Even Lincoln's first 2 years weren't great

Few of us realize that the first two years of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency was one failure after another. He had served one term in the House of Representatives, and although he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate thereafter, he held only minor local offices before being elected President and was considered lacking in experience.

His election to the presidency was a confluence of strands of luck, calculation by other politicians, and a perception (by conflicting groups) that they could control him. The first two years of his presidency were disastrous. His international policy nearly brought England into war against the northern states. Military bungling cost the Northern army almost every major battle. Graft, corruption and pork-barreling were rampant, and while Lincoln personally struggled financially, many of his colleagues made fortunes in war industries.

In the 1862 midterm elections, his supporters were badly defeated. The press ridiculed him for failing to take action, his life was threatened, and his own cabinet openly defied him. Cartoonists portrayed him as a monkey. Even the speech he made at Gettysburg was ridiculed. (Yes, the same speech we now hold up as a model of eloquence.)

Yet Lincoln persevered. Eventually the Army started winning, war prosperity brought its benefits to the economy, and his opponents argued and divided among themselves. In 1864, he was re-elected and in the years since, the failures of the first two years of his presidency have been forgotten.

Marian Tomlinson

Glen Ellyn