1. David L. Broussard
MGS 8440 - Work Team Design and Development
Barbara Reilly, PhD
J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University
Abraham Lincoln:
Virtuoso Team Leader?
Who among us, irrespective of political party identity or ideology, did not learn as part
of our early exposure to American history the Gettysburg Address?
President Abraham Lincoln went to the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania on
November 19, 1863 to consecrate the cemetery grounds of the great Civil War battle that
incurred 51,000 causalities between the Confederate forces lead by General Robert E.
Lee and the Union forces lead by General George Meade. (1)
During this two minute speech President Lincoln reminded the nation and entire world
what America is all about. These profound words have guided millions and serves as
an inspiration throughout the ages.
The Gettysburg Address illuminates the challenge faced by an obscure one-term
congressman and prairie lawyer from Illinois who was elected 16th President of the
United States of America in 1860.
[The Past]
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new
nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal.
[The Present]
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those
who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this.
[Renewal]
But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we can not hallow –
this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it,
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long
remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they who fought here,
have, thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be dedicated to the great task
remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly
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resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom-
[The Future]
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.”(2)
Clearly, America was in a battle for its very existence. If the great experiment in
democracy established by the founding fathers was to survive and flourish America
desperately needed a great leader. Was Abraham Lincoln to be that man?
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Doris Kearns Goodwin, an acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize winner in history, has
written a 916 page multiple biography about President Abraham Lincoln and his entire
team of political rivals who he recruited to the four key positions in his cabinet.
Her book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” was published
on October 25, 2005 by Simon & Schuster (ISBN-13: 978-0-684-82490-1).
Michiko Kakutani, wrote in the New York Times Book Review:
“The result is a book that gives us a portrait of Lincoln as a virtuosic politician and
managerial genius – a sort of visionary CEO whose magnanimity, wisdom, humor and
shrewd political instincts helped him to hold together a contentious cabinet and even
more contentious coalition of Republicans, moderate Democrats and border-state
Unionist, and thereby wage a successful war to preserve the Union and emancipate the
slaves.”(3)
Virtuoso Teams
Is Michiko Kakutani correct when he states President Lincoln was a virtuosic politician
and managerial genius, in essence, a Virtuoso Leader?
To answer this question I will mainly rely not only on “Team of Rivals,” but also on a
book by Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer titled “Virtuoso Teams.”
 Virtuoso Teams
Clearly, Boynton and Fischer state that virtuoso teams are catalysts for big change
where they are managed using different approaches so that they achieve great things.
In this vein, virtuoso teams, according to Boynton and Fischer, demonstrate the
following key elements:
Assembled specifically for creating big change,
Composed of individual superstars, or virtuosos, in every team position,
Led in a fundamentally different way from a normal team,
A team experience that not only profoundly changes the organization, customer, or industry, but also
changes the leader and team members as a career-defining moment.
Created specifically to be a team that does not remain together over multiple initiatives or projects. (4)
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The cabinet President Lincoln assembled was quite unusual in that it was composed of
his political rivals. We shall see if they indeed can be regarded as a virtuoso team!
 Seven Lessons for Virtuoso Teams
In concert with understanding the characteristics of “Virtuoso Teams,” Boynton and
Fischer have identified seven lessons that are essential for their successful leadership.
Essentially, these seven lessons are targeted to Virtuoso Team Leaders and are as
follows:
1. Virtuoso team leaders drive the culture, vision, and action within the team context,
2. Virtuoso team leaders recruit the very best talent and never settle for what’s available,
3. Virtuoso team leaders double-stretch the customer and the team to achieve ambitious goals,
4. Virtuoso team leaders spotlight the individual “I” with the team, and not the conventional “we,”
5. Organizations cultivate a marketplace for talent within the organization to facilitate the creation of
virtuoso teams,
6. Virtuoso team leaders actively span boundaries and act as powerful conduits of ideas, and
7. Virtuoso team leaders stimulate idea flow by managing space, process, and time. (5)
Key Question
To test the above referenced statement by Michiko Kakutani that President
Lincoln was, in essence, a Virtuoso Team Leader, these seven key lessons
identified by Boynton and Fischer will be used to see if big change actually
occurred and if Lincoln managed his team differently so that they could
achieve great things.
