Name That President

An American newspaper had this to say about the President:

The more we see and hear of [him in] ... Washington, the more we are forced to the conclusion that he is not even a man of ordinary capacity. He assumes to be insensible of the difficulties before him -- treats the most startling political question with childish simplicity, and manifests much of the disposition of the mad fanatic who meets his fate -- not in the spirit of respectful Christian resignation, but with the insane smile of derision upon his lips, as if unconscious of the destiny that awaits him. We may readily anticipate that such a man will be the pliant tool of ambitious demagogues, and that his administration will be used to subserve their wicked purposes.

George Bush?

Nope. That's the Montgomery Post writing in 1861 about Abraham Lincoln, and that in the period after the Southern states had seceded from the Union but before Lincoln took office and Fort Sumter happened. In just four short months, Lincoln was elected, the Union was sundered, the Confederacy came into being, and men took sides. The whole nation was turned topsy-turvy and hung there, waiting....

I've been struck for some years now with the parallels between that era and its climate and the nation today. Slavery was the distillation and emotional touchstone for a variety of related issues (economic mostly, but also fundamental) then as abortion is today a distillation of all kinds of individual rights issues. The political process was overtaken by emotional men from the extremes determined to advance agendas at whatever cost to the nation. Most Americans didn't see the coming calamity, or refused to believe it possible. Many thought solutions possible by compromises which only worsened the underlying problems and put off the final resolution.

This is not to equate slavery and abortion. Don't misread me. Rather, titanic realignments are underway and tectonic forces are grinding against each other. How we handle them, do we address them, is what will determine whether we have another nation-destroying earthquake or a series of mild rumbles.

Of course, America is a much different nation today than it was then, in large part because of who won the War and how the peace afterwards was handled. We are certainly a less brutal place, less harsh, but we also have a Federal government with a scope and reach that would take the breath away from anyone from that era. The old balance -- the States have priority and pre-eminence over the Federal -- was upended and reversed, to the point where the states today are almost little more than administrative units. We are a far more crowded nation, with none of the sense of endless vistas and far horizons that shaped us then.

Anyway.

I've been reading Bruce Catton's first volume, The Coming Fury, of his three volume Centennial History of the Civil War. It's an uneven but page-turning book. Catton firmly plants all blame for the Late Unpleasantness on Southern slave-holding planters and their desire to retain a Jeffersonian agrarian utopia in the face of the Industrial Revolution. He hasn't, so far, addressed at all Northern trade demands and the import tariffs. He has only glancingly touched on state's rights. He also tends to skim over the abolitionists and their spokesmen.

But it's a very readable and enjoyable book. He has a knack for working his research into his narrative entertainingly, more so than modern authors like Ben Franklin's Walter Isaacson or John Adam's David McCollough. He makes minor characters come alive and illuminates the possibilities of certain events.

For instance, the brand-new Republican Party held its first national convention (1860) in young and brawling Chicago. It was held in a building called The Wigwam, an enormous wooden barn-like structure lit by gas torches! Why the thing didn't burn down, especially after Lincoln won the nomination and the whole place exploded in joy, is a wonder of history.

In fact, Lincoln almost missed the nomination. The convention's first day was so exciting and the conventioneers so fired up that they were ready to make the nomination that Friday evening. William Seward was by far the favorite at that moment and had he been nominated then would have walked away with it. But the clerk didn't have enough forms to record the nominating votes on, so they adjourned until the next day. That night, sensing opportunity, Lincoln's men went to work and by very early in the morning had secured enough "second round" votes to satisfy them.

The next day's voting wasn't a first-round win for Seward, to his surprise, and all of Lincoln's promised votes materialised on the second. Sensing the change, other states rushed to make the nomination unanimous and Lincoln was the man!

All because of a lack of the proper forms.

Not only that, but here's one for the baseball fans. (That's you, Len.) A young captain was stationed at Fort Moutrie in Charleston, South Carolina with the small garrison. The garrison was moved, after South Carolina seceded, to the more defendable Fort Sumter across the bay. He served with distinction and survived the war, to later create an American pastime.

Who was that young captain? Abner Doubleday!

As I said, Catton's view of events is skewed (he started writing it in the late Fifties) but his narrative is detailed and absorbing. You can really get the sense of the men and the times. I suspect that reading Shelby Foote's Civil War series (also a trilogy) as a counter-balance might be called for.

But where will I find the time for this much reading, when I surf the Internet so omnivorously? Sigh....