Extra Credit Questions

[Rob Wick]

Evidently, the affiant sayeth more.

Quote:One might argue that but for this particular accomplishment of persuasion by Lincoln's stepmother, history would have been quite different.

Or not. One could easily argue that when Lincoln came of age, even if the family had stayed in Spencer County, he would have left the farm and moved somewhere else. The fact that he went to Decatur was tangential to the fact that he made a speech there, a speech, it should be noted, that has no strong provenance. Its only source is John Hanks, who also claimed that when Lincoln was in New Orleans he said he would hit slavery hard. Of course, John Hanks wasn't in New Orleans at that time. Neither Ida Tarbell nor Albert Beveridge even mentions the speech, although William E. Barton does briefly. Even if Lincoln made the speech, so what? He could have easily made a speech in Gentryville or any other town in Indiana or Illinois. The speech, if it happened, just happened to be made in Decatur.

Quote:The point of this argument is that if a single necessary link in the chain of events of history does not occur, then the chain is broken and, quite possibly, there is no President Abraham Lincoln written about in any of the history books.

Nonsense. Just because one path is closed off doesn't mean another wouldn't open and would lead to the same result. As Roger pointed out, if being kicked in the head by a horse had led to a traumatic brain injury, THAT would have changed the path of history. Moving to another state and being elected captain during the Black Hawk War led to what we know happened, but it doesn't pass the "but for" test. "But for those events, Lincoln's life would (or would not) have taken the path it did."

You provide no evidence that Lincoln wouldn't have become a lawyer had he not volunteered for the war, besides Burlingame's opinion of the influence of John T. Stuart. One could easily argue the opposite. Lincoln's interest in the law came about when he was in Indiana, thanks to the loan of an Indiana Statutes book from David Turnham and being around Judge John Pitcher. Had he not had the initial interest, which came from them, meeting Stuart would have accomplished nothing since it is impossible to know if he would have then decided to study law.

The fact of the matter is most of our lives are ruled by chance. The mere fact that something does or doesn't happen rarely means a life would either be different or the same. Given Lincoln's deep interest in speaking, studying, and reading he could have lived in any state of the union and became what he did. To be sure, all the events of a person's life play a role in who they become, but to say that the only way Lincoln became who he was is due to one path and one path only is absurd.

Best
Rob