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Abraham LincolnThe ‘Content’This piece is based upon the astonishingly well researched and written book ‘Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln’ by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a Pulitzer Prize winning author. The book was highly reviewed by book critics and won the eponymous 2006 Lincoln Prize. Barack Obama listed it amongst his favourite books and influential in his decisions and it was the basis for Stephen Spielberg’s 2012 film, Lincoln.I would wholeheartedly recommend it, but with one warning; it is a tomb, 900 pages long and took me nearly a month of ‘unemployed’ reading to finish it. This blog, depending on how well I have written this post, will hopefully serve as a brief summary BUT these are only the insights I took away – I will have missed a lot. [] bookA brief chronological historyBirth, Struggle & DeathBorn on the 12th February 1809 in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was apart of a poor farming family. His mother, Nancy Lincoln, died when he was 9 and his sister of 11, Sarah, had to care for him when their father, Thomas Lincoln, decided to leave for two months to find another wife, Sarah Johnston. Without anyone to care for them, they nearly starved.His youth featured lots of close death. In addition to his mother in 1818, he lost a younger brother in 1812, his sister Sarah in 1828, his first love Ann Rutledge in 1835 and then two sons, Edward in 1850 and William in 1862. As I learnt in reading this book, this was not uncommon with a key protagonist Salmon Chase losing 3 wives in quick succession. However, these profound losses nonetheless left an indelible mark on his more ‘sombre’ mood. As Goodwin writes in this book, ‘he lost so many people when he was young — his mother and his sister and his first love — he really became for a while obsessed with the thought of what happens to us after we die…and thought that if he could accomplish something worthy then he would live on in the memory of others’. Lincoln, like the Ancient Greeks, subscribed to the belief that “the ideas of a person’s worth are tied to the way others, both contemporaries and future generations, perceive him.” This created an ambition, not ego, that propelled him to the highest office of his nation and later into the annals of history.An Uneducated man of Great StatureLincoln had no substantive formal education but had a voracious appetite for reading, which his step-mother encouraged. He also had a keen interest in storytelling, which later proved very useful. As Doris Goodwin notes in an interview ‘the importance of telling stories as a way of communicating to an audience.. [is] such a huge part of leadership.’ He memorised stories he overheard from his father, tales in books like Aesop’s Fables and passages in the King James Bible. With these stories, he dissected them, analysed how best to articulate them and subsequently captivated any audience he encountered with his adapted versions. This was the founding of his oratory skills which proved crucial at a time when, as Goodwin writes, ‘the principal weapon of political combatants was the speech’ which often lasted 3-4 hours! Newspapers disseminated transcripts of his speeches across the country for each word to be analysed. Here is a site with his famous speeches recorded [] the same time, at a height of 6’4” he was known for his athleticism: strong, adept with an axe and fought the wrestling leader of ‘the Clary’s Grove boys’. Later in life when he would walk around the Union Troops camps, his immense strength with an axe became renowned with soldiers. [] AxeAmbition without EgoWhat I find most remarkable is Lincoln’s lack of ego juxtaposed with his very strong ambition. This was demonstrated on countless occasions and ensured he gained the respect and admiration of his competitors.An Ace of SpadesHe tried his hand at many jobs to make a living - working as a boatman, store clerk, surveyor and militia soldier – before turning to law. Self-taught, he passed the legal requirement, the Bar, to practice law and gained some success, without prominence. This was until he was given a golden opportunity to join the legal defence on a nation-wide case. The lead lawyer chose Lincoln and promptly, upon discovering a more prominent lawyer, Edward Stanton, was available, decided to drop him. However, he failed to inform Lincoln who had spent months preparing a case and appeared at court on the day of the trial to discover he was excluded. On approaching Stanton and the lead lawyer, he was laughed out of the case. Instead of being bitter, he listened to Stanton’s case and was deeply impressed by Stanton. So much so that he later chose him as his Secretary of War, demonstrating ‘his singular ability to transcend personal vendetta, humiliation or bitterness.’The Pre-Pres PoliticsIn 1834, he joined the Whig Party and then later the newly founded Republican Party of 1854. In 1860, he ran for the Republican Presidential Nominee but was unknown, condescendingly referred to as the ‘rail-splitter’ for his previous work. However, to the complete surprise of almost everyone, he won. His centrist position was favourable, as evident in the vote count below. Goodwin writes, he won as someone ‘notably free of pettiness, malice, and overindulgence’ who never let his ambition consume the kindness and openheartedness with which he treated supporters and rivals alike, nor alter his steady commitment to the antislavery cause. [] Upon seeing how close Lincoln was to the 233 votes needed after the third ballot, a delegate from Ohio switched 4 votes from Chase to Lincoln. This triggered an avalanche towards Lincoln with a final count of 364 votes out of 466 castLater that year, he led the Republican party to its first Presidency. In his first cabinet, he surrounded himself with these rivals, William Seward, Salmon Chase and Edward Bates. All men who had been been better-resourced, connected and respected than himself to win the nomination and still held some resentment for losing. Lincoln recognised their qualities for the good of the country and all came to eventually recognise