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

Lincoln’s words and legacy are often invoked by U.S. politicians in times of crisis. Marc Dozier/The Image Bank via Getty Images by Donald Nieman, Binghamton University, State University of New York Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, community leaders, clergy and politicians including President Joe Biden have called on Americans to tone down white-hot political rhetoric. Some have invoked the words of one figure in particular: Abraham Lincoln. As a scholar who has written about how American politics became so deeply polarized and teaches a course on Lincoln, I’m not surprised. Lincoln eluded an assassination plot as he traveled to Washington to assume the presidency in 1861, and he took the oath of office when the nation was even more deeply divided than today. As president, he brought a bitterly divided North together to wage a protracted, costly war that saved the Union. What’s more, his ability to make prose poetic resonates across the centuries – making him the obvious source for politicians and pundits looking for emotive language in times of crisis. Few of Lincoln’s aphorisms have been quoted more than his appeal to “the better angels of our nature” in his 1861 inaugural address. Liberals, conservatives and...