Posted on 02/17/2015 4:22:50 AM PST by Kaslin
What’s most amazing is that Lincoln later picked Stanton to become his War Secretary after the resignation of Simon Cameron.
At the time of his selection Stanton was still an avowed critic of Lincoln. Lincoln was willing to overlook this because of Stanton’s superb managerial skills. As their relationship matured Stanton became one of Lincoln’s warmest admirers. Standing at the foot of Lincoln’s bed as latter died of a gunshot wound to the head, Stanton proclaimed of Lincoln: “Now he be belongs to the ages.”
“I claim not to have controlled event,” Lincoln candidly wrote in 1864, “but confess plainly that events have controlled me.”
Lincoln’s critics (both contemporary and posthumous) have often pointed to this confession as a sign that while Lincoln successfully rode the whirlwind of Civil War, he was not the builder of the nation that others have claimed- a kind of second founding father after Washington.
But it was this essentially negative trait (negative in the sense that it was passive and did not require action) that allowed Lincoln to remake US society on the basis of the words of the Declaration of Independence that declared “all men are created equal,” to include African Americans.
He was able to accomplish this revolutionary object through passive management of the Civil War without turning it in to a “remorseless revolutionary struggle,” which might have irreparably divided the nation during Reconstruction.
Nowhere was Lincoln’s task more arduous than in managing and massaging the personalities of his generals (and to a lesser extent, members of Congress).
Many of Lincoln’s strongest critics were generals who felt that Lincoln wasn’t taking their advice on how to conduct the war. Yet Lincoln ignored personality (and public opinion) in supporting his generals and stuck to the principle of rewarding those that fought and won battles.
The most striking examples of this were the cases of General George McClellan and US Grant.
McClellan was the commander of the Army of the Potomac and later general-in-chief of all Federal forces.Mostly on the strength of a strong personality, McClellan dazzled soldiers and politicians despite the fact that he squandered several opportunities to beat the Confederates in battle. He was glamorous, good-looking and just credible enough to be plausible.
Lincoln however was not fooled.
Instead, Lincoln found himself drawn to the unpopular and often shy US Grant. Grant won battles even though he was publicly ridiculed for being a drunkard, slovenly and lacking in refinement. When a group protested Lincoln keeping Grant in command despite hearsay that Grant was a drunkard, Lincoln only reply was asking them what brand whiskey Grant drank so he could get some for his other generals.
Lincoln was also a complex man. It showed in the complex relationships he had with those in his own family. But he had a loving family, which is a lot more complex than just good intentions and happy relations.
For example, Lincoln’s father does not fit very prominently in biographies of Lincoln. This is because Lincoln was reticent when it came to his father. When he did speak of him, Lincoln was somewhat scornful of his father’s lack of ambition. They were, Lincoln was very sure, incompatible.
He might have echoed Winston Churchill who once said that to his mother he owed everything, to his father, nothing.
Both men however owed much to their fathers. Many of the traits they used to become a successful chief executives and a successful commanders-in-chief in times of war came from their fathers, like sense of self and self-confidence.
There are times in life when people feel like nothing is working well for them, when in fact, the period may be leading to another, more fertile time. Lincoln had several stretches where he despaired of ever amounting to much in the world or where it seemed his ambition outran his ability.
But driven by the inward necessities of his heart he persevered, because he had heart. Heart matters more than brains, as some in America have found out to their sorrow.
So I wish America would know Lincoln more thoroughly, because his heart still shines so brightly for us all, not just as a president, but mostly as a man.
(In Before the Lost Causers)
I sure am glad you defined that. Thanks
I don’t want to start CWII (although there is sufficient reason provided by the half breed), Lincoln had serious deficiencies.
Habeus Corpus was suspended, the draft was a disaster and the first income tax was imposed West Virginia was admitted as a state, unconstitutionally. Maryland and Delaware legislators were barred from meeting to vote for secession. Nevada’s constitution was imposed making the state subservient to the feds.
I have to disagree with Mr. Ransom on this sentence. I think the unCivil War did Irreparably divide the nation, both during and after Reconstruction. Everything from the Scalawags and Carpetbaggers to the KKK came out of that war and the Reconstruction that followed. All we have to do is look at the way the South is portrayed in the North and how the North is portrayed in the South. As I said, I think this nation is irreparably divided.
Stanton was a necrophiliac. There is quite the information about him in a few libraries that are dedicated to Lincoln.
I too wish Americans would know Lincoln more thoroughly. For starters I would suggest reading Adams' When in the Course of Human Events (or even just the reviews of it at Amazon) and Edgar Lee Masters' Lincoln, The Man. (Masters is pretty good but he doesn't include the bit where "Honest Abe" abandoned his family on a train that he feared would be attacked.)
ML/NJ
Why would I want to read slander?
It’s fun pointing out to the lost causers that Lee was (and reamins) a traitor to the United States and that all of the southern politicians were completely and totally outclassed by Lincoln at every turn.
Only about a third of that was even close to being correct.
I suggest that biographies of Linoln by David Herbert Donald and Ronald C. White, Jr. are better sources.
If Secession was illegal, why was West Virginia allowed to do so from Virginia?
Shhhhhh. You're not supposed to talk about that.
The process for splitting a state into two separate states in included in Article IV, Section 3. Both the Congress and the body recognized by the government as the legitimate Virginia legislature voted to partition, as the Constitution allows.
But let me turn the question around. If secession is legal then why the beef about West Virginia?
He tried to have the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court arrested. Lets don’t forget that one. Lincoln was certainly shining brightly that day. (sarc)
If secession is legal then why was the South called traitors?
Point of view. One man's traitor is another man's freedom fighter.
Actually no he didn't. But don't let that stand in your way.
Absolute nonsense. Lincoln and Roger Taney had strong differences over slavery and the war. However, Lincoln would never have been foolish enough to arrest the old man and make a hero out of him.
It is unfair to say that Thomas Lincoln had no ambition. Rather, his only ambition was to be a frontier farmer. Abraham Lincoln wanted to learn to read from an early age. This set them apart, as Thomas saw reading as a waste of time.
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