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The Daily Signal
Winston
Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and the Fragility of Freedom
Justin D. Lyons
June 08, 2015
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston
Churchill and the 150th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln—two men whose lives and achievements shed light on the
fragility of freedom and the statesmanship necessary to preserve it.
As noted in my recent essay, “Champion of Liberty: Winston Churchill
and His Message to America,” both were leaders of democracies in
wartime and had to make the case their causes were worth fighting for,
resistance was both sensible and praiseworthy, and citizens should
prefer struggle and sacrifice over capitulation. Both men connected the
life of their regimes compellingly to a noble cause.
In fact, Churchill believed himself to have much in common with
Lincoln, specifically regarding their common belief in the sovereignty
of the people and the necessity of defending freedom courageously in a
world often hostile to popular governments.
Speaking before a joint session of Congress in late December 1941,
Churchill proclaimed a unity of political faith: “ … I have been in
full harmony all my life with the tides which have flowed on both sides
of the Atlantic against privilege and monopoly, and I have steered
confidently towards the Gettysburg ideal of ‘government of the people
by the people for the people.’ In my country, as in yours, public men
are proud to be the servants of the State and would be ashamed to be
its masters.”
That central idea of the sovereignty of the people was the centerpiece
of Churchill’s appeals to America. Throughout a lifetime of interaction
with the United States, Churchill wished always to dwell on the
essential political harmony of the two nations because he knew that
common action was made possible only through common purpose sprung from
common principle.
Lincoln saw the American Civil War as a test to determine whether a
nation dedicated to equality and justice could endure. Churchill saw
the Second World War as a test to determine whether a free people could
marshal the material and moral resources for victory in a contest with
tyranny—a struggle not only for themselves, but also for all who
aspired to freedom.
Churchill’s wartime rhetoric braced the people of Britain for the
struggle ahead by reminding them their sacrifices served the cause of
freedom. By referencing Lincoln, Churchill extended that appeal to the
United States, seeking to call forth that historic devotion to action
in the name of freedom that always had been the hallmark of the
American spirit. Churchill understood nations devoted to liberty must
stand up boldly for it.
At the core of Churchill’s statesmanship was his unceasing call to the
world to adopt just political principles, especially those that are the
legacies of the Anglo–American political tradition. In this way, the
Anglo-American political faith was both a fighting faith and a
ministering faith: Tyrannized peoples must be encouraged to adopt the
principles of political freedom themselves. It was the duty and the
privilege of the English-speaking peoples to convey that political
message to the world.
As Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg, he reminded his audience that the work
of freedom was not yet finished, and yet more sacrifice would be
required. Churchill’s rhetoric also emboldened his listeners to face
war and danger and death rather than see the lights of freedom die.
This is the essence of the message of these two statesmen: The
conditions of freedom do not simply occur, and they do not simply
persist. Humanity must fight to establish them, struggle to maintain
them and sacrifice to defend them. This message is no less true today
that it was in 1863 or 1941.
Read this and other articles at The Daily Signal
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