I’ve been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals” recently. it’s a brilliant book. I had expected it to be about how one brings former rivals into the team to create a stronger, winning effort. All of that is true, but I’ve been surprised by some of the other things that stood out to me that I didn’t expect. There are several, but I’m going to focus on the one thing that worries me the most.
The series of events leading up to the civil war and the eventual assassination of President Lincoln bear more than a strong resemblance to some of the things we’ve seen in our country in recent years. That worries me.
It can certainly be argued that the events that led up to the civil war started before we even became the United States. Lines were drawn and opinions varied from the very beginning of our nation. That division is somewhat natural since we are a country comprised of people from around the globe of varied viewpoints, cultures, religions and interests. We’ll never really be a cohesive bunch, but we should be able to get along.
Every so often, we lose our compass and do really stupid things. The Civil War is the best example, but it isn’t the only one. The institutionalized racism that existed for the following 100 years was just as bad, and we seemed incapable of fixing it ourselves until forced to do so by riots and protests.
Things quieted for a while, but we’re not done getting through the problems.
I was really struck that there was a party called “Know Nothings” in the years before the Civil War. I had to look them up. Founded in 1845 and dissolved in 1860, the know nothings were opposed to immigration and naturalization. They caused a lot of problems for Lincoln in the years leading up to his election president.
I can’t help but look at them through today’s lens and see the Tea Party.
