![]() His tragic death, assassinated on good Friday of 1865, is just the last scene, that of martyr and savior, in a lifetime leading up to a nearly mythological place in history.But what we see in those histories are the results of his decisions, not the process. With all these accomplishments and more, Lincoln is head and shoulders about the rest of the pack of Presidents. He has his rightful place in history as the author of the emancipation Proclamation, the first step in eliminating slavery from the nation. His compassion and concern for reuniting the country and healing its wounds is appropriately legendary few leaders in such circumstances have shown such insight and humanity. It is a fact that until 1864, no country had successfully held an election in the midst of a civil war the American accomplishment was both unique and downright awe-inspiring.At least as far back as Shelby Foote’s 3-volume masterpiece, The Civil War A Narrative, in any in-depth history of the Civil War, Lincoln comes across as a decisive leader and politically shrewd in fact, most historians call him a political genius. It probably came with a recognition that Lincoln as the president of a democracy engaged in a civil war managed to both prosecute a war and preside over a bitterly factionalized country with astounding success. ![]() It’s really only been in the relatively recent past-maybe 20 years, maybe less-that there has been a coalescing of opinion around Abraham Lincoln as the greatest President the United States has ever had. ![]()
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