his with Seward and Bates becoming close friends and admirers. Lincoln’s patience was astounding Salmon Chase, Secretary of Treasury, spent the next five years trying underhanded ways of promoting his own run for President – Lincoln chose to consistently turn a blind eye as he knew of no man better for the job.A Litany of LossesHis run up to President was not a Mayweather-style succession of wins. In 1832 he lost a contest for the Illinois House of Representatives; in 1844 for the Whig Party nomination; in 1854 for the Senate election; in 1856 for Vice-President nomination of the Republican Party and lastly in 1858 for the Senate election. Throughout all of these he remained respectful and gracious in defeat, none more so than in 1854. In the first round of voting in 1854, Lincoln was a clear winner with 45 out of the 91 votes cast but failed to surpass the threshold of 51. Lyman Trumbull, a democrat with a similar platform to Lincoln, had a paltry 5 votes. Following voting rounds continued and Lincoln neared 51 but remained unable to pass the threshold as Trumbull’s crew were unwilling to budge for Lincoln. The ever pragmatist, Lincoln recognised the impasse and preferred to support Trumbull to oppose the pro-slavery alternatives. He graciously withdrew, As oppose to select a pro-slavery leader, Lincoln, the ever pragmatist, withdrew and convinced his supporters to move to Trumbull which won him the election in the 10th Round of voting. Lincoln remained magnanimous in this defeat and earned the respect of many opposition members who later proved integral to his election. I still cannot fathom how he didn’t feel like this was daylight robbery – but maybe there is a reason I didn’t win the 1860 Presidential Election…Mr. President:As he became President, he had to deal with the secession of the slave-owning South; the factions within the North on the slavery questions and divisions within his own Republican part on this matter. He then had to deal with the US Civil War, the trouble of keeping the North states on board with fighting and also finding a solution for the border states. By the end of 1865 he had kept the North, his party and his cabinet united and led his organisation to win the Civil War, introduce the first income tax and declare the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves. Soon thereafter, in 1865, watching a play – he was assassinated. A brief commentaryI have already touched on some of the elements that marked Lincoln as a truly outstanding leader: his burning ambition, understanding of the common man and how to communicate to him, and an ambition to contribute to his country which superseded his ego. I want to touch on just two more, which inevitably interlink with his other qualities.A Profound EmpathyLincoln had an outstanding ‘emotional IQ’. Through his own varied experiences in life, through the stories he had heard and from the books he had read – he developed an understanding of the motives and desires of human behaviour. He wrote in his second inaugural address "but let us judge not, that we be not judged". His Presidential assistant later wrote, ‘his crowning gift or political diagnosis was due to his sympathy…which gave him the power to forecast with uncanny accuracy what his opponents were likely to do.’ It also enabled to empathise with the military deserters, pardoning as many as he could, black slaves, who he emancipated, and tell stories which resonated with people. This empathy was critical to maintain his astonishing degree of control over an increasingly chaotic and potentially devastating situation within his party as well trying to keep border states on board with the Union. Progressive; to be or not to be?One of the greatest criticisms levelled at Lincoln is that he did not act quickly on issues like his terrible war generals and on abolishing slavery. Whilst he is remembered as the Great Emancipator, the likes of Salmon Chase and Charles Sumner were far more progressive in their thinking regarding black rights. In fact, Lincoln wrote that ‘My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it’.And yet, they are not remembered. Why? Because progress requires that a progressive idea gets implemented. Any movement requiring mass support has to move with the tide, not against it and not too far ahead. His right-hand man, Seward, was concerned about being too progressive on slavery for fear of losing support of the Northern conservatives and as a result, ‘suppose, for one moment the Republic destroyed. With it is bound up not only the destiny of a race but the best hopes of all mankind. With its overthrow, the sun of liberty, would be set back indefinitely.’ Lincoln was deliberately slow to act, he wished to keep both the radical anti-slavery supporters on his side whilst not alienating the crucial North-South border states which had not made up their mind. His famous emancipation letter was written weeks before it was released, he was waiting for when the time was right. As an observer at the time noted, Lincoln was “the most truly progressive man of the age, because he always moves in conjunction with propitious circumstances, not waiting to be dragged by the force of events or wasting strength in premature struggles with them”. And from this, ‘it was by ignoring men, and ignoring all small causes, but by closely calculating the tendencies of events and the great forces which were producing logical results’. A Tentative ConclusionAbraham Lincoln is widely considered as the best ever American President and rightfully so. When he came to power, the US was facing its widest racial, political and physical divides which precipitated its bloodiest war. By gaining the esteem of the public, colleagues and competitors alike through his speeches and stories, by never placing his ego above his ambition for the country and lastly, and by gently prodding public opinion towards his principles – Lincoln managed to bridge these divides. Key Sources: - A wonderful post that collects concise, entertaining and key information on all American presidents, I very strongly recommend it ................
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