the party leadership’s attention, because they later put the above bit of idiocy on Facebook.
Mr. Amore seems much sharper to me than many state Republicans, so I was disappointed that he did not see the irony here. Lincoln gave his life for his country in a fight against violent white supremacy, underwritten by oligarchs who wanted to maintain their power and consign most Americans to the mudsill. See where I’m going with this?
I don’t expect everyone to run out and read the Speech at Cincinnati. It’s a big luxury (and part of my job that I like) that I get to do so. But this level of anti-intellectualism and just pure celebration of ignorance is discouraging and dangerous. The Party of Lincoln is no more. It is the Party of Trump.