But they underestimated Lincoln's intelligence, strength, and bureaucratic skills, and his ability to put aside personal enmities in assembling the best possible cabinet. When Seward became Secretary of State, Chase the Secretary of the Treasury and Edward Bates the Attorney General, each thought that he might be the real power behind the inexperienced president. And it's the story, as well, of Lincoln's masterly ability to corral the ambitions, resentments, and differing points of view of those in his cabinet while using their skills to help him run the country effectively. It's a biography not just of Lincoln, but of the men who surrounded him and helped shape his presidency. This is the story that Doris Kearns Goodwin tells in her new book, Team of Rivals. Bates even commented that in selecting Lincoln as its candidate, the Republican Party had 'committed a fatal blunder.' Yet, after the election, when it came time for Lincoln to select his cabinet, these were the very men he turned to, realizing that if he was going to succeed in leading the country through the sectional conflict threatening to engulf it, he would need their strength and experience. All three of Lincoln's rivals, especially Seward and Chase, who had spent their lives working toward the presidency, were bitterly angry that they'd been defeated by this poorly educated, relative unknown from Illinois.

But Lincoln, though by far the least-known of the candidates, had strategically positioned himself at the center of his party, and as delegates began to worry that Seward and Chase were too radical to be elected, and Bates too conservative, they settled on Lincoln. The fourth, Abraham Lincoln, nervously awaited the results, knowing he had an outside chance, yet realizing that his hopes would most likely be dashed. Three of them-William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates-thought victory would be theirs celebratory crowds were already gathered around their homes in preparation for the expected win.

On the morning of May 18, 1860, four men waited to see which one of them would become the Republican nominee for president.

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