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Abraham Lincoln

by James Russell Lowell


THERE have been many painful crises since the impatient vanity of
South Carolina hurried ten prosperous Commonwealths into a
crime whose assured retribution was to leave them either at the
mercy of the nation they had wronged, or of the anarchy they had
summoned but could not control, when no thoughtful American
opened his morning paper without dreading to find that he had no
longer a country to love and honor.Whatever the result of the
convulsion whose first shocks were beginning to be felt, there
would still be enough square miles of earth for elbow-room; but
that ineffable sentiment made up of memory and hope, of instinct
and tradition, which swells every man's heart and shapes his
thought, though perhaps never present to his consciousness, would
be gone from it, leaving it common earth and nothing more.Men
might gather rich crops from it, but that ideal harvest of priceless
associations would be reaped no longer; that fine virtue which sent
up messages of courage and security from every sod of it would
have evaporated beyond recall.We should be irrevocably cut off
from our past, and be forced to splice the ragged ends of our lives
upon whatever new conditions chance might leave dangling for us.

We confess that we had our doubts at first whether the patriotism
of our people were not too narrowly provincial to embrace the
proportions of national peril.We felt an only too natural distrust of
immense public meetings and enthusiastic cheers.

That a reaction should follow the holiday enthusiasm with which
the war was entered on, that it should follow soon, and that the
slackening of public spirit should be proportionate to the previous
over-tension, might well be foreseen by all who had studied human
nature or history.Men acting gregariously are always in extremes;
as they are one moment capable of higher courage, so they are
liable, the next, to baser depression, and it is often a matter of
chance whether numbers shall multiply confidence or
discouragement.Nor does deception lead more surely to distrust of
men, than self-deception to suspicion of principles.The only faith
that wears well and holds its color in all weathers is that which is
woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.
Enthusiasm is good material for the orator, but the statesman needs
something more durable to work in,--must be able to rely on the
deliberate reason and consequent firmness of the people, without
which that presence of mind, no less essential in times of moral than
of material peril, will be wanting at the critical moment.Would this
fervor of the Free States hold out?Was it kindled by a just feeling
of the value of constitutional liberty?Had it body enough to
withstand the inevitable dampening of checks, reverses, delays?
Had our population intelligence enough to comprehend that the
choice was between order and anarchy, between the equilibrium of
a government by law and the tussle of misrule by
*pronunciamiento?*Could a war be maintained without the
ordinary stimulus of hatred and plunder, and with the impersonal
loyalty of principle?These were serious questions, and with no
precedent to aid in answering them.

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Customer Reviews (1)

Not a Biography of Lincoln- beware, cheap for a reason
Wordy editorial by Russell.He talks about many things other than Lincoln's life.Interesting to people that are VERY familar with the era (history professors), but not to the person looking for an historic account of Lincoln's life. Did not even want to finish this book it was so boring. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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You're about to be an eyewitness to the ten crucial days in Abraham Lincoln's life, including:

A tragic loss that sets a boy on a course for greatness

A career sacrificed to protest an unjust war

A state resorting to treason to preserve slavery

A president who learns the most difficult decisions are made alone

And a promise made to every citizen that American's salves will be free.

These days and five others shook Lincoln's world - and yours. ... Read more

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One of the best biographical books on Abraham Lincoln's life. The book describes in detail our 16th President's trials and tribulations.

Excerpt from Chapter 2:
"The life of Abraham Lincoln, or that part of it which will interest readers for all future time, properly begins in March, 1831, after the winter of the "deep snow." According to frontier custom, being then twenty-one years old, he left his father's cabin to make his own fortune in the world. A man named Denton Offutt, one of a class of local traders and speculators usually found about early Western settlements, had probably heard something of young Lincoln's Indiana history, particularly that he had made a voyage on a flatboat from Indiana to New Orleans, and that he was strong, active, honest, and generally, as would be expressed in Western phrase, 'a smart young fellow.'"