Historical Reminder
Article 1, Section 9, paragraph 1 of the United States Constitution reads:
“The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall
think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one
thousand eight hundred and eight.” (6)
Joseph J. Ellis, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Founding Brother: The
Revolutionary Generation” provides an insightful and most interesting discussion of
the role slavery had in the drafting of the American Constitution. He reminds us of the
heated and divisive debate about the status of slaves with this quote:
“No less a source than Madison believed that slavery was the central cause of the most
elemental division in the Constitutional Convention: ‘the States were divided into
different interests not by their difference of size,’ Madison observed, ‘but principally
from their having or not having slaves…. It did not lie between the large and small
States: it lay between the Northern and Southern.’” (7)
The North and South division was rectified with what has become know as the
“Sectional Compromise.” Essentially, a bargain in the form of exchanged votes was
struck whereby New England delegates agreed to support the extension of slavery for
twenty years (to 1808) with Southern delegates agreeing to make the federal regulation
of commerce subject to a mere majority vote rather than a supermajority of two-thirds.
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The inclusion of Article 1 into the Constitution highlights the underpinnings of the
persistence of the slavery question. Both the North and South thought they had won
the debate. The North believed that slavery was diminishing under its own immoral
weight while the South thought the North could not or would not ever emancipate their
slaves.
Both the North and South would be proven wrong resulting in the eventual loss of
600,000 American lives during the four-year period between 1860 and 1864 known as
the Civil War. (8)
If there was ever a need for a great American Virtuoso Leader now was the time!
Key People
“Team of Rivals,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin provides an in-depth profile of President
Lincoln and his four key cabinet officers and their struggle to win the Civil War. What
is so interesting, and the subject of this multiple biography, revolves around the fact
that four of the profiled individuals contended for the 1860 Republican presidential
nomination.
More startling is that from even before Lincoln invited his rivals to serve in his cabinet
they all held him in contempt and thought they were better qualified to be President. It
was unfathomable to all four that Lincoln could have actually defeated them for the
Republican nomination and then actually win the general election to become the 16th
president of the United States of America.
Needless to say, the personal relationships and group dynamics of these five men
preserved the Union and emancipated the slaves thus earning them the love and
respect of an entire nation. Their story during this trying time is one of American
legend!
1. Abraham Lincoln: Two hundred thirty three (233) votes were needed to win the
1860 Republican nomination for the presidency. Abraham Lincoln won on the third
ballot after receiving 235.5 votes defeating Salmon P. Chase, William H. Seward and
Edward Bates after which the tally was made unanimous. (9) On Election Day,
November 6, 1860 Lincoln received 180 electoral votes to surpass the required
majority of 152 and was therefore elected 16th President of the United States of
America. (10)
2. Edwin M. Stanton: During the summer of 1855 Abe Lincoln had been retained to
represent a legal client only to be replaced by Edwin Stanton because of a change in
venue. Lincoln was not told of the change and showed up to argue the case only to
be ridiculed and called a “long armed ape” by Stanton. (11)
Six years later, President Lincoln offered the job of Secretary of War to Edwin M.
Stanton as a replacement for James Cameron. (12)
3. Salmon P. Chase: Chase played a prominent role in the formation of the Republican
Party having served as both senator and governor of Ohio. He was a staunch friend
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of the black man over a long period of time. He felt that the party owed the
nomination to him and as a result did little in terms of campaigning. Chase became
Secretary of the Treasury. (13)
4. William H. Seward: After serving two terms as governor of New York, Seward
represented his state in the U. S. Senate for more than a decade. He became
Secretary of State in the Lincoln administration.
