Abraham Lincoln's Letter To Herndon Analysis

Often times, historical writings were a way for people to display contrasting viewpoints of how to preserve liberty. For example, Abraham Lincoln’s letter to William H. Herndon. At this point in time, Lincoln was just a railroad lawyer who believed a railroad would help unite the states together in union. The first thing that it is important to understand when reading this letter is to understand that they are talking about the past, the Mexican-American war had already ended.
In this letter, Lincoln starts by explaining Herndon’s view, so that he can rationally debate against it. Herndon believed that “It is that if it shall become necessary to repel invasion, the President may, without violation of the Constitution, cross the line and invade

the territory of another country and that whether such necessity exists in any given case the President is the sole judge” (Pinheiro 2007). Giving the President authority to invade another country if he thought they were going to invade the United States. He believed that to maintain liberty, they had to keep gaining land. And he understands the importance of manifest destiny during this time period. Herndon believed that nothing is going to stop the United States from spreading west or south into Mexico because it is their obvious destiny and the best way to maintain liberty for all Americans, because for Americans to truly have liberty they need to be self-sufficient and own land.
Lincoln points out Herndon’s large flaw in logic by saying that if we “allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure” (Pinheiro 2007). Meaning that the President can say that he has a reason for invading another country when in reality he does not. Lincoln has a different way to preserve liberty. He understands the importance of the moral high ground in a conflict, and to attain the moral high ground, you want the other person to “throw the first punch” so that you have an obvious reason for getting into the fight.
This letter shows us the large gap in beliefs that existed on when the country should go to war. On one hand, Herndon believed in “playing offense” and being the first one to strike in the case of a war. But Lincoln believed in the importance of being defensive and letting the enemy strike first so they could gain moral high ground.