Lincoln's Diplomacy

[Liz Rosenthal]

Don, I'm really enjoying reading your posts. It looks like your book will make fascinating reading!

I just hope that no one here loses sight of the fact that, whatever Lincoln's hopes were for the Emancipation Proclamation affecting possible European intervention, he also had the domestic front to consider, too, including the Union's overall poor showing militarily thus far, and the very basic reason for issuing the Proclamation - that it struck the first real blow against slavery in a Constitutional way.

Also, shouldn't Lincoln get credit for valuing Seward's services? He clearly made a point of keeping the most talented people in his Administration. If he had had serious concerns about the overall tenor of Seward's diplomatic strategy, I'm sure he would have tried to steer things on a different course, and/or persuaded Seward to do so. We know Lincoln was not a micro-manager, except where his generals failed him. Even FDR, a truly activist president but himself not a micro-manager, knew how to get the most and best out of his cabinet members and other high-level Administration officials. I would say that that that's just as important as the Chief Executive taking the reins himself.