Seward was very upset with his loss to Lincoln for the presidential nomination and
continually harbored a desire to become President. This desire manifested itself
with his attempt to regard Lincoln as a figurehead while he in fact made all the
decisions. Of course, he quickly learned that Lincoln would have none of this. (14)
5. Edward Bates: As a former Missouri congressman, Edward Bates was highly
regarded for his opinion. In fact, he had helped frame the Missouri Constitution.
After leaving office he was pursued for over twenty years to run again. He did so
in 1860 when he tossed his hat into the ring as a candidate for the Republican
nomination for president. Of course he lost to Lincoln and when Lincoln offered
him the cabinet position of Attorney General he accepted with the country “in
trouble and danger.” (15)
President Lincoln had managed to get the Republican nomination for President in a
field of highly qualified competitors much to their chagrin. But more importantly, he
won the presidential election and surprised all of them by asking them to join him in his
cabinet even though to a man they though him to be inferior and a poor choice.
This momentous decision literally changed the course of American and world history as
Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” managed to successfully preserve the Union from
dissolution and at the same time emancipate hundreds of thousands of slaves.
Virtuoso Leader
Lesson 1:
Virtuoso team leaders
drive the culture, vision, and action within the team context.
Boynton and Fischer state:
“Virtuoso teams are not democracies: they have strong leaders that powerfully drive the
the team, its vision, culture, and the results. Despite their emphasis on individual
accomplishment and performance, all of the virtuoso teams that we’ve looked at have, at
their center, a single strong leader. Even in situations where there are several strong
individuals and occasions of shared leadership, there always emerges one individual
who is the real driving force behind the team.” (16)
Abraham Lincoln proved to be a single strong leader and his leadership within the team
context was demonstrated on these occasions:
1) Seward thought he was the power behind a weak president and was upset when
Lincoln went against his advice and decided to reinforce Ft. Sumter, (17)
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2) Lincoln followed his inaugural pledge and did not use force or invade the South,
resulting in the Confederates firing the first shot at Ft. Sumter to start the Civil War
which was a important point for the Union states, (18)
3) Lincoln revised a dispatch originally written by Seward that kept Britain and France
from entering the war on the side of the South and then gave Seward credit for this
important development, (19)
4) Lincoln controlled members of his cabinet and military officers who wanted to move
to fast to free the slaves because he understood the timing was not right and this
action would drive border states to the Confederacy, (20)
5) During the summer of 1862 Lincoln supported a bill in Congress that provided for
the compensated emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia, (21)
6) Although Lincoln had drafted the Emancipation Proclamation he did not announce
it because he realized he could not get public support until the timing was right.
This proved to be a significant insight and decision. The Battle of Antietam, a large
Union victory, proved to be the triggering event that allowed the President to move
the nation forward, (22) (23)
7) Lincoln supports Chase when his duplicitous behavior caused Seward to offer his
resignation resulting in the Cabinet putting aside their quarrel with Seward, thus
allowing the strong minded and willed Cabinet to stay intact, (24)
8) The nation early on recognizes the true value of Lincoln’s qualities and his
common-sense vision for winning the war, (25)
9) President Lincoln is re-elected with 212 electoral votes to just 21 votes for his
opponent (former General McClellan), reflecting the support and confidence of the
nation for his vision and actions, (26)
10) “There is but one vote in the cabinet, “ asserted Seward, “and that is cast by the
President.” (27)
11) Although they had been bitter foes and had many disagreements, Lincoln appointed
Chase to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Lincoln later said he “would rather
have swallowed his buckhorn chair than to have nominated Chase, but the decision
was right for the country,” (28)
12) Lincoln personally persuades five Democrats to support the Joint Resolution to
amend the Constitution of the United States resulting in the 13th Amendment
passing and officially ending slavery. (29)
13) Lincoln offered favorable surrender terms to General Robert E. Lee that resulted in
the country beginning the healing process and the return of the Southern states to
the Union, (30)
14) Upon the surrender of the South to General U. S. Grant, Lincoln addresses the nation
by asking the band to play “Dixie” so that the Southerners knew they were welcome
back in the Union and then to play “Yankee Doodle” to recognize the tremendous
effort and sacrifice of the citizens of the North. (31)
Lesson 2:
Virtuoso team leaders
recruit the very best talent and never settle for what’s available.
