Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

On May 18, 1860, in the midst of the nominating battle at the Republican National Convention, four contenders–Lincoln, Seward, Chase and Bates–wait in their hometowns for the results of the balloting in Chicago. Seward, Chase and Bates were political visionaries whose national reputations towered over Lincoln's. When they vied with Lincoln for the presidential nomination and lost, each was astonished at his defeat to this relatively obscure and inexperienced prairie lawyer. Through the 1850s, th…