Sold – Herndon’s Revelations on Lincoln’s Religion: A Primary Historical Source

William H. Herndon was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1844, and late that year formed a partnership with Abraham Lincoln in Springfield.  They practiced for 17 years together, and no one knew Lincoln better. Just before he left Springfield to become President, Lincoln told Herndon, “If I live I’m coming back some time, and then we’ll go right on practising law as if nothing had ever happened.” In fact, their partnership was not officially dissolved until Lincoln’s death in 1865. After Lincoln’s martyrdom, many turned to Herndon for information about Lincoln’s life and personal beliefs. He began gathering reminiscences from those who had known Lincoln, and using these and his own recollections, he published a three-volume biography of Lincoln which in many ways is still the fullest account of his pre-presidential years.

One of the greatest sources of interest, and greatest of controversies, concerns the nature of Lincoln’s religious faith (or lack thereof). His beliefs in this regard are crucial in that, being of his essence, they surely had some impact on his leadership and his writings during the Civil War. Moreover, they also matter to adherents and opponents of religion alike, who hope to find in Lincoln a supporter of their own opinions. The question is considered of such account that a book was written on the subject as recently as 2008. Lincoln didn’t talk much about religion, even with his best friends (his friend Judge David Davis and his son Robert Todd Lincoln told Herndon that the President had never been known to discuss the subject), and he never belonged to any church. But occasionally before assuming office as president, he would give glimpses of his beliefs, or confide them to Herndon, who later reported that Lincoln was a skeptic and not a follower of religion. These few remarks to Herndon form much of the basis of what we know of Lincoln’s pre-presidential beliefs. As Herndon researched his book, a handfull of other opinions surfaced. Lincoln friends Isaac Cogdal and Jesse Fell told him that Lincoln’s religion was a form of deism or universalism, while a few men claimed to recall him as always a good Christian. Certainly, the statements about God that Lincoln the President made in his speeches are the main indications we have of his later thoughts on religion, though to a degree the utterances politicians make in public speeches do not always mirror their private thoughts. Lincoln’s 1864 acquaintence Francis Carpenter and old friend Joshua Speed insisted that Lincoln underwent some form of Christian revelation while president. Thus, the challenge is to determine his earlier beliefs, and then whether he changed in these opinions after taking office (or whether the references to God in his presidential speeches do not reflect his theology, but his need to explain the inexplicable carnage of war in terms people could understand). The paucity of original sources makes these questions eternally relevant.

The following 3 page Autograph Letter Signed, written by Herndon, Springfield, Ill., February 4, 1866, to Edward McPherson, Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, must be considered a very rare if not unique primary source on the question of Lincoln’s religion. “Your kind note dated the 29th inst. is this moment handed to me and for which I thank you. I sent you my 2nd lecture because some of your friends have wished me to; they wanted the 1st one, but I did not have it. I did not make out the abstracts – reports of any one of my lectures. I have delivered the 3rd one. I thank you for your appreciation of the lectures. The condensed reports are timid. If I ever get time I will write out fully and publish. Mr. Lincoln’s religion is too well known to me to allow of even a shadow of a doubt; he is or was a Theist & a Rationalist, denying all extraordinary – supernatural inspiration or revelation. At one time in his life, to say the least, he was an elevated Pantheist, doubting the immortality of the soul as the Christian world understands that term. He believed that the soul lost its identity and was immortal as a force. Subsequent to this he rose to the belief of a God, and this is all the change he ever underwent. I speak knowing what I say. He was a noble men- a good great man for all this. My own ideas of God- his attributes – man, his destiny, & the relations of the two, are tinged with Mr. Lincoln’s religion. I cannot, for the poor life of me, see why men dodge the sacred truth of things. In my poor lectures I stick to the truth and bide my time. I love Mr. Lincoln dearly, almost worship him, but that can’t blind me. He’s the purest politician I ever saw, and the justest man. I am scribbling- that’s the word- away on a life of Mr. Lincoln- gathering known- authentic & true facts of him. Excuse the liberties I have taken with you- hope you won’t have a fight with Johnson. Is he turning out a fool – a Tyler? He must go with God if he wants to be a living and vital power.”  

Herndon thus testifies that Lincoln never believed in revealed or supernatural religion, either prior to or while in office, but did come to recognize a creating force. However, as the war dragged on, Lincoln’s speeches (such as his invocation of God in the 2nd Inaugural Address) imply that the creator may have a plan for human affairs. Though seemingly different, these views may not be irreconcilable. Lincoln may well have ended up believing that there was some overruling providence whose work he was in, without coming to define this guiding hand in terms of the tenets of any established faith.  It is fascinating that, in addition to shedding light on Lincoln’s beliefs, Herndon in this letter describes his former partner as the consummate politician, yet the fairest man. This is reminiscent of his famous statement that Lincoln’s ambition was a “little engine that knew no rest.” Of additional interest is Herndon’s characterization of Andrew Johnson as a fool and another John Tyler. This fascinating letter is the only primary source on Lincoln’s religion we have seen on the market.