Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

In 1859, Lincoln continues to build his national reputation, while William Seward, the obvious forerunner for the nomination takes an eight-month trip across Europe, where he is treated like the heir apparent to the office by many of the European dignitaries he meets with. However, the trip turns out to be a terrible mistake; while he is away, his main opponents make allies who work against Seward’s election in the coming months.

Like Seward, Salmon Chase also proves to be overly optimistic about his chances and does not campaign the way that Lincoln does. Because of this, although both men have better national name recognition than Lincoln, they lose ground to him. Kearns Goodwin writes, “Not hindered by the hubris, delusions, and inconsistencies that plagued his three chief rivals, Abraham Lincoln gained steady ground through a combination of hard work, skill, and luck” (224).

Leading into the showdown in Chicago, the country is rocked by John Brown’s raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Brown hopes to incite a slave rebellion, but he ends up alienating the political factions that are not yet sure how to deal with the slavery question. Because of this, the issue of slavery is elevated to an even higher platform at the Republican National Convention, where Republicans realize that they need to have a solid candidate in order to defeat the strong Democratic voting bloc in the South led by

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