The Young Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16ᵗʰ President of the United States, and arguably one of the greatest leaders of all time. He was well-known for his leniency towards his opposition and his patience with his subordinates. For example, during the Civil War, many of Lincoln’s generals did their jobs horribly, and half the nation condemned their incompetency, but Lincoln showed no malice towards them. In another instance, when others spoke harshly of the southern people, Lincoln replied: “Don’t criticise them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.”

In April 1865, as he was dying in a hall bedroom of a cheap lodging house directly across the street from Ford’s Theatre where he was shot, Edwin Stanton, who served as Lincoln’s Secretary of War at that time, commented, “There lies the most perfect ruler of men that the world has ever seen.” 

Surprisingly, when Lincoln was young, he was far from the great man he is known today. According to Dale Carnegie (1932, 1936), as a young man in the Pigeon Creek Valley of Indiana, Lincoln often wrote letters and poems ridiculing people, and dropped these letters in places where they were sure to be found. After becoming a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, he even attacked his opponents openly in letters published in the newspapers, which often aroused resentments of a lifetime.

In the autumn of 1842 he ridiculed a politician called James Shields by publishing an anonymous letter in Springfield Journal, and it boiled Shields with utmost anger. Unluckily, Shields found out who wrote the letter, and stormed to Lincoln’s place to challenge him to a duel. Although Lincoln didn’t want to fight, he couldn’t avoid it without risking his honour, so he was forced to participate.

Lincoln took the duel seriously. When he was given the choice of weapons. he chose cavalry broadswords since he had long arms. He also took lessons in sword fighting from a West Point graduate to improve his chances. On the appointed day, he and Shields met on a sandbar in the Mississippi River, prepared to fight to the death.

How did it end? Well, at the last minute, their seconds interrupted and stopped the duel, so the joust never took place and no one died.

It was the most invaluable lesson in Lincoln’s life. After this incident, he never wrote another insulting letter or poem again, and never criticised anybody for anything. He had finally learnt how a leader should deal with others.

REFERENCE: Carnegie, D (1932). Lincoln, the Unknown. New York, NY: The Century Co.