Lincoln certainly knew how to use the power he had. He needed support in the Senate and he needed to keep his rambunctious Secretary of State under control, so he used Senator Sumner the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee as a check against Secretary of State William Seward. That is, he designated Sumner as his chief adviser on foreign policy, authorized him carte blanche access to all foreign correspondence with virtual veto over foreign policy. In return for such power Sumner gave tacit approval of Lincoln's war policies and became a valuable Lincoln man on Capitol Hill.
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