President Abraham Lincoln  

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html 

Research Questions:

1-      Why did Lincoln not attack the South first?

2-      How did Lincoln deal with a Cabinet that did not have total confidence in him at first?

3-      How did Lincoln change his advisors' minds about his abilities as President and Commander-in-Chief (Stanton and Seward in particular)?

4-      How did Lincoln deal with the frustration in attempting to find a competent commander of the Union army?

Mr. Newman's Lecture Notes:

     His greatest challenge, among so many in his presidency, was dealing with the splitting of the Union. His maneuvering of events to allow the South to attack first at Fort Sumter in April of 1861 began the Civil War. This was either foolish or brilliant depending on your point of view.

        Lincoln's decisions involved getting the South to start the Civil War. Another great test for Lincoln was his ability to find that one superior general to lead the Union army and win this war. It took him until sometime in 1863 to finally find Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln had tried many other people in his quest to defeat the Confederacy; Winfield Scott, George Mclellan, George Meade John Hooker and others were given the opportunity to lead the Union army and were unsuccessful.

           Lincoln had many forces against him throughout his Presidency. His sheer will and powerful personality were able to persevere, and today he is thought of by many as America's finest President. Often we determine who excels as President by the breadth and scope of the crises that each President faced. Surely the Civil War was America's greatest crisis. In regard to Lincoln's Cabinet, he was strong enough to choose members of the opposition party (Democrats) as well as Radical Republicans to join him in a type of coalition government. Lincoln was a moderate Republican. His selections speak of a politically acute and supremely confident man. In fact it was William Seward, who was chosen as Secretary of State, who remarked to Lincoln during the war that he didn't think Lincoln had what it took to be President. But Seward realized that Seward was wrong and Lincoln was right.  (Seward was Lincoln's chief competitor for the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination)