Team of Rivals

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin reveals in her highly original work that Abraham Lincoln’s political genius allowed him to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president. On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. Yet Lincoln succeeded where they failed because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men—an ability that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals.