Is There Any Level of Power Corrupting Lincoln?

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I think Lincoln over invested in the power of the presidency. He came to believe too much in the role of one man and not in creating a more balanced approach to governance. War has an inherent centralizing power in a democracy. How do you come down from that? You have to be like a George Washington type figure, be able to walk away from power.

Jeremi Suri is a historian at UT Austin. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:45) – Revolutions and governments
(24:23) – American Civil War
(33:35) – Lincoln and election of 1860
(37:25) – Slavery
(50:35) – Freedom of speech
(1:02:17) – Death toll of the Civil War
(1:05:36) – Ulysses S. Grant
(1:07:45) – Ku Klux Klan
(1:19:27) – Robert E. Lee
(1:27:11) – Abraham Lincoln
(1:42:18) – If the south won
(1:50:54) – Hypocrisy of the Founders
(1:56:56) – John Wilkes Booth
(2:00:11) – White supremacy
(2:05:34) – Disputed elections
(2:15:56) – Politics
(2:24:20) – Donald Trump and Joe Biden
(2:37:06) – January 6th
(3:02:04) – Hope for the future