From Chapter 5:
His marriage to Miss Todd ended all those mental perplexities and periods of despondency from which he had suffered more or less during his several love affairs, extending over nearly a decade. Out of the keen anguish he had endured, he finally gained that perfect mastery over his own spirit which Scripture declares to denote a greatness superior to that of him who takes a city. Few men have ever attained that complete domination of the will over the emotions, of reason over passion, by which he was able in the years to come to meet and solve the tremendous questions destiny had in store for him. His wedding once over, he took up with resolute patience the hard, practical routine of daily life, in which he had already been so severely schooled. Even his sentimental correspondence with his friend Speed lapsed into neglect. He was so poor that he and his bride could not make the contemplated visit to Kentucky they would both have so much enjoyed. His "national debt" of the old New Salem days was not yet fully paid off. "We are not keeping house, but boarding at the Globe tavern," he writes. "Our room ... and boarding only cost us four dollars a week."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John George Nicolay (from Wikipedia)
In 1861, Lincoln appointed Nicolay to be his private secretary, which was the first official act of his new administration. Nicolay served in this capacity until Lincoln's death in 1865. Nicolay and John Hay, who had worked alongside Nicolay as assistant secretary to Lincoln, collaborated on the 10 volume official biography of the 16th President.

Nicolay created 'A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln' from those 10 volumes, but still consists of over 450 pages. This edition also includes a Table of Contents and a complete Index. ... Read more

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The idea and vision of Abraham Lincoln and the coming of Theodore Roosevelt (1912)


Author: ... Read more

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How Lincoln's Faith Shaped His Leadership

Undoubtedly the most revered leader in American history, Abraham Lincoln has had more books written about him than all our nation's presidents put together. But for all that's been written, little has focused on his faith and how this quality shaped the man who led our country during its most tumultuous years.

Author Joe Wheeler, historian and scholar, brings to the pages of this insightful book the knowledge gleaned from over ten years of study and more than sixty books on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. Skillfully weaving his own narrative with direct quotes from Lincoln and poignant excerpts from other Lincoln biographers, Wheeler brings a refreshingly friendly rendition of Lincoln's life, faith, and courage.

The stories, historical details, and powerful quotes on the pages of this book will leave a lasting impression on your heart, your mind, and your life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Abraham Lincoln, a Man of Faith and Courage:
This book takes the reader quickly through the life of Abraham Lincoln from his early childhood in Hodgensville, Kentucky through his Presidential years.The book is easy to read.The author "is a professional anthologist and historian of ideas".I was impressed and pleasently surprised with the number of Lincoln quotations, wherein Abraham Lincoln expressed his moral and ethical faith and courage.A must read for those who admire our sixteenth President.

Abraham Lincoln, a man of Faithand Courage
This book was for a gift.I have not read this book but understand it was a very good book.

A Good Look at Lincoln's Faith
This book actually tells us something about Abraham Lincoln that most of us do not know.Wheeler uses Lincoln's own words, both written and spoken, to form opinions and to draw conclusions about Lincoln's faith in God and how he used that faith in his leadership of our country.My husband and I are using the book as a basis for a class for retired people at our local library.Everyone is learning new things about a president who has had some 15,000 books written about him.The author is not totally accurate about some of the historical dates and minor facts.But, that is not the point of this book.Some of his comments/opinions are a little over the top.But, the content about Lincoln's faith is so well-organized and well-presented, that those items can be easily overlooked.I highly recommend this book.

A New Perspective on Lincoln
This is a whole life biography of Abraham Lincoln which emphasizes the role faith played in Lincoln's life.Whereas many books tend to over look or explain away references Lincoln made to God and religion, Author Joe Wheeler highlights them and explains how they show Lincoln's deep spiritual inspiration.He presents the Emancipation of the slaves, not as a cynical political move, but as driven by a deep sense of Divine command.This book presents an impressive list of examples of occasions in which Lincoln showed that his refusal to join a church pertained to membership only, not to the lack of a spiritual side.He drew much of his spirituality from his mother and stepmother, but had a distant relationship with his father.

This book is very well written and held my interest from start to finish.Wheeler gets his message across without being preachy.At times the reader will become so engrossedin the story so that he forgets the theme, but eventually is drawn back to it.Although I have read much about Lincoln, I learned new things from this work.It emphasis on Lincoln's personal and spiritual sides forces the reader to think differently about its subject.When I read more about Lincoln I will have a deeper background against which to measure future works.A book that can change your outlook about an historical character is worth the read.

