The Moral Vision
Accepting Defeat
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ACCEPTING DEFEAT
In 1831, an American citizen went into business. In
1832 his business failed, so he entered the field of
politics, but was no more successful in that sphere.
He reverted to business in 1834, and was again a
failure.
In 1841, he had a nervous breakdown. Once
recovered, he again entered the political arena, in
the hope that his party would nominate him as a
candidate for Congress. His hopes were dashed,
however, when his name failed to appear in the list
of candidates. The first chance he had to run for the
Senate was in 1855, but he was defeated in the
election. In 1858, he once again stood in the
congressional elections, and once again lost.
The name of this repeatedly unsuccessful person
was Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). So great were his
services to his country that he is now known as the
architect of modern America.
How did Abraham Lincoln manage to gain such a
great reputation in American political and national
history? How did he win his way to such a high