Boynton and Fischer state:
“Big talent is a fundamental starting point for leaders with a vision for big change.
Leaders who not only want to change the world, but who are actually doing so, surround
themselves with teams of great people. Rather than trying to do it on their own (often
impossible), or having to ‘pull’ less capable people along with them, the leaders of
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virtuoso teams give themselves a head start by recruiting the best people to help them
achieve their goal.” (32)
President Lincoln began his time in office by recruiting people of the highest caliber and
then matched their personal skills, knowledge and experience with the most
appropriate cabinet position. As a team they changed the world. Amazingly these key
positions were filled with his political rivals.
1) Lincoln was a strong advocate for forming regiments of black soldiers. Eventually
180,000 black soldiers were deployed in the Union Army. The enlistment of black
troops was a transformational event in that it created a clear claim for citizenship for
blacks that had fought for their country. Lincoln said, “The bare sight of fifty
thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would
end the rebellion at once.” (33)
2) In the spring of 1863 Stanton devised a plan to move huge numbers of troops and
supplies to Tennessee resulting in Chattanooga not being surrendered to the
Confederates. Although not trained in military strategy, Stanton was credited by
General Grant with the prevention of a terrible disaster. As a result of Stanton’s
hard work and brilliance as the Secretary of War, Lincoln would call him his “Mars.”
(34)
3) Stanton once refused to appoint a man that Lincoln had nominated at the bequest of
a constituent by saying, “The position is of high importance… I do not care what
the President wants; the country wants the very best it can get. I am serving the
country…. Regardless of individuals.” Lincoln responded by saying, “Gentlemen, I
do not see how he survives, why he is not crushed and torn to pieces. Without him I
should be destroyed. He performs his task superhumanly. Now do not mind this
matter, for Mr. Stanton is right and I cannot wrongly interfere with him.” (35)
4) Lincoln appointed Gideon Welles Secretary of the Navy to the benefit of the Union
naval forces as he increased the fleet from 76 ships to 671 ships and effectively
blockaded Southern ports, thus, reducing the amount of supplies and material
entering and leaving the Confederacy. (36)
5) Attorney General Bates concluded, “that place of birth, not color of skin, determined
citizenship.” Thus, the infamous Dred Scott case that declared blacks were not
citizens had been decided incorrectly. He decisions stand as landmarks of
constitutional interpretation. (37)
6) Within hours of Chase assuming the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
he admitted the first black attorney to practice as a member of the Court. (38)
Lesson 3:
Virtuoso team leaders
double-stretch the customer and the team to achieve ambitious goals.
Boynton and Fischer state:
“Virtuoso team leaders challenge their teams not only to stretch themselves to heights of
greater intensity and effort, but also to stretch the customer’s experience by delivering
unanticipated and higher levels of fulfillment. This double-stretch energizes the team
and reinforces the self-confidence that is the hallmark of the individual star-performer
within a powerful team context.”(39)
President Lincoln provided the entire nation with vision and hope but energized his
team of rivals to accomplish their unified goal of preserving the union and
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emancipating the slaves. If they were to be successful the team must have a high level
of effort over a long and arduous time period. Both the cabinet and the nation aligned
in their quest. He stretched them with some very brave and courageous decisions.
1) The Emancipation Proclamation freed three and a half million blacks living in the
South. He timed the publication of this document to the right moment so as to
maximize the impact. (40)
2) On November 19, 1863 Lincoln expressed the feeling and thoughts of an entire
nation when he spoke at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. With the
Gettysburg Address Lincoln “translated the story of his country and the meaning of
the war into words and ideas accessible to every American.” This short two-minute
speech would live forever in the history of America. (41)
3) Lincoln engineered the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which
abolished slavery in the United States. (42)
Lesson 4:
Virtuoso leaders spotlight
the individual “I” within the team, and not the “we.”
