Posted on 01/07/2013 4:01:08 AM PST by Kaslin
While many of our heroes have lost their gloss, Abraham Lincoln still shines brightly for many Americans because there is so much to learn from his life.
For example, in 1858 Abraham Lincoln was defeated in his race for the United States Senate by Stephen Douglas, making it Lincoln’s third electoral defeat in a row. As Lincoln emerged from the telegraph office into the rain-soaked street in Springfield, Illinois he lost his balance when his foot slipped on the slick boardwalk. Catching himself before he tumbled into the mud Lincoln muttered to under his breath, “A slip, but not a fall.”
He then smiled brightly.
Recognizing the symbolic importance for his political life of catching himself before he fell, Lincoln understood that his political career was not over despite his string of defeats. He started for home reenergized. In two years he was elected President of the United States.
“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. In this chapter we will explore how 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 who hadn’t yet won a battle.
Lincoln once famously observed, “I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it."
Indeed, during Lincoln’s life he was ridiculed over his origins, (from a log-cabin); his looks (he described himself as “homely”); his lack of formal education (he was mostly self-taught); his wife (who could be quite arrogant and aggressive, not to say crazy); and a great deal besides. Probably no President dealt with as much abuse as Lincoln. Yet throughout his life Lincoln rarely struck back at his critics. He maintained, instead, a firm confidence about who he was which helped him turn critics into supporters.
In 1855, for example, Lincoln was hired to represent Cyrus McCormick who was claiming patent infringement against a defendant. In addition, McCormick retained a number of better established lawyers from the eastern US, including Edwin M. Stanton. As the trial commenced in Cincinnati, the other attorneys ignored Lincoln, shutting him out of the case with Stanton going so far as to call Lincoln “that damned long armed Ape,” within his hearing. Lincoln swallowed his pride and watched the trial from the courtroom with other spectators.
When McCormick later sent Lincoln a check for his services on the case, Lincoln returned the check explaining that he really hadn’t done anything to earn it.
When the client returned the check to Lincoln and insisted that he cash the check, Lincoln again swallowed his pride and cashed the check despite his grumbling about the “rough” treatment he got from Stanton.
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 the latter died of a gunshot wound to the head, Stanton proclaimed of Lincoln: “Now he be belongs to the ages.”
The GOP right now could use a backward glance at Father Abraham and the lessons he bring with the ages.
Defeat in one election doesn’t always mean defeat forever. It helps, however, if you know what you where you are and whither you are tending; if you have high ideals and stick to them, as Lincoln did.
Too, we mustn’t always be so ready to excoriate our foes- foes inside our own party who are often arrogant, unreliable and closed minded, these people we call RINOs. We will later need these valuable allies to get elected and run the party.
But to those who are quick to criticize the Tea Party trend inside the GOP as unrefined and often perhaps extreme, I would remind them that just like in the case of Grant, the whiskey we drink more often leads to victory than defeat. And really, you can’t say that much about your other generals.
If you’re going to drink whiskey like a man, then why not drink the whiskey named after where Lincoln was born, Knob Creek (KY).
The federal government can 'own' nothing. Everything it has, it holds in delegated trust for the States.
The forts were surety...basically any property in that federal trust that was built in one State was forfeited should the State show the other States failed to up hold the terms of the Constitutional Compact.
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The South, unhappy with the status quo, wanted to spread slavery and force it upon people who were for freedom.
In 1835, the USSC Court's Court of Appeals in Jack v. Martin stated:
I regard this as but the entering wedge to other doctrines which are designed to extirpate slavery; and we may find when it is too late, that the patience of the south, however well founded upon principle, from repeated aggression will become exhausted. These considerations would have no influence with me if I could satisfy myself of the unconstitutionality of the law of congress; but I can never contribute in any manner, either directly or indirectly, to the abolition of slavery, however great an evil it may be, in violation of the constitution and laws of the country, and in violation of the solemn compact which was made by our forefathers at the adoption of the constitution, and which their posterity are bound to preserve inviolate. I am sustained in this view of the case by the whole current of authority, in all the states where the question has been decided.
The Northern States continued to pass laws to prevent what was legally established as Constitutional procedure concerning the return of fugitive slaves...... so the South left the Compact. Just as they did from the previous compact known as the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.
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If bad consequences came from the Civil War it was because the South didn't have a just cause for rebellion.
LOL! You mean against an unconstitutional government?
Is it non bonded?
LLS
FMCDH(BITS)
I remember when we first started gathering for Tea Party events in the park and the state house and the stupid libs would come up and yell things like "Real Americans drink coffee!" And I would say "Exactly", and you could see the confused look on the lib's face.
Do schools still teach history?
