Before leaving his hometown, Lincoln says he leaves with "a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington." Do you think this is true? Could Lincoln have done anything to prevent the Civil War?

In his farewell speech on departing his hometown, Lincoln says he leaves with "a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington." Do you think this is true? Do you think Lincoln could have done anything to prevent the Civil War?

I don’t think Lincoln could have done anything to prevent the Civil War. Had Lincoln’s proposal been honestly discussed, the secession of states may have been temporarily avoided, but I don’t believe the two sides would ever have come to an agreement. Not just economics, but a social way of life in the South was being challenged. When tempers flare, reason doesn’t work.

I agree, President Washington was tasked with putting together a new nation with the full support of the new states and the eagerness of their representatives to succeed. Lincoln had the misfortune of following a weak, lame duck President who did little to try to come up with a compromise. The vast difference between the life in the North and the life of the few but influential plantation and slave owners of the South unfortunately made the Civil War inevitable.

I don't believe that Lincoln could have done anything to prevent the Civil War. His task was more difficult than Washington's task. It is comparable to learning a new skill base versus learning how to change a set skill base. In the first case, it is all new, exciting, motivating, invigorating. In the second case, it is learning how "not" to do something that you have done repeatedly over time; that perhaps you have thought of as the "only way" to do it; that you comfortably rely on. Major differences.

The nation was too divided by the time Lincoln came to office for him to have been able to avoid a major conflict of some kind. As with any war, I am sure there are things that could have been handled differently on both sides of the conflict, and the loss of life for our nation is overwhelming. It seems no family could have been untouched. Much like Washington's war, it was a war of culture and lifestyle, as well as economics and how far to allow the government to reach into day to day life. We have many of the same concerns today, but without the moral catalyst of slavery as a deplorable reality.

There was little Lincoln could do to stop the Civil War short of allowing the southern states to secede unchallenged.

I agree with everyone who says there was little or nothing Lincoln could do to stop the Civil War. He seemed to care deeply and think reasonably, but there were just too many differences and too much divisiveness.

I don't think Lincoln could have prevented the Civil War. He had a huge task when he left home to try to bring the country back together.

I kind of think this is comparing apples to oranges. In the Revolutionary War, Washington faced enormous odds; in fact, when I read about the time period I'm kind of amazed the US was able to win that war. The Civil War, though, was more about maintaining what we had. Both were terrible situations and I wouldn't have wanted to be a leader in either case.

Lincoln's task was most certainly greater than Washington's. Yes, forming a government and supporting the citizens with very little resources was extremely difficult, but Washington had all of the country behind him. Lincoln not only had half of the country behind him, but the other half was totally focused on destroying him and the Union.

What Lincoln could have done (allow slavery to continue and expand into territories being granted statehood) to prevent the Civil War would have been totally unacceptable to most people in the North and would have just kicked the can on down the road for a few years as did the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas Nebraska Act

I believe he realistically assesses the situation in the country when he left for Washington. The question of enslaved people in the southern states had been brewing for a long tome. The plantation owners needed their cotton picked and to give up the free labor of the enslaved Africans was out of the question. Lincoln did not live in the North or the South, but he was greatly aware of the heated arguments in Congress. I honestly don't think he could have prevented the Civil War.People in the North and the South had drawn their battle lines and reached the point of no return.

I don't think that statement is true. Washington faced an enormous physical challenge in that he had brave, determined people all backing him up, but lacked funding and the establishment of a string military and smooth-running government. Lincoln, on the other hand, had the advantage of having a world-wide recognized government and military, but was literally up against the mindset of half of the citizens. He had an almost insurmountable task, just like Washington, but of a very different nature.