Building Wisdom, One Page at a Time
Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven. All rights reserved.
In our world it is easy to find ourselves submerged in a deluge of superficial information, a rapid-fire stream that prioritizes velocity over veracity. To find an antidote to this distraction, we must look toward a figure of monumental importance: Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The historical realities of his life and achievements reveal a profoundly human individual who serves as a paragon of self-actualization. Lincoln was not born a master of language; he was a self-taught intellectual who constructed a formidable intellectual foundation through a disciplined, lifelong engagement with the written word. His philosophy of "learning by littles" remains an essential pedagogical case study, demonstrating the transformative power of reading and community.
The early life of Abraham Lincoln was defined by a scarcity of formal educational resources. On the nineteenth-century (1800s) American frontier, schooling was an occasional luxury rather than a guaranteed right. Lincoln’s formal classroom experience was incredibly brief, totaling less than one year. However, this lack of institutional structure did not stifle his development; instead, it fueled a voracious and strategic curiosity that characterizes the most dedicated scholars.
Though his time in school was fleeting, he was encouraged by his parents, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, to pursue learning independently. He began his journey with the family Bible and Thomas Dilworth’s speller. As a teenager, his intellectual horizons expanded through borrowed volumes, including Parson Weems’ Life of Washington, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Robinson Crusoe, and The Arabian Nights. This meager access to books necessitated a depth of engagement, an assiduous devotion to the few texts at hand.
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Lincoln reflected on these rustic beginnings in an 1859 autobiographical sketch: “There were schools, so called, but little qualification was ever required of a teacher.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the Rule of Three...” This "somehow" was the product of a deliberate choice to treat every available text as a precious resource, a method he described as learning "by littles".
For Lincoln and his contemporaries, literacy was never merely a personal hobby; it was a civic mandate of the highest order. This perspective was championed by Noah Webster (1758–1843), the "Father of American Education," who argued that for a republic to survive, knowledge must be "universally diffused." Webster believed that in a government held in the hands of the people, the "yeomanry" must be well-informed to participate in law, ethics, and commerce.
Webster’s vision for education extended beyond basic phonics; it encompassed the cultivation of socialization, logic, wisdom, and citizenship skills. Civic learning, therefore, is a developmental process essential to maintaining the republic. When we read deeply, we are not just improving our own minds; we are equipping ourselves for the responsibility of self-government and ensuring that the people who make the laws are sufficiently enlightened to do so with justice and prudence. In other words, civic learning is a developmental process within American schools through which the People acquire essential knowledge, skills, and learn how to be a community.
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Similarly, President Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) accomplished a great feat in the realm of education. He recognized the health of the republic was inextricably linked to the intelligence of its people. Grant emphasized that for a nation to remain strong, and for all citizens to remain equal before the law, the electorate must possess the education necessary to navigate the complexities of self-government. Grant’s call for compulsory, free public schools was a movement toward national unity and stability.
By investing in public education, the nation sought to raise wages and improve living conditions. In this context, education was of benefit to students and a community duty. It was an investment in intellectual progress and enabled the American people to compete globally while maintaining a high standard of living at home. Overall, public schools are communities that are the grounds for cultural unity. Public schools, absent segregation and divisions caused by private schools, are communities that help cultivate personal and societal achievements.
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Modern cognitive theory validates the methods Lincoln used, distinguishing between superficial information grazing and "deep reading". This methodical engagement with a text provides a literal workout for the brain, offering several proven benefits for adults:
Stress Reduction: Reading is a potent reducer of mental tension, contributing to a greater sense of overall well-being and mental health.
Focus and Memory: In an age of digital fragmentation, reading rebuilds the ability to concentrate and strengthens memory retention.
Neural Activation: The brain processes experiences described in a text as if they were real, activating regions associated with empathy, inference, and analytical thought.
Boosted Analytical Skills: Deep reading trains the mind to question an author’s assumptions and arguments. It moves the reader beyond simple memorization toward the ability to write persuasive essays that defend an original thesis.
Furthermore, reading nonfiction builds "schema", the mental frameworks or background knowledge required to integrate new information. This foundation is what allowed a man with less than a year of schooling to craft arguments as sophisticated as the Gettysburg Address; he trained his brain to question, analyze, and connect ideas on a profound level.