New Insight
I am enjoying this book very much.I purchased it for a class I will take in Oct.It has already shed some new light on topics I don't ever remember reading about Abe Lincoln before.Some personal things written by friends who were near him are so good.It makes him seem even more approachable and like the guy next door. ... Read more

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Play first published in 1919.According to Wikipedia: "Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) was the sixteenth President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1861 until his assassination. As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. During his term, he helped preserve the United States by leading the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865." ... Read more

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This is a narrative of Abraham Lincoln's bid for the White House from 1858 through 1860. Lincoln seemed like a long shot from the beginning--a one term congressmen, he'd never served as a judge or governor or in any statewide office, and he had lost two campaigns for the U.S. Senate. How, then, did he overtake several seemingly better-qualified candidates to ultimately defeat William Seward for his young party's nomination? This work offers a day-by-day account that demonstrates how Lincoln's character, and his upholding of the Declaration of Independence's bold statement of human equality, helped him triumph. Those traits, it is argued, were far more important than any political machinations or backroom deals at the convention. This book is a sequel to The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the Making of a President by the same author (McFarland, 2007). ... Read more

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The late C. A. Tripp, a highly regarded sex researcher and colleague of Alfred Kinsey, and author of the runaway bestseller The Homosexual Matrix, devoted the last ten years of his life to an exhaustive study of Abraham Lincoln's writings and of scholarship about Lincoln, in search of hidden keys to his character. In The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, completed just weeks before he died, Tripp offers a full examination of Lincoln's inner life and relationships that, as Dr. Jean Baker argues in the Introduction, "will define the issue for years to come." Throughout this riveting work, new details are revealed about Lincoln's relations with a number of men. Long-standing myths are debunked convincingly -- in particular, the myth that Lincoln's one true love was Ann Rutledge, who died tragically young. Ultimately, Tripp argues that Lincoln's unorthodox loves and friendships were tied to his maverick beliefs about religion, slavery, and even ethics and morals. As Tripp argues, Lincoln was an "invert": a man who consistently turned convention on its head, who drew his values not from the dominant conventions of society, but from within.

For years, a whisper campaign has mounted about Abraham Lincoln, focusing on his intimate relationships. He was famously awkward around single women. He was engaged once before Mary Todd, but his fiancée called off the marriage on the grounds that he was "lacking in smaller attentions." His marriage to Mary was troubled. Meanwhile, throughout his adult life, he enjoyed close relationships with a number of men. He shared a bed with oshua Speed for four years as a young man, and -- as Tripp details here -- he shared a bed with an army captain while serving in the White House, when Mrs. Lincoln was away. As one Washington socialite commented in her diary, "What stuff!"

This study reaches far beyond a brief about Lincoln's sexuality: it is an attempt to make sense of the whole man, as never before. It includes an Introduction by Jean Baker, biographer of Mary Todd Lincoln, and an Afterword containing reactions by two Lincoln scholars and one clinical psychologist and longtime acquaintance of C.A. Tripp. As Michael Chesson explains in one of the Afterword essays, "Lincoln was different from other men, and he knew it. More telling, virtually every man who knew him at all well, long before he rose to prominence, recognized it. In fact, the men who claimed to know him best, if honest, usually admitted that they did not understand him." Perhaps only now, when conventions of intimacy are so different, so open, and so much less rigid than in Lincoln's day, can Lincoln be fully understood. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

Special Agenda Reviewers
Anyone reading this book that has 1/2 a brain can easily understand what Abe's preferences and practices were.Due to the very sensitive fact that he was a US President, it has become grounds for certain entities to try to discredit the writer and the contents of the book, it is no surprise and it's truly sad that they feel the need to do this, esp. in this 21st century and I do understand why they think they would have the need.Certainly by admitting the facts about his preferences (at least according to this book) would open some major cans of worms that the establishment is not willing to deal with at this juncture, really too bad and sad.While this comment is not an endorsement in any fashion or form of the Log Cabin Republicans, they have known "what time it is" about Abe's practices and preferences for quite some time, to the extent of naming their group after him.BTW, the book is well-written, backs up it's assertions and is from a highly-respected author.Buy it, read it, you decide.

worth reading...
Not much to hang your hat on in this. The author died before completing the book. Worth reading. If Lincoln were homosexual it would explain his marrige. It also explains why Joshua Speed had so little to contribute when asked for letters from Lincoln. They were writing one another very regularly over a number of years. The book mentions the comments of a lady, well acquainted with Lincoln, who questions his sharing his bed with another man. I wish the book had been completed by the author because he made a strong case without any tangible evidence. It is also noted that biographers of Lincoln since the turn of the century have questioned his sexuality, just nobody willing to write about it. Lincoln is quoted by another in the book as saying he was no rail splitter either. He acknowledged the creating of a certain persona for political reasons. I enjoyed the book. I think it is time we all come out of our denial. Lincoln just may well have been homosexual.

