NAUVOO, ILL.
It is no coincidence that the world of Abraham Lincoln was also the world of Joseph Smith, an expert on Abraham Lincoln said in Nauvoo May 24.
"The same historical conditions that had prevented past generations of common folks like Abraham Lincoln from becoming the leaders of their people ... had also made it difficult, if not impossible, to restore the full gospel to the earth," said Bryon C. Andreasen to a Sunday evening gathering of missionaries, residents and visitors to Nauvoo at the Church's Visitors Center.
Brother Andreasen is a research historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., where the 16th U.S. president rose to prominence as an attorney and presidential candidate.
Brother Andreasen, who is bishop of the Springfield 1st Ward, was in Nauvoo leading a post-conference bus tour of members of the non-denominational Mormon History Association, which held its conference in Springfield this year on the occasion of the Lincoln bicentennial.
"The Lord prepared a special place, America, a special time, the Jacksonian period of the early Republic, and a special people, the generation of Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln, to bring about the restoration of the fullness of the gospel," said Brother Andreasen, who holds a doctorate in 19th century American history.
"This was all foreseen in vision by Nephi," he said (see 1 Nephi 14). "As Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, the Lord revealed to him that the faithful prayers of the prophets and disciples of ancient America had spared this land of America for the preservation of the gospel, that the land might be free and that whosoever should believe in this gospel in this land might have eternal life."
The Lord later revealed to the Prophet that he had established the Constitution of the United States by the hands of wise men and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood, Brother Andreasen noted.
"Joseph Smith was born just four years before Abraham Lincoln," he said. "Like Lincoln, Joseph was born in humble circumstances. He did not have a formal education. He knew the life of frontier hardship and physical toil."
Brother Andreasen took his listeners on a mental tour of the Lincoln museum in Springfield, where he spoke to a Church youth conference a few years ago.
As one enters the museum "plaza," on one side is seen a representation of the log cabin that was Lincoln's boyhood home in southern Indiana; on the other side is a representation of the White House in Washington, D.C.
A representation of Lincoln as a boy of 9, sitting on a stump reading a book of Asesop's Fables completes "tour."
"The book reflects how it was that Lincoln was able to transcend the world in which he was born," Brother Andreasen said. "The book is a metaphor for knowledge, because it was knowledge that set Lincoln and like-minded people of his generation free from the drudgery of subsistence farming, the life that his father had known."
Other representations show Lincoln as a boy in the cabin by the fire late at night reading book; as a young man in New Salem, Ill., studying a grammar book with his sweetheart, Ann Rutledge; as a young adult courting Mary Todd in the parlor room of the fanciest house in Springfield, where they are conversing about a book; as an attorney in his law office, where he is reading a newspaper.
"Well, you get the picture," he said. "Books and reading introduced Lincoln to a whole new world of knowledge, so when doors of opportunity were open for him, he was prepared and ready to walk through those doors."
Like he had done at the youth conference, Brother Andreasen related that aspect of Lincoln's life to a passage in the Church pamphlet "For the Strength of Youth":
"The Lord wants you to educate your mind and improve your skills and abilities. Education will help you to be an influence for good in the world. It will help you better provide for yourself, your loved ones, and those in need."
In the "Ghost of the Library" section of the presidential museum, the question is asked: "Why is knowing history important?" Brother Andreasen cited a passage in 3 Nephi recounting that the risen Lord instructed the Nephites to include in their record accounts of things they had missed. He cited passages in the Doctrine and Covenants commanding early Church leaders to be instructed in things past, present and future, things at home and abroad, the wars and perplexities of nations, etc.
"Do you think knowing history is important to the Lord?" he asked.
Brother Andreasen said he is often asked if President Lincoln and Joseph Smith knew each other. He said it is not known that Lincoln ever visited Nauvoo, but Joseph visited Springfield on three occasions, two of them while Lincoln was living there.
One was in 1839, when the Prophet was on his way to Washington, D.C., to seek redress from the federal government for wrongs suffered by the saints when they were in Missouri.
"Joseph apparently met Lincoln's roommate and best friend, Joshua Speed," Brother Andreasen said. "There's a letter in Lincoln's own hand that talks about this. It's possible — in fact I think it's probable — that Lincoln did meet Joseph at this time."
The other occasion was at New Year's in 1842-43. "Joseph was at Springfield for trial in the federal court that was meeting in the same building as Lincoln's law office, and today that's a state historic site across from the Old State Capitol and down a block from the presidential museum," he said. "Mary Lincoln attended some of Joseph Smith's trial. It's not clear whether Lincoln himself met the Prophet; he was busy himself defending a judge who was being impeached over in the Old State Capitol, but it's possible they met again at this time."
