OpnCoronet
Lt. Colonel
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
Lincoln really grew as a president and by 1864 election commanded the respect and affection of many. Davis on the other hand grew evermore unpopular and disrespected as president. What qualities in these 2 men produced such different outcomes.
To me, it seems that Davis would have been a much better peace-time Chief Executive, than as a leader of a desperate Revolutionary War of survival. He was essentially deeply conservative(if not reactionary) trying to lead his people, the South, back to a storied, mythic Past. He had very real strength of character and courage to lead a Revolution, but I think his mind was a little too fixed and bureaucratic to be the true revolutionary southern independence required.
Lincoln, to me, was a man for all seasons, self made, self taught, inured to hard physical labor, and personal disappointments, and through it all, had(or developed) a sense of purpose for himself and the United States, whose futures, he seemed to have linked together.
Considering his past, Lincoln was very much a man of the present looking ahead to the future, with confidence and hope.