Rich man, poor man--the American presidency has had its share of each. Yet history tells us that economic status is one of the less reliable leading indicators of presidential performance. The office has been occupied by old-money class warriors and self-made worshippers of capitalist dogma. Indeed, the Oval Office may be one place where size doesn't matter. At least where the size of one's fortune is concerned. It's how a President defines success and what, if any, scars he has accumulated in his rise to power that reveal more than his net worth.
It's hard to imagine Abraham Lincoln as a...