Question

Select the correct text in the passage.

Which detail best supports the writer's idea that "statesmanship is not an abstract skill, but a contextual one"?
adapted from Lincoln the Great
by Wilfred W. McClay
Which brings us to the question of Lincoln's halfway measures, whose fuller context we need to remember. He rose to prominence as a politician who
was antislavery but also anti-abolitionist. The strategy he preferred would have contained the spread of slavery, then gradually eliminated it-as
opposed to overturning the institution in one grand liberatory¹ gesture. Such a position perhaps seems incoherent now, and it [Lincoln's strategy) failed
in the end, since the South concluded that it could not trust President Lincoln, who received not a single electoral vote from the South, to protect its
"peculiar institution." But it was a position predicated on Lincoln's belief that the maintenance of the Union was the key to all other political goods.
We find it harder to swallow Lincoln's frank disbelief in racial equality and his support for African colonization schemes. That such positions were
common, even mildly progressive, in his day does not count for much with us. But what should count for us is the fact that, in the maelstrom of war,
Lincoln overcame his disinclinations to see that the Union could only be preserved if it sought to achieve something greater than its own survival.
Statesmanship is not an abstract skill, but a contextual one, highly specific to the circumstances it finds. It is irresistible to wonder what kind of leader
Lincoln would have been had there been no secession attempt after his election, or had he lived to be a postwar president. That the question is almost
impossible to answer intelligently, though, tells us a great deal. Lincoln was above all a war president. Like it or not, that condition of history defined
him. He was not elected to be such a president. He might have been no more effective in peacetime than Andrew Johnson was. And he might well have
found out, as Winston Churchill or George H. W. Bush later did, that voters prefer very different kinds of leaders in times of peace and war. We will
never know. In any event, such was not to be his destiny.

Answer 1

The detail illustrating Lincoln's statesmanship as a contextual skill is his approach to dealing with the challenges of emancipation and reconstruction, while prioritizing the preservation of the Union.

Step-by-step explanation:

The detail that best supports the writer's idea that "statesmanship is not an abstract skill, but a contextual one" is found in the passage describing how Abraham Lincoln, in the context of civil war, had to adapt his policy positions and actions to the shifting tides. During his presidency, Lincoln was faced with the interrelated questions of emancipation and reconstruction, and he believed that the union's preservation depended on careful strategic decisions such as the choice of Cabinet members and the tone of his inaugural address. By taking steps like supporting gradual compensated emancipation and seeking to balance political and military goals, Lincoln demonstrated statesmanship that was deeply rooted in the complex context of his time.

Answer 2

The detail that best supports the writer's idea that "statesmanship is not an abstract skill, but a contextual one" is Lincoln's belief that the maintenance of the Union was the key to all other political goods.

Step-by-step explanation:

The detail that best supports the writer's idea that "statesmanship is not an abstract skill, but a contextual one" is the fact that Lincoln believed the maintenance of the Union was the key to all other political goods. In the passage, Lincoln's strategy of containing the spread of slavery rather than abolishing it completely is described. This position was based on Lincoln's belief that preserving the Union was more important. This example illustrates how statesmanship requires considering the specific circumstances and making decisions accordingly.