If bad consequences came from the Civil War it was because the South didn't have a just cause for rebellion.
BS
The south was well on its way to get rid of slavery. This whole thing was about states rights VS the federal government taking more control OVER the states.FMCDH(BITS)
Then why was the South trying to spread slavery to new territories?
This whole thing was about states rights VS the federal government taking more control OVER the states.
States didn't have the right to secede or to form their own sovereign nation. And as far as rebellion goes, they didn't have a just cause.
The South had no right to claim the property as a sovereign nation. They had no right to fire upon resupply ships either.
The Northern States continued to pass laws to prevent what was legally established as Constitutional procedure concerning the return of fugitive slaves
I guess you are going to ignore the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Dred Scott decision. I guess you are all for state's rights except when those states respected freedom for all men.
LOL! You mean against an unconstitutional government?
This subject isn't funny. The South had no right to form a sovereign nation and the expansion of slavery and forcing it upon those who respected freedom for all men was an unjust cause.
Can someone in the GOP please stop digging?
Your right! The Constitution was suspended during those years.
FMCDH(BITS)
This is accurate. Northern personal liberty laws were intended to put extreme roadblocks in the way of the constitutional provision requiring one state to allow extradition of fugitive slaves to a state requesting their return.
However, this wasn't really an issue to southerners in 1860, other than as an example of northern antagonism. In 1854 the Fugitive Slave Act had made the return of fugitives a federal responsibility implemented by federal marshals and commissioners, and if necessary federal troops.
Northern personal liberty laws were irrelevant in 1860, and had been for six years, since the cases bypassed northern state courts.
Exactly how the FSA, greatly expanding federal power at the expense of states, is an example of defending states' rights, is quite beyond me.
The actual precipitating factor in the splintering of the Democratic Party, the last national institution other than the federal government itself, was a southern demand for a federal slave code in the territories, enforced if necessary by federal troops against the wishes of the inhabitants.
Another demand for new federal powers to protect and expand slavery. Not exactly a great example of states' rights.
The northern states agreed to the terms of the compact when they signed it. Just because they decided to move FORWARD with their own ideals instead of using constitutional measures to change it is what gave birth to our current [gag] democracy.
The South had no right to form a sovereign nation and the expansion of slavery and forcing it upon those who respected freedom for all men was an unjust cause.
The South was forcing slavery on no one, they were merely insisting the other States live up to their agreement to adhere to the compact.
The Founders put the slavery clause NOT under the powers of Congress, but under Article V .... the States. They then passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which gave the procedure for the return of fugitive slaves.
THIS IS WHAT THE NORTHERN STATES agreed to do, then turned around and refused to do so.
Trying to justify the act of perjury of the Northern States by claiming some type of moral high ground is blatant hypocrisy.
Which was unconstitutional. The federal government had no authority FORCING any State to fulfill their part of the Constitutional agreement. THAT was the responsibility of the State itself.
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Another demand for new federal powers to protect and expand slavery.
I can think of several instances of the federal government being told they had no authority over the issue, which is true.
Your repeated insitstance that 'demands' of some kid were made, however, lack any supporting evidence on your part.
kid = kind
Pick a better country.
Probably the biggest lie the Lost Causers ever conjured up. Slavery had never been as profitable and vital to the Southern economy as it was in 1860. No one in the South at that time had any inclination to end slavery. In fact, even advocating for the end of slavery was illegal in the South.
This whole thing was about states rights VS the federal government taking more control OVER the states.
Please cite even one example of the Federal Government trying to take more control over the states in 1860. Just one.
They surely enforced it on 4 million slaves in the 15 Slave states.
The Fugitive Slave Act was the first time the Federal Government had the power to act directly upon citizens by forcing them, even against their will, to capture and detain fugitive slaves.
The Dred Scott decision forced Federal territories and their citizens far away from the South to accept slavery. And a close reading of Scott would even allow slave owners to bring their slaves into Free States against the laws of those states, yet be protected under Federal law.
The South was indeed forcing slavery upon the entire nation by using Federal Power, yet those who would long after the war cite 'States Rights' as their cause applauded those Federal violations of States Rights during the 1850s.
Then, by that logic neither can the state own anything which doubles the offense by South Carolina when it illegally seized property it had no claim to.
What an odd comment. You mean like when taney held that negroes weren't really people? Or like when SCOTUS held against Pennsylvania in the Prigg case? Or Congress via the Fugitive Slave Act which sought to placate the idiotic slavers? Or perhaps the Compromise of 1860 which attempted the same? That "unconstitutional government"?
"They surely enforced it on 4 million slaves in the 15 Slave states."
I'll admit that first sentence was the biggest facepalm comment of the day.
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