Father Abraham

This chapter examines the elevation of Abraham Lincoln from president to spiritual hero of the Republic, one whom the spiritualists regarded as the embodiment of the spirit of the Union cause. In particular, it considers how the vast majority of active spiritualists came to see Lincoln and his policies as a medium-like conduit to the stated values of the departed founders and a prophet of the nation's future survival. The chapter begins with a discussion of Lincoln's spiritualist proclivities, including his belief that unseen forces shaped our individual destinies, as well as the Lincolns' involvement at the edges of spiritualism in Washington, D.C. It then explores how Lincoln's peculiar leadership as president eased individual spiritualist misgivings about the Civil War and the value of the Union, along with spiritualist' campaigning for Lincoln's reelection in 1864 that also saw the triumph of the Radicals. The chapter concludes with an assessment of Lincoln's assassination in 1865 and his administration's legacy that included the logical possibility of a Radical Republicanism.