Civil War period
Slavery and freedom
Biblical texts were a source of symbols in relation to Moses and freedom from
slavery. According to the ''Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition'', Moses
has become "a symbol of freedom and abolition for the ages. . . . and remains,
from antiquity to the present, a symbol or archetype of the liberator from
slavery and champion of freedom."(Hinks) Theologian John M. Shackleford
also notes the spiritual values later created as a result of slavery:
"The period of slavery in Egypt is one of the greatest symbols (in later periods)
for slavery to sin. This is one of the many examples of how a physical reality
becomes the symbol for a spiritual image. We can certainly identify with the
Israelites wandering in the desert. It symbolizes our own travels through life. . . "(Shackleford) These beliefs would
have a dramatic effect on the fight to end slavery in the years to follow, culminating in the American Civil War.
Political historian Graham Maddox explains how the "Moses story" gained such influence in America:
The religion of Israel induced a radical change in human understanding. From the surge of new thinking
about God flowed everything else - including political, material and intellectual culture. In ancient Jewish
religion God assumed a novel role: the liberator of slaves.(Maddox)
Historian Gladys L. Knight describes how leaders who emerged during slavery time and after often personified the
Moses symbol. "The symbol of Moses was empowering in that it served to amplify a need for freedom."(Knight)
Among the heroes of the antislavery movement was Harriet Tubman (1822-1913), an African-American woman who
became known as "A Moses of her people." While helping slaves escape, she told them to wait until they heard her
sing a song then forbidden to slaves, "Go Down Moses," which meant the coast was clear.
The call of "Let my people go!" would later become a theme of the American civil rights movement. Other early black
activists who were later referred to as a "Moses of their people" included publisher Marcus Garvey (Cronon) and
educator Booker T. Washington. A friend of Washington approached him after after an address and offered his
opinion: "I believed then, and I know now, that you are our Moses destined to lead our race out of the difficulties and
dangers which beset our pathway and surround us on all sides."(Moses)
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was America's 16th president and was assassinated in 1865 after successfully
leading the country through the American Civil War, which ended slavery while still preserving the union. Historian A.
E. Elmore notes that Lincoln's writings were influenced by the Bible,(Elmore) and he quoted from Book of Exodus
when delivering his Gettysburg Address. After his death from assassination, he was often compared to Moses.
Lincoln biographer Charles Carleton Coffin writes, "the millions whom Abraham Lincoln delivered from slavery will
ever liken him to Moses, the deliverer of Israel." Coffin adds:
Moses gives just and righteous laws to Israel; Abraham Lincoln, a new
charter of liberty to his country. Both lead their fellow men out of bondage,
both behold the promised land . . . "(Coffin) According to Lincoln's ''War
Papers'', as soon as the war ended, "There was wailing in the cabins of
freedmen who saw in 'Mass'r Lincoln' a second Moses to lead them out of
bondage, and whose simple faith saw him walking with God and given the
power from the sovereign of heaven.(Lincoln)
Clergyman and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, in the lead-up to the war, stated
that "Wherever a man is called to defend a trust or a principle, a church or a
people, a nation or an age, he may be said to be, like Moses, the leader of God's
people."(Cherry) Beecher again referred to the symbol of Moses during Lincoln's
eulogy:
After so many thousand years, the figure of Moses is not diminished, but stands up against the background
of early days distinct and individual as if he had lived but yesterday. There is scarcely another event in
history more touching than his death.
During a service in Washington D.C., minister Jeremiah Rankin said in his eulogy of Lincoln, "Nothing can be more
beautiful or appropriate than many of the parallels which the American people have traced between their own recent
history and that of the children of Israel in their exodus from the house of bondage. . . "(Rankin)
Moses in American History
Moses in American History