The true secret to Lincoln’s eloquence was his refusal to be a passive consumer of information. He was a practitioner of "assiduous note-taking," a habit he formed early in life to aid his comprehension. His reverence for the civic necessity of an informed citizenry was perhaps best illustrated during his time as a one-term congressman, when he chose to live in a boardinghouse located immediately next to the Library of Congress to facilitate his research.
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Lincoln rarely addressed a complex problem without first "taking up his pen". For him, writing served as a "necessary pause for deliberation and reflection". To foster your own intellectual growth, consider these three distinct strategies:
Simple Annotations: Transforming reading into an active conversation by underlining key points and jotting notes in the margins.
Graphic Organizers: Using visual tools to map the sequence of events, separate cause from effect, or track the evidence an author uses to support an argument.
Reading Journals: Creating a permanent record of reflections to foster curiosity and the art of slowing down one's thinking.
Lincoln’s intellectual life possessed a creative and emotional dimension. He was an avid poet who used verse to explore the shadows of his inner world. From the reflective "My Childhood Home I See Again" to the dark, emotional work titled "The Suicide’s Soliloquy", Lincoln’s poetry reveals a man of deep sentiment and somber reflection. This creative outlet suggests that his mastery of language was tied to an emotional depth and a capacity for empathy cultivated through a wide-ranging appreciation of literature.
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The discipline Lincoln honed through deep reading and writing was most evident during the national crisis of 1864. In a document known as the "Blind Memorandum", now regarded as a treasure of the Lincoln Papers, he recorded his sober expectation of political defeat. In a remarkable display of integrity, he folded and sealed the note, then had his cabinet members sign the back of the document without seeing its contents. By doing so, he obtained their commitment to work with his successor to save the Union, regardless of the election's outcome.
This act of unwavering commitment demonstrates a leader whose intellectual habits allowed him to maintain logic and duty even in the face of Lincoln's personal failure. Lincoln viewed the "taste for reading" as the ultimate tool for resolving societal crises. As he stated in 1859: “A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.”
The journey from a frontier cabin to the presidency was paved with books and the deliberate work of the pen. Critical reading remains the most powerful antidote to a world of fast, superficial information; it is the path to genuine knowledge and the foundation of citizenship. It is a skill, a superpower, that can be built "by littles." By choosing to slow down and interact purposefully with a text, you gain the ability to see the world behind the words and cultivate the intellectual humility required for true wisdom.
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Extension Activity
Which habit will you start at this very moment as you look toward your next piece of reading, be it a book, an article, or a political speech? Choose one of the following techniques at this moment to foster your own citizenship skills.
A. After I pour my morning cup of coffee, I will read 10 pages of…
B. I will choose an article I am most curious to read and underline three main ideas to research more about.
C. I will take out a journal, a pen, and a high interest book to read. As I read, I will write down reflections about how the author changed my perspective about something, the qualities of the main characters or individuals in the book, or how I would have reacted to events described in the book.
Bibliography
“About This Collection: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress: Digital Collections: Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/collections/abraham-lincoln-papers/about-this-collection/.
“Abraham Lincoln ‘Learning by Littles’ (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/articles/abraham-lincoln-learning-by-littles.htm.
Abraham Lincoln | The Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/abraham-lincoln.
Berger, Anthony. “President Lincoln Reading the Bible to His Son Tad (the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection).” Getty, www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107JDN.
“Critical Reading: What Is Critical Reading, and Why Do I Need to Do It?” Cleveland State University 60 Years!, www.csuohio.edu/writing-center/critical-reading-what-critical-reading-and-why-do-i-need-do-it.
Epilogue: Securing the Republic: Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s26.html.
Google LM
“Lincoln Reading and Writing.” Kentucky Historical Society.
Miller, Kelley. “Slowing down the Reading Process to Build Students’ Comprehension Skills.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, www.edutopia.org/article/boosting-students-reading-comprehension-slowing-down/.
Scott, Kifflie. “Benefits of Reading.” Menomonee Falls Public Library, www.menomoneefallslibrary.org/benefits-of-reading/.
Strowd, Roy E. “Writing: The Art of Slowing down Thinking.” Neurology. Education, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11419334/.
“To Stand by the Side of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and 19th Century America -- Selections from the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection.” Omeka RSS, exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/lincoln/explore/section-5.
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