Boynton and Fischer state:
“The virtuoso leaders we studied enabled each “I” - individual star performer – to soar,
allowing great leaders to produce even greater results without becoming preoccupied
with the “we” that influences so much contemporary management thought. Rather than
fitting individuals into behavior that emphasizes – “we” - teamwork, virtuoso team
leaders refuse to diminish the power of the individual “I.” …. Why get great talent on
the team and then average it down to keep everyone happy? Virtuoso teams are not
about getting polite results. (43)
Although Lincoln’s team of rivals was accomplishing Herculean feats, in the final
analysis the struggle to preserve the Union and emancipate the slaves had to be won on
the battlefield. The war was going badly for the Union because the army was lead by
generals who lacked vision and were unable to deliver a viable winning war strategy. It
was Lincoln’s responsibility solely as President to solve this monumental problem.
1) Lincoln finally found a general in U. S. Grant that could lead armies to victory.
Lincoln worked with and supported Grant by allowing him to actually use his
strong sense of self coupled with a brilliant military mind to develop a three prong
strategy to divide and conquer Lee’s Confederate army. In support of Grant,
Lincoln promoted him to Lieutenant General, the highest rank in the Union army.
Grant respected Lincoln and is famous for writing to Lincoln and saying, “Should
my success be less than I desire, and expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with
you.” (44)
2) After General Sherman’s famous burning of Atlanta and his “March to the Sea,”
Lincoln sent him the following personal note; “The honor is all yours; for I believe
none of us went further than to acquiesce.” (45)
Lesson 5:
Virtuoso team leaders draft from a
“marketplace” for talent in their organization.
Boynton and Fischer state:
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“Mobility of talent is a hallmark of organizations where virtuoso team leaders thrive and
succeed because they draft the very best people they can get. We refer to such conditions
as being a ‘marketplace for talent,’ where fluidity and movement of talent must be
allowed…. In a very real sense, anyone in an organization who is an all-star performer
should be fair game for virtuoso team selection, no matter where they are formerly
located.” (46)
Throughout Lincoln’s time in office he had assembled a virtuoso team of cabinet
members but his real problem manifested itself in a rather poor cadre of generals.
Many of the Union generals looked good on paper but were not very decisive on the
battlefield. As a result, Lincoln had to draft from the ‘marketplace for talent’ that was
available to him. Eventually, he found the generals that were needed to win the war.
1) The first general Lincoln tried to recruit to head the Union Army was Robert E. Lee.
He declined and was later designated commander of the Confederate forces. (47)
2) General Halleck assumes post of General in Chief. (48)
3) General Burnside replaces General McClellan. (49)
4) General Hooker replaces General Burnside. (50)
5) General Meade replaces General Hooker. (51)
6) General Grant takes command of all the Union armies. (52)
7) General Halleck becomes Chief of Staff. (53)
8) General Sherman assumes command of the western armies. (54)
Lesson 6:
Virtuoso leaders
actively span boundaries and act as powerful conduits of ideas
Boynton and Fischer state:
“Successful virtuoso team leaders expand the boundary of their expertise by
spanning the inside and outside of the team for new ideas. Effective boundary
spinning means leaders must effectively be on the prowl for great thoughts and
be a conduit for new ideas flowing into the team dynamics.”(55)
President Lincoln did not win the Civil War and successfully bring the Southern states
back into the Union by himself, he had help.
1) Grant developed a three-prong strategy to defeat the South. First, the Army of the
Potomac was to strike Lee head-on forcing him to retreat south toward Richmond.
Second, Sherman would move through Georgia west to east and cut the South in
half by capturing Atlanta. Third, Butler would move against Richmond and capture
the Confederate capital. (56)
2) In a Harper’s Weekly editorial supporting Lincoln’s re-election the following was
said; “among all the prominent men in our history from the beginning none have
ever shown the power of understanding the popular mind so accurately as Mr.
