Posted on 02/14/2013 3:42:23 AM PST by iowamark
...Did he exert features of moral grandeur and heroism necessary to steer the country through its deepest political crisis? Or was he an aspiring tyrant, especially in his use of executive power?
A recent example of how not to think about Lincoln’s leadership comes from the historian and television commentator Doris Goodwin. Goodwin wrote a book called “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” showing how Lincoln drew his cabinet from his personal and political competitors. In a subsequent discussion of Lincoln’s leadership titled “The 10 Qualities That Made Lincoln Great... If all of these sound a little too much like a set of recommendations for a modern day chief executive, you would be right: she presented the list in a keynote address of the Society for Human and Resource Management..
How can one both lead and accept the limitations of constitutional restraint?
There is no one whose statecraft more vividly illustrates the style of constitutional leadership better than Abraham Lincoln. He stated the problem of constitutional leadership with uncommon clarity in his Special Message to Congress of July 4, 1861. “Must a government, of necessity,” he asked, “be too strong for the liberties of its own people or too weak to maintain its own existence?”...
The self-restraint imposed by the doctrine of consent was the opposite of the doctrine of “popular sovereignty” proclaimed by Lincoln’s great rival, Stephen A. Douglas...
For Lincoln, however, the doctrine of unlimited majority rule violated the principle of constitutional government. Constitutions are devices for restraining power, whether this be the power of a king or a popular majority. If slavery is a good, Lincoln enjoyed chiding his audiences, then it is a good that no man has ever chosen for himself. It is consent that forms the essence of constitutional government...
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Most likely number 2 after George Washington. Some say he is better than Washington, but I don’t think that at all.
At least he was a man who prayed and looked to God for guidance.
Not just for show at ‘prayer breakfasts’...
Lincoln was the great divider.
He also made decisions only after consulting the polls.
Thanks for posting. What an elegant rebuke to anyone who would see anything of Lincoln in Obama.
He imprisoned northern politicians who spoke out against the war.
I don’t like the man. Don’t think he had the right to prevent the states from seceding.
That being said. The North did not start the fight, the South did. And slavery was ripe for removal, and I blame the British for instituting it in the first place.
I don’t hate the man like I do the current pretender to the ‘throne’. But then I am not living in the 1860’s
Nope bottom 10. Tyrant who ran with power amok.
Southern Lincoln-haters are idiots.
If Booth haden’t shot him, the “reconstruction” would have been a FACT. The “South” would have prospered much more quickly as Lincoln would have been just as effective against his own Radicals.
Lincoln was the classic example of “destroying the Constitution in order to save it.” He ran roughshod over the recognized limits of Presidential power and civil liberties as they were previously recognized between 1789 and 1861. Now you can argue both sides as to whether it was necessary, but I don’t subscribe to the Lincoln-as-sainted-martyr camp. I subscribe to the Lincoln-as-ultimate-pragmatist camp. His sole aim was to preserve the Union and he was going to do whatever it took, even if extra-legal, to do it. Being a lifelong Southerner, Virginia native, and growing up 15 miles from Appomattox Court House might color my view, granted.
However, I’ll agree with you that Booth was an idiot. Lincoln’s magnanimity toward the South was genuine as far as any historian can tell, and Reconstruction would have been a good bit gentler and the Radical Republicans less prominent had he lived out his second term. Abe knew he could afford to be generous because he had the war won.
}:-)4
You mean when he wasn’t holding seances in the White House?
There is no one whose statecraft more vividly illustrates the style of constitutional leadership better than Abraham Lincoln.
Where in the constitution did he find that the federal government had the right to force continued union of the states? What about using federal troops to intimidate the Maryland legislature during their secession vote? Lincoln was a constitutional leader just like Obama is.
Lincoln was the classic example of “destroying the Constitution in order to save it.”
It didn’t work. All the modern excesses of the federal government have their roots in Lincoln.
Have you ever considered the comparisons between President Obama and Lincoln?
Parallels of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Hussein Obama:
1. Lincoln placed his hand on the Bible for his inauguration.
Obama used the very same Bible Lincoln used, for his inauguration.
2. Lincoln came from Illinois
Obama comes from Illinois (By way of Kenya)
3. Lincoln served in the Illinois Legislature.
Obama served in the Illinois Legislature.
4. Lincoln had very little experience before becoming President.
Obama had very little experience before becoming President.
5. Lincoln rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for his inauguration.
Obama rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for his inauguration.
6. Lincoln was highly respected by some, but intensely disliked by others.
Obama is highly respected by some, but intensely disliked by others.
7. Abraham Lincoln was a tall, skinny lawyer.
Barack Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer.
8. Lincoln held to basic Conservative and Christian views.
Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer.
9. Lincoln volunteered in the Illinois militia; once as a captain, twice as a private.
Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer.
10. Lincoln firmly believed in able persons carrying their own weight.
Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer.
11. Lincoln was undeniably, and without any doubt, born in the United States .
Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer.
12. Lincoln was honest - so honest that he was called ‘Honest Abe’.
Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer
13. Lincoln preserved the United States as a strong nation, respected by the world.
Obama is a tall, skinny lawyer.
14. Lincoln showed his obvious respect for the flag, U. S. Constitution, and the military.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.
Amazing !!
What polls did they have in the 1860's?
I don't see how anybody can put any president ahead of Washington. Washington literally invented the office. He set precedent fore every president that followed him. And having done that he stepped aside and established the practice of peaceful and orderly succession. I would go so far as to say that without Washington as our first president then I don't know if our government would have lasted long enough for a fifth or sixth president, much less a sixteenth.
No, I think we can argue about who is number two as far as presidents go. But number one belongs to Washington and always will.
Correct. Lincoln was all about mending the south and healing the wounds. He had no plans to punish the south and that did not make the northern governors and industrial machine happy. They did not want the south to basically rebound and challenge them economically. Once his plans were made known the and the governors could not talk him back form the ledge they had him killed, IMO.
They are even bigger idiots when they also claim to be conservatives.
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