Agreed. I go with Ben Franklin, though.
Franklin is an excellent choice. I think there have only been 3 American statesmen that I would consider to be a genius and Franklin was certainly one of them. It's unfortunate that he had not been a younger man at the time of the Revolution, (or maybe not, genius or not, he wasn't the leader or visionary that Washinton was) as I'm sure he would have made a great President.
But I think Lincoln walks away with it for a number of reasons, none of which have to do with the mythology that was created about Lincoln after his assassination and I don't even have the time of day for the delusional, paranoid revisionist about Lincoln like Dixie and STY.
First consider, Not one single great leader in our history, either in politics, commerce, science or industry came from as humble a back ground as Lincoln. Lincoln was born in abject poverty, in a remote cabin in the wilderness and only had little more than a years formal education, which he over came to reach the highest public office in the land. No leader in any field in the entire history of our nation overcame as many obstacles to rise as far as Lincoln did from such humble origins.
Lincoln not only over came these obstacles, he also lead our nation during it's greatest crises, he kept the Union from disintegrating and he ended slavery in this nation.
Consider Lincoln's political skills. He did something that would be considered political suicide today. He appointed all three of his Republican political opponents for the nomination to his cabinet. Chase, Seward and Bates. All Three intrinsically believed they were better men then Lincoln and said so publicly. All three believed that Lincoln was a fool and that they would actually run the Presidency behind the scenes. All three began their tenure in his cabinet as openly insubordinate. Lincoln politically mastered all three of them and bent them to his purposes.
In our nations greatest crises Lincoln forever changed the role of the Presidency as never before. His pragmatic and practical approach to interpreting the Constitution had much to do with his success and laid much of the ground work for the Union winning the Civil War. As he famously stated "There's no purpose to construe the Constitution....by any hypercritical rules." This revolutionary belief by Lincoln that, spaciously interpreted, the Constitution could over come any crises is largely responsible for propagating our Union to this day and for the ability of our Chief Executives to be able to lead this through crises.
Lincolns actions at the outset of the war demonstrates this genius. The founders of the Constitution envisioned the President and Congress working as partners in time of war. What they didn't anticipate was Congress design to not act, deliberate and to proceed slowly and cautiously was not conducive to managing a crises. When Ft. Sumter was fired upon Lincoln acted alone and swiftly. Within 2 days of the attack Lincoln had called out State Militia to the number of 75,000 men. Within a week in imposed a blockade on Confederate Ports an action which had, until that time, normally been preceeded by a declaration of war. Within 3 weeks of the attack he called for Volunteers to supplement the Army and the Navy, an action normally reserved for congress. These actions and others were brilliant. They tilted the advantage in the war decidedly to the Union from the very out set. Congress, on the other hand, did not meet to deliberate the situation till July 4th of that year. More then 2 and a half months after the attack on Ft. Sumter. Thus was born the Presidential perogative we know to this day as "The War Powers".
Did Lincoln over step his powers and authority? You betcha he did but no less an authority then Thomas Jefferson noted that in times of crises the President was justified in going beyond Constitutional powers only in circumstances where following it would mean "absurdly sacrificing the ends to the means." but it took the genius of Lincoln to demonstrate this truth. Had not Lincoln adopted these "War Powers" it's entirely possible that the Union war effort would have been hopelessly crippled or as Lincoln so aptly stated that he “remained faithful to the spirit, if not the letter of the Constitution, acting on the spirit to save the letter.”
Lincoln though was no tyrant or dictator and claims to that affect by the revisionist are not only asinine but laughable in the face of the facts. Lincoln did adopt extra Constitutional powers but he also allowed the mechanisms of accountability, Congress, the courts, and free elections – to persist unchecked. What’s more, no dictator would have tolerated the fierce opposition that Lincoln did, both from Congress, newspapers and even his own Cabinet members. Nor would he have submitted to a presidential election in the midst of war had he been either.
As for his war strategy again this unschooled backwoodsman demonstrates his genius. It is a tenet of modern war is that if success in war is to be national in scope then National and Military strategies must be compatible with each other. This was Lincolns primary contribution to winning the Civil War. Lincoln understood that he could not win this war by conquering Confederate territory. He knew that he could only win this war by by unconditional surrender of the Southern states and that to precipitate this he had to commit the nation, and our military, for total and unlimited war. This was thinking waaaay out side the box and it proved critical for Union success as Lincoln demonstrated when he ordered McClellan to "destroy the rebel army" outside of Antietam. McClellan failed to do so and Lincoln promptly removed him from command.
But if one really wants just a peek at Lincolns genius it's not hard. One only has to look at his incredible communication skills. How he could condense extraordinarily abstract concepts and condense them to the very essence of their meaning as he did with the meaning of the Civil War via the Gettysburg Address or towards Reconstruction as he did in his Second Inaugural Address.
If one were to draw a conclusion about Lincoln and his presidency it would be to say, without any reservation, that Lincoln dealt with every significant challenge of his day with superlative ability and attentiveness in equal measure. As a nation we owe an incalculable debt to this man.
