Lincoln evidently believed that the best way to boil a frog was to place it in a pot of water on a stove and then gradually heat it up. If the water temperature rose precipitously, the frog would leap out, but if it increased little by little, the frog would not notice the difference and would eventually be cooked. Abolitionist Francis G. Shaw shrewdly observed that “Lincoln is Providential; for if we had a more energetic man at the helm he would rouse all the pro-slavery forces in the country to violent activity, whereas now they are lulled by his slow and timid course, and will not fairly wake up till the current of events has carried them too far out to sea to steer for the port they intended to make, and supposed they were making.” Varying the image, Owen Lovejoy sensibly observed in November that “President Lincoln is advancing step by step just as the cautious swimmer wades into the stream before making a dive. President Lincoln will make a dive before long.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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