Abraham Lincoln and the First-Person Plural

The 2009 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth brought forth an outpouring of fresh studies of the man and his times. The new scholarship largely affirmed the longstanding consensus about the sixteenth president and his greatness. His was an almost superhuman achievement in holding the Union together, emancipating the slaves, and ultimately leading the North to victory. This study offers a novel evaluation of one key element of Lincoln's leadership. It details how Lincoln frequently and surprisingly substituted “we” for “I” in his famous addresses, as no political leader had done before him, and explores how his preference for the plural over singular first-person pronoun enabled his political ascendency in the 1850s and sustained his presidency during the war. His syntax offers a linguistic window into understanding his timely, unique, and uniquely self-conscious, style of leadership. Although not exactly a man of letters, Lincoln proved to be a great leader in large measure because of his steadfast beliefs about a union and an inclusive vision of American nationhood so powerfully expressed in his exceptional use of the first-person plural

Art · Greatness · Linguistics · Literature · Plural · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Scholarship · Victory · Classics · Cultural, Psychoanalytic, and Sociopolitical Reflections · Education, Leadership, and Health Research · History · Law · Military, Security, and Education Studies · Philosophy

• On Lincoln’s “Pragmatism”

  John E Sexton•American Political Thought•2013

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• Me, myself and I

  Open Access•Robin T Pettitt•British Politics•2012

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• Abraham Lincoln and the Movies

  Melvyn Stokes•American Nineteenth Century History•2011

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• The political culture of the American Whigs

  Daniel Walker Howe•The political culture of the…•1979

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• The Politics

  Aristotle Aristotle, Carnes Lord•Politics•1984

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• We-intentions

  Open Access•Raimo Tuomela, Kaarlo Miller•Philosophical Studies•1988

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• The Theory of Moral Sentiments

  Adam Smith, D D Raphael et al.•The Glasgow Edition of the Works…•1759

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• Our Character is Our Fate

  Peter S Field•American Nineteenth Century History•2010

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• Lincoln and His Party in the Secession Crisis

  Kenneth M Stampp, David M Potter•The Mississippi Valley Historical…•1942

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• Writings of John Quincy Adams

  J A James, Worthington Chauncey Ford•The Mississippi Valley Historical…•1915

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• We Will Do It

  Raimo Tuomela•Philosophy and Phenomenological…•1991

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• Lincoln and Black Freedom

  George M Fredrickson, Lawanda Cox•The Journal of Southern History•1982

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• Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln

  Matthew Pinsker, Don E Fehrenbacher et al.•The Journal of Southern History•1998

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• North over South

  Jean H Baker, Stephanie M Grant et al.•The Journal of Southern History•2002

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• Making the American Self

  Barry Alan Shain, Daniel Walker Howe•Journal of American History•1998

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• Making the American self

  Open Access•Norma Basch•Journal of the History of the…•1998

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