Thursday, marked the birth date of Abraham Lincoln. Born February 12, 1809, Lincoln was president from 1861-1865, during the Civil War. At the beginning of the war, Lincoln hoped for a political settlement to end the rebellion, save the Union, and prevent the spread of slavery – these were his objectives, not the abolishment of slavery. His views on ending slavery would slowly evolve as the war dragged on and intensified.
Over 660,000 soldiers would die in the Civil War – more than all of our other wars combined. The bloodshed would touch almost every community and family. It was not uncommon for brothers to fight on opposite sides. Lincoln’s own brother-in-law fought for the Confederacy.
By the time Lincoln took office in March 1861, seven states in the Deep South had already seceded. When the war started a few weeks later, Lincoln issued a proclamation to the North, calling for 75,000 troops. Within weeks, four of the eight slaveholding states still in the Union seceded and joined the Confederacy.
Throughout the war, Lincoln had to be mindful of losing the support of the four remaining slaveholding border-states – Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware. It would be critical to keep theses states in the Union. Lincoln would have to walk a tightrope to do so, and it influenced many of his decisions.
Keeping Maryland in the Union would be Lincoln’s first test. A week after Lincoln’s call to the North for troops, rioting broke out in Baltimore when the first Union soldiers destined for Washington arrived by train. Pro-secessionist radicals attacked the contingent, killing four of them. Within a day, rioters had destroyed all of the bridges going in and out of Baltimore and cut the telegraph wires into Washington.
This left Washington cut-off from the rest of the Union and lightly guarded – there were only 2,000 soldiers there to protect the government. High ranking officials felt exceedingly vulnerable and tensions ran very high. The rioting in Baltimore, just forty miles from Washington, continued for days. In the middle of all of this, the Maryland legislature met to vote on secession. Many advised Lincoln to bar the legislature from convening, or to arrest its members before they could meet. Lincoln wisely kept his head and did nothing. As he predicted, pro-Union supporters voted to keep Maryland from seceding .
Another test would come in Missouri. In August 1861, General John C. Frémont, proclaimed martial law in Missouri, and decreed that any slaveholders found to be aiding the rebellion would be arrested and have their slaves freed. Frémont did this without authorization from Washington, and his actions created great anxiety among slaveholders loyal to the Union in Missouri and neighboring Kentucky.
Congress had recently passed the Confiscation Act, and Frémont’s edict greatly exceeded the authority of this new law. Consequently, Lincoln fired Frémont and countermanded his proclamation, after which Union enlistments from Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland increased by over 40,000 troops.
Over the next year, Lincoln made a number of deliberate and calculated moves to help him reach his objectives. Although ending slavery was not yet one of Lincoln’s goals, he wanted to keep political pressure on slaveholders in the South, while maintaining and building public support in the North.
Starting with the Confiscation Act of August 1861, Lincoln helped guide legislation through the Congress, and issued a series of executive orders. In April 1862, the government announced it would pay slave owners who freed their slaves. In June of that year, Lincoln signed a law banning slavery in all federal territories. A month later, the Second Confiscation Act was passed. Finally in September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which was to go into effect on January 1, 1863.
Even the Emancipation Proclamation was a carefully planned step. It declared all slaves to be free, but only in the areas not then under Union control. Exemptions were made for the four slaveholding border-states and other areas already under Union control. This astute and calibrated move was also timed for the 1862 mid-term elections. It angered Northern radicals for being a half-measure, but Lincoln, ever mindful of losing support in the critical border-states, knew it was prudent.
In late 1863, as the war continued and the political environment evolved, Lincoln began to think the time had come to try and end slavery in all of the states. Work quietly began on a constitutional amendment that would abolish slavery, and a bill proposing it was introduced in December. Publicly, Lincoln remained neutral.
In April 1864, the Senate passed the amendment by the necessary two-thirds margin. On June 15, in the midst of that year’s presidential election, the first vote on the amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives failed. In an effort to reassure frustrated Northern voters, Lincoln’s re-election campaign shrewdly made the amendment part of his platform.
After being re-elected in November 1864, Lincoln pushed hard to get the amendment passed. Finally, on January 31, 1865, the House passed the amendment (this process was brilliantly captured in Steven Spielberg’s recent movie “Lincoln”). It was ratified by the states in December 1865, after the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, and became the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Lincoln is a model for future leaders during difficult times. He set clear objectives. He made sure the key people in his administration were involved in the policymaking process, on-board with decisions, and rowing in the same direction.
He hired the best people – many of them political opponents. Lincoln wasn’t intimidated by powerful men with large egos. Many of them had doubts about Lincoln, but he gradually won them over by demonstrating wisdom, magnanimity, and tenacity. Lincoln had an uncanny ability to read people and size up their character and talents. He knew how to utilize their strengths and work around weaknesses.
Lincoln was able to stay on top of vast amounts of information, while being able to see the big picture and not getting bogged down in the details. He stayed informed by asking the right questions and being a good listener.
Lincoln was an excellent communicator. He was always prepared, logical, and organized in his thinking. He knew how to build a case and present it in the most reasoned manner. He knew when to be subtle and when to command, when to be brief and when to be eloquent.
He was a consensus builder. Unlike most politicians today, Lincoln avoided giving inflammatory speeches and open fights with his adversaries. He knew how to relate with all types of people. He earned people’s trust with his calm, folksy, and unpretentious manner. Because people trusted him, Lincoln was able to persuade the skeptical, reassure the nervous, and inspire the weary.
Most importantly, Lincoln had exceptional judgment. He came slowly to the decision of abolishing slavery. His deliberate approach to this issue evolved with events. As circumstances changed and public sentiment strengthened, he adjusted his views and tactics. He showed great patience and was willing to bide his time. He didn’t press the issue when it wasn’t necessary, and instead allowed events to unfold. But when the time was right, he was not afraid to act.
Because of these abilities and attributes, Lincoln proved up to the size and difficulty of the task – despite having an unbalanced spouse, and suffering the death of his eleven year-old son in 1862. He left us a blueprint for how political moderates can unite disparate groups of people, in the most stressful circumstances, and nonetheless reach and exceed their objectives. It’s all of these things that make Lincoln our greatest president, and why he is held in such high esteem.