No Perry Mason ending, but much evidence for the jury to ponder
In order to get anything out of this book, one has to keep the times of Lincoln firmly in mind.There won't be any "hey look, y'all, I'm gay" statements found anywhere because that didn't happen during that time.Just read and see what your gut says.For ex., yes, it was common for poorer men to share a bed back then.But when they became less poor, and other beds were available, they didn't opt for the buddy in a bed scenario anymore.When someone clings to that convention and then limits the buddy in the bed to young, good looking guys (why not the toady, old guys if it's just about convenience?), you have to wonder.And then, there is the amazing ability of people very close to you to NOT see what is obvious.In college, I shared my dorm room with three straight guys and not one ever guessed I was gay (this in spite of the opera record collection, arty/gay friends, interest in theatre, and total absence of any female dates, pix, posters or interest when they showed theirs . . . twenty yrs later these roommates expressed shock in finding out, one even wrote a nonfiction piece on "the discovery").Today, you'd think that's all amazingly blind.But just 30 years ago, folks worked really hard to NOT see things they didn't want to see.Take it back 100+ years and you see how much more willful blindness there was likely to have been.

He must be tripp'n, because he doesn't support his thesis at all
The premise of the book is that Abraham Lincoln was a homosexual, or at least that he was a bisexual.The problem with this premise is that the author doesn't support it at all.

C.A. Tripp was a sex researcher and colleague of Alfred Kinsey, and author of "The Homosexual Matrix."This background, I believe, so stilted his research methods and how he drew his conclusions, that the book appears simply a preconceived contention in search of support.Unfortunately, Tripp provides none.Tripp passed away two weeks after completing the manuscript for the book.In the introduction, the Mary Todd Lincoln biographer Jean Baker notes that if Tripp had lived he most certainly would have had to edit the book more extensively and that at least one more chapter would likely have been added.My opinion is that another chapter would not have made any difference.The book is so weak, in fact, that the publishers provided three "reactions and comments" from outside reviewers in an Afterword.The book also includes three appendices that supposedly support the author's contention, though reading these materials actually does not provide any additional support whatsoever.

The only "evidence" that Tripp provides as to Lincoln's presumed homosexual tendencies is the well known fact that Lincoln shared beds with a few noteworthy men during his lifetime.But this standard is so low that the majority of men during that era would have to be classified as having homosexual tendencies, as it was commonplace to share sleeping arrangements in the cramped quarters of the time.This is especially true for those, like Lincoln, who were quite poor early in their lives and who traveled on the legal circuit.Despite pointing out these sleeping arrangements, Tripp offers no evidence at all of any sexual relationship with anyone.He merely presumes it and bases the entire book on this unsupported assumption.Of all the writings by Lincoln, his presumed par amours, friends, colleagues, and family, absolutely none suggests any sexual relationship at all with any man.In fact, all suggestions by Lincoln's contemporaries of simple normal sleeping arrangements are rebuffed by Tripp as these people who knew him best being simply oblivious to the obvious signs.The problem is that these are obvious signs only to a homosexual sex researcher of the late 20th century who seems unable to view events from the perspective of the first half of the 1800s.His only other "evidence" is the fact that Lincoln told some ribald jokes; something again that ignores the fact that Lincoln was constantly telling stories, most of which were not, in fact, sexually oriented.

It should be noted that most of this 2005 book actually is taken up questioning his relationships with the various women Lincoln courted.Somehow all of these relationships, and the fact that he sired four children with Mary Todd (who he spends an entire chapter decimating), merely show that he was secretly harboring homosexual tendencies.In the end, the book provides no evidence whatsoever of such tendencies, and in fact, provides substantial evidence to the contrary.The book was written based on the predisposition of the author and cannot be considered a reliable examination of this issue.

A New Look at Lincoln
Tripp, C.A. "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln", Basic Books, 2006.

