Long before Abraham Lincoln became president, he was already living in a country increasingly shaped by mob violence. The murders of Francies McIntosh in St. louis and Elijah P. Lovejoy in Alton, Illinois were familiar to him. They unfolded within the world in which he lived, traveled, and practiced law.
What Lincoln understood was that mob violence endangered more than individual lives. It threatened the idea that laws themselves mattered. That concern appears clearly in the Lyceum Address, where Lincoln warned that a nation could not survive if people increasingly placed anger, vengeance, and passion above legal institutions.
His response to these events is part of what makes the speech so important. Lincoln did not answer violence with calls for more fury or retaliation. Instead, he feared the gradual breakdown of respect for law itself. That belief became one of the foundations of his political thinking.
In writing my novel, this matters because the events surrounding Lovejoy’s death are not simply background history. They form part of the atmosphere that helped shape Lincoln himself. The violence in Alton was one example of a larger pattern that he already recognized as dangerous to the country’s future.
While studying Lincoln, I became aware of how deeply concerned he was with the fragile nature of civilization and the difficulty of holding a dived nation together.
Current projects (I admit to falling behind due to gardening):
My book: continuing to revise chapter 10
Edward Bryant: continuing to review stories for future publication
History often reveals character most clearly during moments of fear, instability, and public anger.
Thanks for reading and walking alongside me.
The View From The Imaginarium 