Lincoln…. Every step he took must seem wise to the great public mind.” (57)
3) When General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant, General Grant
followed the lenient guidelines instructed by President Lincoln. Lincoln gave these
orders because he wanted the Southerners to return to their allegiance to the Union
and its laws. (58)
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4) In terms of dealing with the leaders of the Confederacy, President Lincoln did not
want to punish Jefferson Davis but rather have General Sherman let him escape
‘unbeknown to him.’ (59)
5) Lincoln developed a most generous plan of Reconstruction for the defeated South
that allowed them to keep their state names and boundaries, re-establish State
governments, and vote if they took an oath of allegiance to the United States. (60)
Lesson 7:
Virtuoso team leaders
stimulate idea flow by managing space, processes, and time.
Boynton and Fischer state:
“In virtuoso teams, leaders do more than span boundaries as a conduit for great ideas.
That’s important, but the attention to ideas does not stop with their personal behavior.
We have found that leaders stimulate idea flow as a source of team advantage. To get
ideas moving, they pull several levers that they have at their disposal: the physical space,
processes, and time.” (61)
President Lincoln demonstrated great management and leadership skills by the way he
managed his cabinet, interacted with his Generals and the troops, and developed a
profound relationship with the public.
1) Cabinet meeting were scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays, but were held only if
Lincoln directed. He did not want to take time away from his cabinet doing their
work just to have a meeting; therefore, meetings tended to be held when the subject
matter needed vigorous discussion and debate. (62)
2) Lincoln frequently visited the battlefield and headquarters of the commanding
Generals. The troops loved to see Lincoln and often cheered as he rode by. (63)
3) On one trip to Petersburg to view the Confederate formidable earthworks, Lincoln
encountered a brigade of black soldiers who rushed forward to greet the President,
“screaming, yelling, shouting: ‘Hurrah for the Liberator; Hurrah for the President’…
their spontaneous outburst moved Lincoln to tears and his voice was so broken by
emotion that he could hardly reply.” (64)
4) Lincoln was seen by the public as a man who did not hide in the physical safety of
the White House. Once when the Confederate army was actually bombarding a
Union facility about five miles from the White House Lincoln witnessed the event
from a parapet in close proximity. In fact, Lincoln would periodically stand and his
tall presence made a vivid impression upon all in attendance. Oliver Wendall
Holmes, Jr., a young army officer in attendance actually shouted to the President,
“Get down, you fool.”(65)
5) Lincoln was depicted as a “Man of the People,” given his humble beginnings and
was astute enough to capitalize upon this invaluable political asset. (66)
Key Question Answer
Michiko Kakutani asked if President Lincoln was, in essence, a Virtuoso
Team Leader.
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My answer, using the seven key lessons identified by Boynton and Fischer,
and presented earlier, is an unqualified YES!
Not only did Lincoln constantly demonstrate examples of the key lessons
of a Virtuoso Leader but also big change actually occurred and he managed
his team differently so that they could achieve great things.
Because of Lincoln and his “Team of Rivals,” America and the world were
changed forever!
Epilogue
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrender to Union General U. S. Grant at
Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. (67)
The Civil War was finally over at the cost of 600,000 Confederate and Union deaths.
On April 14, 1865 at about 10:12pm, a Confederate loyalist named John Wilkes Booth
shot President Lincoln in the back of his head while he sat in the state box of the Ford
Theater. The assassination plot extended to Secretary Seward and the Vice President.
Both plots failed as Secretary Seward survived his wounds and the proposed killer of
the Vice President backed out at the last minute. (68)
When General Grant received word that the President had been assassinated and would
not live, he said to his wife Julia “tidings filled him with the gloomiest apprehension.
The President was inclined to be kind and magnanimous, and his death at this time is
an irreparable loss to the South, which now needs so much both his tenderness and
magnanimity.” (69)
“At 7:22 a.m., April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was pronounced dead. Secretary of War
Stanton’s concise tribute from his deathbed still echoes.
“Now he belongs to the ages.” (70)
The nation honored President Abraham Lincoln with a “farewell march” organized by
Secretary Stanton.
Over the course of two days, two hundred thousand Union soldiers, black and white,
passed in review.
President Lincoln will be forever honored by not only Americans but also peoples
across the world for the Big Change he caused and the way that he demonstrated a
“Team of Rivals” could work effectively together.
