A Prophetic Dream Reported by Abraham Lincoln

It is not my intention at this time to attempt any complete dynamic analysis of Abraham Lincoln's character. Others before me have made some attempts along this line, but their efforts were not very successful, probably for the reason that the attempts at reconstruction were not well formulated and because readers, especially those who have a sufficient curiosity about the life and doings of Abraham Lincoln and other prominent personalities out of American history, prefer to maintain their own illusions regarding their heroes, and verbalized or printed material that may in any way tend to destroy those illusions produces an immediate loss of interest or even a critical and hostile rejection of any proof of what they interpret as signs of weakness of character.

Most of us prefer to think of George Washington as the Father of Our Country, a great soldier and general and a man of unquestionable honesty. We read and remember his farewell address to his soldiers as an example of sound judgment and remarkable foresight. If some one suggests that this masterpiece of constructive thinking was a product of the brain and pen of Alexander Hamilton, we may listen but continue to remain unconvinced. In a like manner, we prefer to think of Andrew Jackson as a strong masculine character, who was a pioneer in the settlement, construction, and expansion of our Democracy, and to forget the fact that he was a moody, “hot tempered” man who killed several men in duels. Most Americans remember Benjamin Franklin as a great publisher, inventor, and diplomat, forgetting or caring not to know that both his enemies and his friends often referred to him as the “old whore master.”

At one time I had some ambitions toward making a careful study and an attempt at a reconstruction of Abraham Lincoln's character, but I very soon abandoned this fantasy because I felt that the task was too great and that probably there would be insufficient interest to warrant such an exhaustive study. Instead,