Issue 51: Commonsense with the Lincolns 

We devote each newsletter to one of your primal powers. This week's power is Commonsense. Curious which area of human intelligence might help you the most? Take our diagnostic.

Imagine that you're a successful young lawyer with two goals: to become a politician and raise a family. 

 

At age 37, you're newly elected to congress and your wife is expecting your second child. You're on your way.

 

An old army friend invites you to join him on a grand adventure. A group of pioneers plans to head west by wagon, leaving from your hometown of Springfield, IL and traveling all the way to California.  

 

(This is before the Transcontinental Railroad.) 

 

You've always been intrigued by California. Your wife even has relatives there.

For Abraham Lincoln, the choice wasn't a simple one.

 

Lincoln was tempted by his old friend and client, James Reed, to join the Donner party expedition. 

 

Sources tell us it was his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, who appealed to Lincoln's commonsense. Commonsense is matching the newness of the plan to the newness of the situation. 

 

Even though Mary longed to see her California family, she felt that the situation remained fundamentally unchanged: Lincoln wanted a political career and a family. Only one option (B) favored the possibility of both.

 

Whether the decision was Mary Todd's or was made jointly, Lincoln stayed in Springfield and lived to serve his term as congressman and eventually become president.

 

Mary was among the crowd who gathered to see James Reed and the Donner party off on their ill-fated journey. 

The more you familiarize yourself with real-world, commonsense decisions of the past, the more you improve your ability to calibrate your response to the challenge at hand. 

 

“Commonsense is famously the ability that distinguishes humans from AI, which can ace complex calculations yet fumble a decision obvious to children.” Primal Intelligence.

 

Next week, Intuition.

 

In the meantime, Angus and Lt. Col. Thomas Gaines discuss creativity and leadership on 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne)'s podcast, The Indigenous Approach.  

 

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