A New Look at Lincoln

Amos Lassen


"The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" makes a compelling case for Lincoln's bisexuality. The author C.A. Tripp was, until his death, was a psychologist, a therapist and a former Kinsey sex researcher as well as the author of "The Homosexual Matrix" which became a classic study. He looked at evidence with the eye of a researcher and mixed it with his own knowledge as a psychologist and found what others did not find--that Abraham Lincoln had at least three homosexual liaisons at different periods in his life. To reach this conclusion, Tripp looked carefully at letters, diaries and oral histories that had been collected by early researchers. It is Tripp's eye as a sex therapist that allowed him to find the signs that others had missed and to arrive at this controversial conclusion.
There have been rumors about Lincoln's sexuality for some time and now with his book we have an argument that Lincoln had affairs with men. Today's society places must more emphasis on sex than the society of Lincoln's did and what we consider to be the concept of homosexuality simply did not exist at the time of Lincoln.
The evidence that Tripp presents is not new but it does show that anything was possible. As a young state legislator, Lincoln shared a bed with his best friend, Joshua Speed and when Speed moved back home to Kentucky in 1841 and Lincoln's engagement to Mary Todd was temporarily broken, Lincoln suffered from an emotional crisis. In the letters that were shared between the two men, Lincoln sometimes signed off with "Yours forever". This could mean that there had been something stronger than friendship between the two men. However, we must keep in mind that in the 19th century, rooming accommodations were not plentiful and the concept of privacy was completely different. We also know that Lincoln ended many letters with the same closing and the letters that are written have nothing really spicy in them.
Tripp also suggests that Lincoln had a male lover during his presidential term. Captain David V. Derickson was the commanding officer of the Army Company assigned to protect Lincoln and his family when they were in residence at their summer retreat outside of Washington. The wife of the assistant secretary of the Navy, Virginia Woodbury Fox, wrote to a friend that the two men were especially devoted to each other, spent a good deal of time together and slept together when Mary Lincoln was not at home. What makes this all the more interesting is that Lincoln was the father of four children and Derickson was the father of nine. Lincoln actually granted Derickson a transfer and the two men never saw each other again.
We doknow that Lincoln's marriage to Mary Todd sometimes stood on shaky ground. We can also see examples in the literature that Lincoln was more comfortable with men than with woman.
Naturally a book that makes such claims about a former president is bound to come under a lot of criticism. Naturally there will be some who will disagree without reading the book. It is well written and an exciting read. Whether you agree or not should only be determined after reading.
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Customer Reviews (5)

Unfulfilled promise
President Lincoln was Commander-in-Chief. He was in charge of, responsible for, and accountable to the people for results in every aspect of the executive branch of the Federal government. General McClellan was twice commander of the Army of the Potomac and, for several months, General-in-Chief of the US Army. His job was to implement the strategy delegated to him by his boss, the Secretary of War as determined by the President. Little Mac didn't do his job very well.

McClellan had several flaws. George was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, graduated from the best engineering school in the country, rose to prominence despite frequent wrangling with his superiors and was a successful railroad executive, all by the age of 34.

Lincoln's back woods upbringing was a long way from silver of any kind. He may have been born with a rail-splitting ax in his hand, attended perhaps 3 months of organized school, failed in several political and business ventures, and established a respectable law practice before being elected President of the United States at the age of 51.

Fear of Quaker guns, wildly inaccurate estimates of rebel strength, and meek, indecisive execution in battle offset McClellan's gifts as a grand strategist and administrator. General McClellan made the Army of the Potomac what it became, the largest and most powerful army of its day, but he never wielded it like the terrible swift sword it was intended to be, and which it did become later in the war.

If you're well read on the Civil War, you're not likely to learn anything new, though it is a good summary of information published in many other books, worth about 3.5 stars. But if you're a casual Civil War reader, this is a great, 5 star introduction.

Interesting, Enjoyable Read about Strange Bedfellows
This is an interesting book about the relationship of two major and enigmatic characters of the Civil War. Lincoln, often criticized and mocked when he came to office, but who grew into greatness and George McClellan, initially perceived to be great but now seen as an arrogant failure and procrastinator whose failure to act (according to many) extended the civil war.
Author Waugh does not demonize McClellan. Indeed, he gives him high credit for being a brilliant engineer and organizer who whipped the Army of the Potomac into shape in 1861. In boxing parlance though, McClellan sculpted a fine fighting animal which rarely fought or was inclined to throw the first punch (any punch?).McClellan had many supporters in the military and Washington. Helmuth Von Moltke, Chief of Staff of the Prussian army stated that firing McClellan was a mistake.
Ultimately though, Lincoln did not have a choice. McClellan's level of insubordination was extraordinary and extraordinary that he was allowed get away with it for so long. Some historians suggest that Lincoln's ability to accept McClellan's behavior was a sign of great leadership and ability to work with a team of rivals. I personally don't buy that and believe that Lincoln showed weak leadership at that stage of his presidency. General Stanley McChrystal was sacked for but one tenth of what McClellan went on with.
Waugh is a good writer. This is not a long book, but it is interesting and enjoyable

