would not be a slave,
not be master, my idea
of democracy
Abraham Lincoln is one of those people whose every written word and every public utterance has become almost sacred.
His Presidential papers were donated, by his son Robert, to the Library of Congress.
In the description to the collection at the Library of Congress, we read:
The papers of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer, representative from Illinois, and sixteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 40,550 documents dating from 1774 to 1948, although most of the collection spans from the 1850s through Lincoln’s presidency (1861-1865).
Among those 40,550 documents is a scrap of paper with some words in the handwriting style of Mr. Lincoln.
It says:
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
This expresses my idea of democracy.
Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is not democracy.
As one writer says of this scrap of paper, The provenance of the tantalizing document is questionable, as is the date, although the editors of his collected work conjectured that he wrote it on August 1, 1858.
The provenance of the tantalizing document is questionable yet the words on the scrap of paper were included by Aaron Copeland in his Lincoln Portrait.
If you search Aaron Copland and Lincoln Portrait on You Tube you can here the words of Mr. Lincoln read by:
and even
Aaron Copeland himself.
Anyone of you should give yourself a present on this 214 anniversary of Mr. Lincoln’s Birthday and listen to any of these version on this February twelfth.
My favorite is the one I embedded in this post with narration by Henry Fonda.
It is my favorite for two reasons.
One, with Mr. Fonda playing Young Abe Lincoln and with the midwestern twang, I feel this is kinda close to what you would have got with Mr. Lincoln.
The second is that it is the first version I ever heard when I heard it on a record I checked out of the Grand Rapids Public Library.
The list of recorded narrators is really quite impressive as it allows anyone who can read a chance to record with a symphony orchestra.
The list includes, Barack Obama, Margaret Thatcher and Willie Stargell.
Still, the narrators read the words written by Mr. Lincoln.
It is good to note that while the settings and music provided this piece were in no way imaginable by Mr. Lincoln, it all seems altogether fitting and proper that they appear together.
Mr. Copeland himself liked to tell the story that a performance of the Lincoln Portrait in Venezuela was credited with sparking the popular uprising that led to his removal from power.
Mr. Copeland related that “On that evening Juana Sujo was the fiery narrator who performed the spoken-word parts of the piece. When she spoke the final words, “… that government of the people, by the people, for the people (el gobierno del pueblo, por el pueblo y para el pueblo) shall not perish from the earth,” the audience rose and began cheering and shouting so loudly that Copland could not hear the remainder of the music. Copland continued, “It was not long after that the dictator was deposed and fled from the country. I was later told by an American foreign service officer that the Lincoln Portrait was credited with having inspired the first public demonstration against him. That, in effect, it had started a revolution.“
It should also be noted that because of his leftist views Copland was blacklisted and Lincoln Portrait withdrawn from the 1953 inaugural concert for President Eisenhower.
Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln!
