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March 15, 2010
The almost universal perception of Abraham Lincoln is of a kind, big-hearted and almost pacifist personality who, in spite of being caught in the maelstrom of war, never really endorsed its cruelty or harshness. He himself confessed that he had felt shame and remorse as a youth after shooting and killing a wild turkey, a rather common occurrence on the frontier, where people killed game in order to eat. Except for some immature political attacks made as a young man, his manner even with his political enemies was unfailingly gracious and kind. He did not hold grudges and saw no value in revenge or retaliation. Both as a lawyer and politician, he developed a reputation as one who could reconcile and conciliate.
Doris Kerns Goodwin, in Team of Rivals describes in a masterful way how Lincoln brought together in his cabinet men who had competed with him for the presidential nomination.1 She correctly identified that achievement as a tribute to his lack of ego and his ability to work with disparate personalities. When he discharged the disreputable and ineffectual Simon Cameron as Secretary of War, he turned to a Democrat, Edwin Stanton, a surprising choice both because he was a Democrat and because Stanton had humiliated Lincoln years earlier in a court case. Stanton not only snubbed him in the trial, even though they were on the same side, but referred to him as "that d____d long armed ape."2 Lincoln patiently tolerated personal attacks, never answering in kind.
Throughout the war, Lincoln continued his kind and empathetic approach. He insisted on reading all court martial cases resulting in the death penalty. Most of the cases involved young soldiers running away in fright (or because they were homesick) or sleeping on guard duty. Lincoln understood the need for discipline and good order, but he found it difficult to endorse the death penalty. In almost all cases, he commuted the sentences and sent the men back to duty. Secretary Stanton regularly exploded with exasperation and rage at Lincoln's compassion, certain that Lincoln was undermining military discipline.
As busy as he was prosecuting the war and running the government, when Lincoln learned that over 300 Sioux Indians in Minnesota had been sentenced to death...