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

O police top dog My Captain Our fearful trip is through with(p) The ship has weatherd every rack, the bread 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 numerous commemorations to the sixteenth part president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Merrill D. Peterson, author of Lincoln in American Memory, examines an enkindle variety of sources, including statues and prints made of Lincoln over the years in increment to the numerous biographies written, and attributes three prominent images to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln Savior of the Union, the peachy Emancipator, and the self-made Man. From the moment Lincoln died on Saturday, April 15, 1865, these images have develope d in the hearts and 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 correlation to the life of Jesus Christ as an American martyr began (Peterson 1)Both were born in forlorn hovels. Both Joseph and doubting Thomas their fathers were simple carpenters. Both were humble, kind, sorrowful, and loving of their fellow man. Both spoke in parables. Both were sent to fulfill divine missions and preceded by prophets who were executed lavatory the Baptist and washbowl Brown. On Palm Sunday Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem, Lincoln to (or from) capital of Virginia one had his Last Supper, the other his last cabinet meeting (Peterson... ...With hatred 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 accomplishment we are in, to bind up the nations wou nds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow woman and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a right and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. (Faragher 477)The nation would eventually reunify and ceaselessly 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 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.