McClellan and his bodyguard
LINCOLN AND McCLELLAN is more about George Brinton McClellan than it is about Lincoln.It is an account of how one of the brightest stars of the U.S. Army fizzled out.In July 1861, after the rout of the Union Army at the First Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln placed McClellan, then only 35 years old, in charge of the Union Army in the East.It was a position of enormous responsibility and it crystallized within McClellan what can fairly be characterized as a messiah complex.McClellan then did a nigh Herculean job of re-organizing and re-energizing the Union Army, transforming it into not only the largest Army on the planet but probably the best as well.But in the next 15 months that McClellan was in charge, the Army of the Potomac achieved no significant victories.

Its greatest moment during that time was Antietam (or Sharpsburg), where McClellan (with a good bit of luck and contrary to his basic instincts) managed to corner Lee, who had just invaded the North, with his forces divided and his back to the Potomac.After a day of ferocious battle, the most lethal day in American military history, the two armies paused to catch their breath and gather their wits. Then Lee and the Confederate Army turned, re-crossed the Potomac, and limped back to deep Virginia and safety.Many then and now believe that McClellan - by allowing Lee to slip away - also let slip away a splendid opportunity to end the Civil War in late 1862.The issue is still debated among Civil War buffs, but the only one whose opinion really mattered was Abraham Lincoln.Two weeks after the battle, he visited the Union Army, still spread out around Sharpsburg.Standing on a hill overlooking the vast encampment, Lincoln asked an old friend, "Do you know what this is?"The friend, rather perplexed, answered, "It is the Army of the Potomac."Lincoln countered:"So it is called, but that is a mistake; it is only McClellan's bodyguard."One month later, Lincoln sacked McClellan, ending his active military career.

The bulk of LINCOLN AND McCLELLAN is devoted to the 15 months -- July 22, 1861 through November 6, 1862 -- that McClellan had principal responsibility for the Union army in the East.Again and again, McClellan pats himself on the back, grossly overestimates (hallucinates?) the strength and numbers of the Confederate forces opposite him, clamors for yet more troops, and then hems and haws and dilly-dallies and finds ever new reasons to postpone the offensive.Again and again Lincoln strokes his ego, then prods him, and then tries to shame him into action.It is almost as if the two speak different languages or come from alien ways of life.

One of the insights of author Waugh is to underscore that Lincoln and McClellan did, in a sense, come from entirely different cultures. Lincoln was back-woods, the son of a hard-scrabble frontier family, with very little formal schooling and not much more polish or social refinement.McClellan came from a patrician background, the crème de la crème of Philadelphia society.He attended the best private schools in Philadelphia, then the University of Pennsylvania, and then West Point, where he was a star, graduating second in his class.He oozed polish and refinement.This upbringing had two salient consequences during the 15 months he commanded the Union Army under Lincoln as civilian commander-in-chief.One, he looked on Lincoln as his "social, intellectual, and moral inferior", and hence he was blind and deaf to the opinions and advice Lincoln constantly pressed on him, much of which actually was sound. Two, as a general, McClellan was overly cautious and conservative; he was, like many of his class, risk-averse.(And the Confederate generals knew full well, and took conscious advantage of, that trait; his friend and co-officer during the Mexican War, Confederate General Joe Johnston, in assessing the situation during the Peninsular campaign, commented, "No one but McClellan could have hesitated to attack [us].")

By no means am I a Civil War scholar, but over the years I have read a fair amount on the subject and, excepting many of the details, there was little in this book that was new to me.Nor does its portrayal of McClellan differ significantly from what I have read elsewhere. Based on what I know, LINCOLN AND McCLELLAN is solid, middle-of-the road history.In coming up with the 218 pages of text, Waugh draws on an impressively extensive collection of sources.Too many in many instances - he often provides four quotes to illustrate a point when one or two would have served just fine.Had the book been written primarily to explicate the major aspects and conflicts of the Lincoln/McClellan relationship with less attention to corroborating quotations and other detail, those 218 pages of text could have been halved.The writing itself suffices though it rarely sparkles.

