Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s eloquent eulogy last week for his father, Mario M. Cuomo, echoed both Abraham Lincoln and former New York Gov. William Seward, one of the leading abolitionists in political life.
“Mario Cuomo was the keynote speaker for our better angels,” Andrew Cuomo said at the funeral on Wednesday, invoking the memory of his father’s famous San Francisco Democratic National Convention speech and, at the same time, recalling the historic closing lines of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address.
The Lincoln references are the perfect way to honor Mario Cuomo, who studied and loved our 16th President with passion. In 1990, he published “Lincoln on Democracy,” to examine and celebrate Lincoln’s magnificent words on behalf of freedom, equal rights and his faith in self-government.
Lincoln’s First Inaugural etched the term “better angels” into our national consciousness with this closing sentence:
“The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Those thoughts and many of the actual words were actually suggested to Lincoln by Seward, predecessor of both Mario and Andrew Cuomo as Governor of New York. Seward, who served as governor from 1839 to 1842, had been Lincoln’s main rival for the Republican presidential nomination. But Lincoln then named Seward as Secretary of State, and the firebrand abolitionist became a frequent voice of moderation in Lincoln’s cabinet. In fact, he urged Lincoln to soften his inaugural address, and close on a hopeful note, based upon the idea that angels will steer us right.
Seward suggested the term “guardian angels of our nation.” Lincoln countered with “the better angels of our nature.” Lincoln’s phrasing speaks to his faith in the people. And it is one of the most enduring images in American political history.
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