Junto Boys

TODAY IN 1860

Abraham Lincoln is elected 16th president of the United States

AND IN 1861

Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederacy

BACKGROUND

They were both born in Kentucky less than 100 miles apart and within 12 months of one another. Davis was one of the most successful political figures in the south having in his youth married the daughter of a future President (Zachary Taylor) and serving as Secretary of War (under Franklin Peirce). Before that, the West Point educated Davis had shown his prowess in war having rose to Colonel in the Mexican-American war. He was serving in the U.S. Senate representing Mississippi when the Civil War began. Although he opposed succession in principle, he followed the sentiment of his people.

Lincoln’s political career was never so bright. Other than serving one term in the House of Representative, Lincoln’s experience lied solely in the Illinois legislature. He was even beaten just two years earlier by Stephen Douglas in a bid for an Illinois Senate seat. He was unusually tall for a 19th Century man and he was not too dreamy either. Danny Sheridan would have considered this coaching matchup lopsided although he would have had to recognize the north’s superior offense.

SIGNIFICANCE

Davis had maybe the best General in the war (Lee) to fight a brilliant defensive campaign while Lincoln was always holding tryouts. Davis and Lee hoped to prolong the war long enough to make the north grow weary and bargain for peace. Lincoln showed perseverance never yielding despite defeat after defeat on the battlefield. With a group of worthy adversaries both political and military, Lincoln with his self-taught education and national political inexperience bested them all. How did the American people know? Was greatness always in Lincoln or did he simply rise to the occasion? When they say that the American experiment must have been guided by the hand of providence, it certainly helps explain Lincoln.

TODAY

The Union was saved from fracturing into who knows how many little bits had the South won. The U.S. could have resembled a map of Eastern Europe. On the downside, it was the beginning of Federal authority of localities that would cement itself during the New Deal. With 20% of GDP going to the federal government those are the wages all of us pay for the national conflict 130 years later.

Had the South ended slavery and the North reduced the harmful tarrifs before the 1860 election, things might very well look different.