LESSON FROM LINCOLN’S BIGGEST INSULT.

Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb 12, 1809. he hailed from a very poor background and he lived in extreme poverty for many years And finally reached the white house on the 4th of March 1861 as the 16th president of the United States. lincoln’s journeys from living in extreme poverty to the white house (as president ) taught him invaluable lessons. and one of the most valuable lessons he learned was in a conflict with a local politician when he was a very young lawyer practicing in Spring field, Illinois.

On the morning of April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincon’s dead body was lying in a bedroom of a cheap lodge, The bed on which lincoln’s body was lying was too short. so his body was placed diagonally across the bed. and in that room yellow light flickered from a lantern. As lincoln lay dead, Secretary of War(U.S) Stanton said “THERE LIES THE MAN WHO KNEW HOW TO WIN PEOPLE AND WAS THE MOST PERFECT RULER WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

Now, why did Stanton say that lincoln knew HOW TO WIN PEOPLE, and HE WAS THE MOST PERFECT RULER WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.what was lincoln’s secret of dealing with people.??

Like Most people, Lincoln also indulged in Criticism and insulting people. As a young man he not only criticized but he also wrote letters and poems insulting people and these letters were thrown on roads where they were sure to be found and read by people.As a young practicing lawyer in spring field, Illinois, he attacked his opponents openly by publishing letters filled with insults and criticism in the newspaper.

In 1842 he wrote an anonymous letter insulting James shield who was a local politician and it was published in Spring field journal. and after the letter was published in the spring field journal the entire town was laughing at James shield, his blood boiled as he was losing his reputation because of the letter published. Soon he came to know that it was lincoln who published it. James shield leaped on his horse to fight with lincoln. In public, he openly challenged Lincoln for a fight. Lincoln didn’t want to fight. Now Lincoln’s reputation was at stake. To save his honor he agreed to fight. and Lincoln was given a choice of weapons by James shield. Since his arms were long he decided to go for swords as his weapon. They decided to fight across the Mississippi River. Lincoln had also undergone a few days of training for his sword fight. And on the day been decided lincoln and James shield met across the Mississippi river prepared to fight to the death. and James shield had an upper hand in the battle. It looked like James shield is likely to kill lincoln. somehow lincoln’s friends interrupted the battle else James shield would have killed him that day.

Lincoln could not forget this incident and this taught him a great lesson “Never Insult anyone especially in public”.

and from that time lincoln rarely criticized anyone.

When Lincoln was the president of the U.S, civil war was declared. The Potomac army was not able to produce the desired result in war and Lincoln tried many people as general of the army

(Mcclellan, Hooker, Burnside, etc). as these generals were not able to produce the results in war Half of the nation was criticizing these generals. Lincoln famous quotation in those days was (“judge not that ye be not judged”) which means “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.”

In the white house When Mrs. Lincoln would criticize or speak harshly to any of the staff of the white house Lincoln often use to tell his wife “Don’t criticize them You would do the same thing under those circumstances “

Lincoln had many occasions to criticize people in public as president but lincoln avoided criticizing and insulting people.

The battle of Gettysburg was fought in July 1863 One way to end the civil war was to capture Lee. Lee’s army was battling with Potomac’s army. One day Lee’s army was

extremely tired and they were trying to escape and were hiding nearby. and it started to rain very heavily.

as it rained heavily the river was impassable as the water level was very high. Lincoln thought it was a great opportunity to capture Lee and end the Civil War.

Lincoln ordered the general of the Potomac army Meade not to call any sort of war meetings or war councils as they would end up in wastage of time. Lincoln telegraphed

his orders and also sent a special messenger declaring order attack’s on Lee instantly. And what the general of the Potomac army did was the exact opposite of this.

He called on all the meetings violating lincoln’s order. He procrastinated immediate action. Indirectly he refused to attack lee.

When Lincoln got to know that the level of river water has settled and Lee the man controlling the enemy army has escaped successfully he got furious in the white house

and saying this was a great opportunity to capture lee and we had missed it. Any general would have easily captured lee in these circumstances.

And wrote a letter insulting general Meade of the Potomac army. he wrote” when you had all the resources and also it was the right time as it rained heavily and lee could not escape still you did not obey my orders. when all the things were in your favor you still have failed to capture him. Then how can I expect you to capture him when he had escaped”. In his letter, Lincoln criticized General Meade very badly. but this letter was never posted. After Lincoln’s death, this letter was found among his documents in the white house.

Lincoln also use to think from other person’s point of view . and only act after understanding the other person’s perspective. It is said that Lincoln thought ” if I would have seen the bloodshed which my general of Potomac army has seen Maybe I would have done the same thing.

One of the big lessons we learn from lincoln’s life is to never humiliate a person(especially in public).

he often told Mrs.Lincon not to criticize people saying(“we would have done the same under similar circumstances.)

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the greatest American presidents to ever live His term as president was from 1901 to 1909. Whenever Theodore Roosevelt had to face a complex problem he would often look up to the large painting of Abraham Lincoln’s in the white house and say

How would Lincoln handle this problem if had it??

Well, the biggest takeaway from this story of lincoln is Do not insult anyone (especially in public).

I hope this blog would have added some value to you if yes then do let me know in the comment section.

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Thank’s for reading.