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McPherson and Hearn on Abraham Lincoln Essay

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The presidency of Abraham Lincoln came during a highly radical and chaotic period of American history. For historians such as James McPherson, they see Lincoln as the greatest leader in American history. For McPherson, Lincoln succeeded in combining military pragmatism with the political ideologies of the North, as well as Lincoln’s own idealism, thus assuring Northern victory. However, not all historians agree that Lincoln was a masterful tactician. Chester Hearn, believes that although Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s most venerable statesmen, his presidency was marked by flaws and a general misunderstanding of how war is waged. McPherson’s Tried by War and Hearn’s Lincoln, The Cabinet and the Generals, make the argument for each of …show more content…

Although Hearn does not entirely refute the commonly view of Lincoln as a brilliant tactician and morally inspired leader, he also provides many examples of Lincoln’s failures. Many of the policies, which McPherson celebrates, Hearn depicts as misguided and desperate.
Although James McPherson presents Lincoln as having numerous qualities that defined him as a brilliant leader, he wastes no time in revealing what he believes to be Lincoln’s greatest strength. In his Introduction, McPherson states regarding Lincoln’s political leadership: “In a civil war whose origins lay in a political conflict over the future of slavery and a political decision by certain states to secede, policy could never be separated from national strategy…. And neither policy nor national strategy could be separated from military strategy” (McPherson, p.6). Lincoln could not approach the war from a purely martial standpoint—instead, he needed to focus on the issues that caused it. For the catalyst of the war was also the tool for its solution; a war started by differing ideologies could only be resolved through the military application of ideology. This non-objective approach to the waging of the war almost resembles the inspired approach McPherson brings to his examination of Lincoln himself.
For Hearn, Lincoln’s true level of tactical skill is hard to discern due to the legendary status that history has given him. In response to this confusion, Hearn

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