"I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the Army, of criticizing their Commander, and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can, to put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army, while such a spirit prevails in it."
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Lawyers from the United StatesAbolitionistsPoliticians from IllinoisAbraham LincolnPeople of the American Civil War
Original Language: English
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Sources
Letter to Major General Joseph Hooker (26 January 1863)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
1809 – 1865
Präsident der USA (1861-1865)
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