Lincoln: Reformer or Revolutionary? An Analysis of Lincoln\u27s Legacy as Compared to the Political Ideals of the Amerian Revolution

Despite the fact that his greatest legacies departed from American traditions, Abraham Lincoln coveted the political ideals espoused by the Founding Fathers. As president, Lincoln inherited the unprecedented challenges that resulted from decades of politicians tabling the insoluble problem of slavery. He operated within the realms of constitutionally allocated authority to meet those challenges. Where the Constitution provided no direction, Lincoln developed solutions that more closely resembled the political philosophies of the American Revolution than any of his political opponents\u27 alternative solutions. The unprecedented circumstances he faced not only enabled Lincoln to reconcile the right to freedom as described in the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution, but they also made such reconciliation necessary. Lincoln\u27s efforts to secure freedom for all American citizens with that amendment epitomize one of the firmest movements forward in American civil rights history. His successors\u27 efforts to do the same for the right to equality fell short of that success. Although noble in purpose, the Fourteenth Amendment failed to achieve its intended purpose and inadvertently altered the American political system from the Union Lincoln strove to preserve. The unintended effects of the Fourteenth Amendment marked a strong departure from the political philosophies of Abraham Lincoln and of the Founding Fathers