General Ulysses S. Grant said it well with the following quote:
“I have no doubt that Lincoln will be the conspicuous figure of the war,
he was incontestably the greatest man I ever knew.” (71)
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Summary
Lincoln and his “Team of Rivals” had produced the Big Change as the Union was
preserved and the hundreds of thousands of slaves were emancipated. The Lincoln
cabinet was an assemblage of individual superstars who were led by Lincoln in a
fundamentally different way as they played to their individual skill, knowledge and
character Each team member was profoundly changed by their experience of serving
the nation in a time of great upheaval and distress. More importantly, the entire
country and its citizens, both Northern and Southern, were changed in a defining way.
At the end of the Civil War, the “Team of Rival’s” did not remain together because
their Big Change had been accomplished.
Bibliography
Boynton, Andy, and Bill Fischer. Virtuoso Teams. New York: FT Prentice Hall, 2005.
Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Kakutani, Michiko. “Lincoln as the Visionary with his Eye on the Prize.” Books of The
Times October 25, 2005 (www.nytimes.com)
Phillips, Donald T. Lincoln on Leadership. New York: Warner Books, 1992.
Footnotes
1. Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin, pages. 533 –583.
2. Lincoln of Leadership, Donald T. Phillips, pages. 167-168.
3. Books of The Times, Michiko Kakutani, October 25, 2005.
4. Virtuoso Teams, Boynton & Fischer, page 2.
5. Ibid., page 3.
6. Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis, page 82.
7. Ibid., page 91.
8. Ibid., pages 91 – 97.
9. Team of Rivals, pages 248 –249.
10. Ibid., page 277.
11. Ibid., page 174.
12. Ibid., pages 410 – 415.
13. Ibid., pages 290 – 293.
14. Ibid., pages 283 – 285.
15. Ibid., pages 285 – 288.
16. Virtuoso Teams, page 3.
17. Team of Rivals, pages 340 – 341.
18. Ibid., page 346.
19. Ibid., page 364.
20. Ibid., page 406.
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21. Ibid., page 460.
22. Ibid., page 472.
23. Ibid., pages 479 – 481.
24. Ibid., pages 486 – 495.
25. Ibid., pages 595 – 596.
26. Ibid., pages 664 – 666.
27. Ibid., page 669.
28. Ibid., pages 676 – 680.
29. Ibid., pages 687 – 689.
30. Ibid., pages 724 – 726.
31. Ibid., page 727.
32. Virtuoso Teams, page 5.
33. Team of Rivals, pages 548 – 549.
34. Ibid., pages 556 – 560.
35. Ibid., pages 669 –670.
36. Ibid., page 672.
37. Ibid., page 674.
38. Ibid., page 681.
39. Virtuoso Teams, page 8.
40. Team of Rivals, pages 464 – 465, 468 – 469.
41. Ibid., pages 586– 587.
42. Ibid., pages 686 –690.
43. Virtuoso Teams, pages 9 – 10.
44. Team of Rivals, pages 614 – 619.
45. Ibid., page 684.
46. Virtuoso Teams, pages 11 – 12.
47. Team or Rivals, page 350.
48. Ibid., page 453.
49. Ibid., pages 415 – 416.
50. Ibid., page 498.
51. Ibid., page 531.
52. Ibid., page 614.
53. Ibid., page 614.
54. Ibid., page 614.
55. Virtuoso Teams, page 13.
56. Team of Rivals, page 618.
57. Ibid., page 607.
58. Ibid., pages 713, 725.
59. Ibid., page 713.
60. Ibid., page 589.
61. Virtuoso Teams, pages 15 – 16.
62. Team of Rivals, page 462.
63. Ibid., page 515.
64. Ibid., page 630.
65. Ibid., page 643.
66. Ibid., page 266.
67. Ibid., page 725.
68. Ibid., pages 735 – 742.
69. Ibid., page 742.
70. Ibid., page 743.
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14. David L. Broussard
71. Ibid., page 747.
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