In the words of one Lincoln biographer, Sumner was “his warmest friendship among the senators.… Strange as it seems, these two very different men also enjoyed each other’s company.” There was a strategic calculus to Lincoln’s friendliness with Sumner, too. By keeping him close, Lincoln made a friend out of the Senate’s most radical statesman. He avoided problems with Sumner that arose with many other Republicans—many of whom even tried to unseat Lincoln a few years later, when he ran for a second term.
