Lincoln Lincoln Elected 153 Years Ago Today

bdietzler73

First Sergeant
Joined
Jul 15, 2013
Location
Iowa
153 years ago today, on November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. We all know what his election did for the country. What was the greatest moment of his first term in office?
 
The Emancipation Proclamation. It was brilliant militarily and politically; timed in the only way it could have been. It made the war harder for the South to fight. It iced European recognition for the Confederacy. And it pushed the fundamental moral issue of the war to a point where there could be no going back.
I think this is my favorite moment of his first term as President and for all of the reasons that you stated. It was truly a galvanizing moment in the Civil War and clearly one of it's best.
 
By maneuvering the situation in Charleston Harbor so the Confederacy took the first shot at Ft. Sumter. This galvanized popular public opinion in the North and set the stage for the volunteer army that was to follow. It also set the war as a crusade to "save the Union."
Another solid moment in Lincoln's first term. He made it so the Confederates were the aggressors making the people of the North feel that they had to go out and defend against that same aggressor. Lincoln was truly masterful in getting things to fall his way in this situation. Brilliant!
 
By maneuvering the situation in Charleston Harbor so the Confederacy took the first shot at Ft. Sumter. This galvanized popular public opinion in the North and set the stage for the volunteer army that was to follow. It also set the war as a crusade to "save the Union."

I completely disagree with this. If anyone set up the situation at Sumter, it was President Buchanan; Lincoln merely inherited it. (Unless your entire post was ironic, in which case the irony didn't really come through very well.)
 
Tough to pick one.

I'll go with saying, "One war at a time," and letting Mason and Slidell go after the Trent incident. If he'd dug his heels in then, he may never have had a shot at releasing the E.P.
I had forgotten about this incident. He did the right thing in letting them go to avoid another war.
 
The Emancipation Proclamation. It was brilliant militarily and politically; timed in the only way it could have been. It made the war harder for the South to fight. It iced European recognition for the Confederacy. And it pushed the fundamental moral issue of the war to a point where there could be no going back.

Agree with Emancipation Proclamation, and for the reasons stated.
 
I completely disagree with this. If anyone set up the situation at Sumter, it was President Buchanan; Lincoln merely inherited it. (Unless your entire post was ironic, in which case the irony didn't really come through very well.)
Excuse me, but I believe that Lincoln as President made the decision to resupply Fort Sumter on April 6, 1861, not Buchanan. According to James McPherson in Battle Cry of Freedom, "Lincoln's new conception of the resupply undertaking was a stroke of genius. In effect he was telling Jefferson Davis, 'Heads I win tails you lose'. It was the first sign of the mastery that would mark Lincoln's Presidency." (p.271-272) And no, I am not intending to be ironic. I am not that clever.
 
Last edited:
I agree with Greg Taylor, Lincoln's handling of the Ft. Sumter crisis, because he, had to taek it on-the-fly. He was inaugurated and literally a few hrs later he had a full blown war crisis on his hands. He had to act decisively, yet deliberately, at the same time. With few guidelines in his experience of the gov't itself with which he might refer.


P.S. Abnother turning point of his administration was Lincoln's quickly establishing his authority and leadership over his (Potentially devisive) Cabinent of strong men in their own right, some of whom believed they should have been President rather than Lincoln and all of whom, had little confidence in his ability to lead the country in the devloping crisis. .
 
I agree with Greg Taylor, Lincoln's handling of the Ft. Sumter crisis, because he, had to taek it on-the-fly. He was inaugurated and literally a few hrs later he had a full blown war crisis on his hands. He had to act decisively, yet deliberately, at the same time. With few guidelines in his experience of the gov't itself with which he might refer.


P.S. Abnother turning point of his administration was Lincoln's quickly establishing his authority and leadership over his (Potentially devisive) Cabinent of strong men in their own right, some of whom believed they should have been President rather than Lincoln and all of whom, had little confidence in his ability to lead the country in the devloping crisis. .
Lincoln's ability to wrangle his cabinet and put them into focus was stuff of legends. He had a great, knowledgeable and powerful group of men but they weren't on his side at the start. He got them into focus and got them in line with his ideas and way of thinking. I think that Lincoln's presidency was a strong one thanks in part to the cabinet members that he had.
 
March 11, 1862 - Lincoln removes McClellan as Commander-in-Chief of the Union Armies.

McClellan had been uncooperative, insubordinate and disrespectful of Lincoln almost from the time he was appointed Commander General of the United States Army in November, 1861. McClellan's removal left no doubt who was commander-in-chief and presiidential command of the armed forces would not be challenged similarly until the Korean War.
 
The men Lincoln beat.
26540va.jpg
26766va.jpg
26791va.jpg
 
Excuse me, but I believe that Lincoln as President made the decision to resupply Fort Sumter on April 6, 1861, not Buchanan. According to James McPherson in Battle Cry of Freedom, "Lincoln's new conception of the resupply undertaking was a stroke of genius. In effect he was telling Jefferson Davis, 'Heads I win tails you lose'. It was the first sign of the mastery that would mark Lincoln's Presidency." (p.271-272) And no, I am not intending to be ironic. I am not that clever.

Then I completely disagree. The attempts to resupply Fort Sumter were already well underway before Lincoln got anywhere near Washington. He would have to have been Machiavellian indeed to be pulling the puppet strings of the Buchanan cabinet.
 
Excuse me, but I believe that Lincoln as President made the decision to resupply Fort Sumter on April 6, 1861, not Buchanan...

Buchanan made the decision to resupply Fort Sumter with the Star of the West in January. I have to agree with Mark in that this was really a no-brainer. You have troops in a federal fort under threat. You can't withdraw them without severely damaging national honor and credibility, and getting yourself called a traitor and a coward, and possibly impeached, in the process. And you can't just leave them there to starve.

According to James McPherson in Battle Cry of Freedom, "Lincoln's new conception of the resupply undertaking was a stroke of genius. In effect he was telling Jefferson Davis, 'Heads I win tails you lose'.

I have to say this sounds like a bit of Lincoln-worship on the part of Mr. McPherson. Lincoln was in a box and all he had were bad choices. He wisely chose the lesser of the evils.
 
Buchanan made the decision to resupply Fort Sumter with the Star of the West in January. I have to agree with Mark in that this was really a no-brainer. You have troops in a federal fort under threat. You can't withdraw them without severely damaging national honor and credibility, and getting yourself called a traitor and a coward, and possibly impeached, in the process. And you can't just leave them there to starve.

I have to say this sounds like a bit of Lincoln-worship on the part of Mr. McPherson. Lincoln was in a box and all he had were bad choices. He wisely chose the lesser of the evils.

It was not an easy choice. Feed them or pull them out. What would you have done? (Not just Brass.)
 
Back
Top