President Lincoln and the Sioux Indian uprising in Minnesota in 1862

[STS Lincolnite]

(09-23-2014 09:22 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 12:36 AM)My Name Is Kate Wrote:  These are some of the thoughts that would haunt me, had I been in Lincoln's shoes. I would like to know how he resolved them, or pushed them to the back of his mind so he could continue to function. I would especially like to know if he cursed the day he decided to become a politician, or did he not foresee until it was too late, situations such as this, that would drive the average conscientious person insane? Surely he did.

I second Gene.

Lincoln decided to become a politician long before he decided to become a lawyer. Sure it wasn't his objective to become president in wartime, but once (in 1862) stated that "perhaps he might be an instrument in God's hand of accomplishing a great work and he certainly was not unwilling to be". I think he did not regret his decision at all.

To deal with haunting thoughts I think is what drew him to God and the bible in later life (and you know what people and peoples can do and bear in the name of God, positive as well as negative, no judgement intended here).

I concur with both Gene and Eva. I always think of a principle that Stepen Covey articulated: "Begin with the end in mind." I have always thought Lincoln exemplified this. He understood that sacrifices (personal and otherwise - no matter how revolting or terrible they might be) would have to be made to acheive, in the end, what he believed would be a greater good. This has been true throughout history. I would suppose that the way that he was able to cope with all the death and carnage of those times (especially that which he was force to order and support) was to keep reminding himself that there was a greater good that he was working toward as "an instrument in God's hand" (as Eva quoted) and that it would in fact eventually be acheived.