Lincoln, Abraham

"I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship."

Lincoln's letter to Joseph Hooker giving him command of the Army of the Potomac, Jan. 26, 1863
Digging up old stuff, but William42 became glorybound.
 
The question has been raised whether it is appropriate to hold the current year's election as scheduled while a pandemic is going on.

It is perhaps appropriate to recall that a similar question was raised in 1864. On that occasion, of course, the question came about because the Civil War, rather than a pandemic, was in progress, but the question was basically the same.

According to Calvin Schermerhorn, history professor at Arizona State, Lincoln commented as follows:

"We cannot have free governments without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."
 
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