ABSTRACT
Abraham Lincoln visited the city of Richmond on April 4, 1865, just two days after Confederate forces evacuated. Though he was hated by most residents of the Confederate capital, he was treated as a near deity by others. The African American residents of Richmond who had been freed just the day before clamored to see him, and many sought to touch “Father Abraham” because it made their freedom feel real. Just days prior, General William Tecumseh Sherman met him personally for the only time, and later asserted, “Of all the men I have met, he seemed to possess more of the elements of greatness, combined with goodness, than any other” (Goodwin, 2005, p. 713). Lincoln would be assassinated a few days later, and his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton pronounced his entry into the pantheon of heroes: “Now he belongs to the Ages.” We propose that essential components of heroism and heroic actions are embedded in
meaning and virtue. That is, our central thesis is that heroes and heroic behavior are intertwined with virtue and with finding meaning or purpose in life. Abraham Lincoln is an archetypal hero. We argue that it was his singular commitment to the cause of reunifying north and south, and finding his life purpose in this cause, that sustained his efforts and forged a hero. Moreover, his virtuous character likely conferred additional meaning to him and elevated his actions to the heroic; his “greatness combined with goodness” was more properly greatness (heroism) created by goodness. Lincoln saw this supremely important goal of ending the Civil War and uniting north and south through in his lifetime, and indeed gave his life for it. He continually rallied and inspired others to his cause, such as in the Gettysburg Address:
It is for us, the living, rather to dedicate ourselves to the great task before us … that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
