Don Fehrenbacher once observed that Lincoln has been described by historians as a 'dictator' far more often than any other president. This is true not only of historians who criticize him, but of those who praise him. But if Lincoln was a dictator, he was unlike any other in history. Dictatorship (in the contemporary usage that Fehrenbacher had in mind) is characterized by unlimited, absolute power, exercised in an arbitrary and unpredictable manner, with no regard for political legitimacy. A dictator does not go out of his way to respect legal limits as Lincoln did, despite his belief that the emergency required special measures. Nor is a dictator subject to the pressures of public opinion, congressional constraint, and party competition that Lincoln faced during his war presidency. Above all a dictator doesn't risk an election, especially one he thinks he might lose, in the midst of civil war.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Don Fehrenbacher once observed that Lincoln has been described by historians as a 'dictator' far more often than any other president. This is true not only of historians who criticize him, but of those who praise him. But if Lincoln was a dictator, he was unlike any other in history. Dictatorship (in the contemporary usage that Fehrenbacher had in mind) is characterized by unlimited, absolute power, exercised in an arbitrary and unpredictable manner, with no regard for political legitimacy. A dictator does not go out of his way to respect legal limits as Lincoln did, despite his belief that the emergency required special measures. Nor is a dictator subject to the pressures of public opinion, congressional constraint, and party competition that Lincoln faced during his war presidency. Above all a dictator doesn't risk an election, especially one he thinks he might lose, in the midst of civil war." in the context of "Mackubin Thomas Owens, "Commander-in-Chief" (10 February 2009), Claremont Review of Books, The Claremont Institute" to mean that wisdom is timeless.