"I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship....And now, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilence, go forward and give us vicotries."
-Letter to General Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863
A frequent criticism of Lincoln, which inspires this (along with the above), is that he was trying to create a dictatorship.
My challenge is to have the United States (not the CS, mind you) become a dictatorship out of the events of the Civil War, whether with some coup by Hooker or something else.