From fictional Victorian history to real history: Lincoln

On a bright winter morning, I surface from the imaginary world of Anne Perry's Victorian London and begin to ponder on real history. Recently, I've been creating posts on important political figures of the eighteenth and nineteenth century who helped make Canada what it is today. As individuals, we are all shaped by our past, and of course the same is true of nations.

I am fascinated by the individuals -- usually visionary and often personally troubled -- who make things happen in their lifetimes that cause long-lasting change after their deaths.

Recently, we saw the film Lincoln, and I was struck by how different were the circumstances of the passing of the Thirteenth amendment from my vague imaginings.

It was suggested in the film, and I believe the real history supports this idea, that Lincoln was the one man among his contemporaries who absolutely knew that slavery was wrong and had to end. He also felt a strong calling to take action to make this happen. To get the amendment passed before the window of opportunity closed, though, he had to use political bribery. To the disgust of some of his colleagues, pragmatism was the order of the day.

Amid the devastation of a civil war whose shadows still lie over his country, Lincoln achieved his goal of ending slavery through a constitutional amendment. By the time his purpose was accomplished, his family was alienated and his country wounded almost beyond bearing.

If we come to birth for a purpose, his was complete. Yet it seems bitter that after such enormous effort and sacrifice, he should die by an assassin's bullet shortly after his enormous achievement. It is also sad that did not live long enough to help heal the nation's wounds and reunify the country, a necessity that his successors proved incapable of understanding, let alone carrying out.