| Abstrakt: |
They were born less than a year and about 100 miles apart, and they departed for their inaugurations on the same day, Feb. 11, 1861. Their differences, of course, dwarf the similarities. Abraham Lincoln, born poor and largely self-educated, served one term in Congress and had minimal military service during the Black Hawk War (he quipped that his combat experience amounted to little more than "a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes"). Jefferson Davis was raised on a plantation and educated at Transylvania University and West Point. He served as a congressman, a senator and as secretary of war, and distinguished himself in battle in Mexico. Lincoln was gangly and unattractive, Davis polished and mannered. In any contest that pitted one against the other, few would have chosen Lincoln. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
