What Lincoln meant by invoking our 'better angels'

+ when history moves at a rapid pace – like now US Edition - Today's top story: Lincoln called for divided Americans to heed their 'better angels,' and politicians have invoked him ever since in crises − but for Abe, it was more than words [View in browser]( US Edition | 28 July 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Happy Sunday − and welcome to the best of The Conversation U.S. Here are a few of our recently published stories: • [Video game performers are becoming Hollywood stars in their own right – and are on strike to be paid and protected accordingly]( • [Kamala Harris is no Hubert Humphrey − how the presumed 2024 Democratic presidential nominee isn’t like the 1968 party candidate]( At this point, it’s a predictable pattern. Something awful happens in America – something that seems linked to how polarized and coarse our politics have become. Then come the calls for toning down the rhetoric, for civility – for “our better angels” to prevail. In U.S. politics, the idea of “better angels” is usually linked to Abraham Lincoln. He didn’t invent the phrase, but he used it in his first inaugural speech, when the country was at the tipping point of civil war. “We are not enemies, but friends,” he reminded the nation. “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” In the end, of course, the speech didn’t avert the war. But “the address [spoke volumes about Lincoln’s qualities as a leader](,” explains Donald Nieman, a historian at Binghamton University, in one of last week’s reader favorites. Before Lincoln could win the war, he had to bring together bitterly divided factions within his party. In fact, one of the president’s own rivals, William Henry Seward – whom Lincoln appointed secretary of state – came up with the idea of including “better angels” in the inaugural speech. Another set of eyes on a first draft never hurts – and sometimes it helps make history. Molly Jackson Religion and Ethics Editor Readers' picks [Lincoln called for divided Americans to heed their ‘better angels,’ and politicians have invoked him ever since in crises − but for Abe, it was more than words]( Donald Nieman, Binghamton University, State University of New York Keeping the United States together meant more than defeating the Confederacy. Lincoln first had to unite a fractured North. - [GOP attacks against Kamala Harris were already bad – they are about to get worse]( Stephen J. 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It did for notorious Alabama segregationist George Wallace]( Donald Nieman, Binghamton University, State University of New York An assassin’s bullet couldn’t knock George Wallace out of politics − but it made him seek redemption. Editors' picks [Sure, 2024 has had lots of news – but compared with 1940, 1968 or 1973, it’s nothing exceptional]( Philip Klinkner, Hamilton College You think 2024 has been packed with a ceaseless and exhausting stream of consequential events? 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