LINCOLN AND McCLELLAN is a detailed, workmanlike rendering of the 15 months during which the title figures were "partners".I sense that it will be of more interest to the Civil War buff than to the general reader.Three-and-a-half stars.

A Fresh Look at the Relationship Between Lincoln and McClellan
I recently finished reading John C. "Jack" Waugh's newest book, "Lincoln and McClellan: The Troubled Partnership Between a President and His General."As a long time student of Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War, I was excited to start reading "Lincoln and McClellan."

"Lincoln and McClellan" is a fresh look at their tumultuous relationship.As the author points out, both men have been written about extensively but there have been few books that have dealt specifically with their unique relationship as Commander-in-Chief and general.The book is well written and the author's many years of research, on both men, is quickly apparent to the reader.Written in a prose that will make the book enjoyable to the casual Civil War enthusiast, it has enough detail to provide the serious student with plenty of great information.

"Lincoln and McClellan" is a book that I would highly recommend to my blog readers.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jack on June 23.It was a very enjoyable chat and one I'm sure you will appreciate for its candidness and insights.To read my full review, and listen to my interview with Mr. Waugh, go to my blog, ThisMightyScourge [dot] com and click on the "Interviews" category on the right menu.

Michael Noirot
This Mighty Scourge
St. Louis, Missouri
June 30, 2010

Fair and Balanced
Doing a book on Lincoln and McClellan is akin to running naked through a minefield.On one side, is a beloved President universally acclaimed and highly respected.On the other side is a general that is less than a complete success with an ego problem that is highly disliked.Unless an author is willing to do "Lincoln is always right", something is going to go BOOM!
Subtitled "The Troubled Partnership between a President and His General", the author carefully traces that partnership from the dark days after First Bull Run to November 1864.While this is a pro Lincoln book, the author never demonizes McClellan.In common with many authors, he may not like him but respects the good work McClellan did.This produces a more balanced history that is closer to what happened.
Where McClellan is concerned, the glass is usually half-empty.However, Lincoln's fears for Washington and the impact they have on the Peninsula Campaign are covered.The section on the Maryland Campaign is well done and generally fair to both parties.What emerges is two men under intense pressures unable to understand or appreciate the other's position.While there are many items not considered.Overall, this is an excellent summary of their relationship.
John C. Waugh is an excellent writer producing an easy to read book that is both informative and enjoyable.The book is fully footnoted with a comprehensive list of sources. Fully prepared to dislike this book, I brought it home after seeing it in the store.This is not a detailed military and political in-depth study.It is a good examination of these areas, touching on all the major questions and many of the minor ones.It is either an introduction or an excellent review.
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Wonderful stuff
This has hundreds of things Lincoln said and did. Most of the humor is subtle, and none of it will cause peals of laughter, but this book is definitely enjoyable reading. The intro tells of how Lincoln used humor throughout his life, and following it is a calender of important events in his life.
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If Abraham Lincoln was known as the Great Emancipator, he was also the only president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus.Indeed, Lincoln's record on the Constitution and individual rights has fueled a century of debate, from charges that Democrats were singled out for harrassment to Gore Vidal's depiction of Lincoln as an "absolute dictator." Now, in The Fate of Liberty, one of America's leading authorities on Lincoln wades straight into this controversy, showing just who was jailed and why, even as he explores the whole range of Lincoln's constitutional policies.
Mark Neely depicts Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as a well-intentioned attempt to deal with a floodtide of unforeseen events: the threat to Washington as Maryland flirted with secession, distintegrating public order in the border states, corruption among military contractors, the occupation of hostile Confederate territory, contraband trade with the South, and the outcry against the first draft in U.S. history.Drawing upon letters from prisoners, records of military courts and federal prisons, memoirs, and federal archives, he paints a vivid picture of how Lincoln responded to these problems, how his policies were actually executed, and the virulent political debates that followed. Lincoln emerges from this account with this legendary statesmanship intact--mindful of political realities and prone to temper the sentences of military courts, concerned not with persecuting his opponents but with prosecuting the war efficiently.In addition, Neely explores the abuses of power under the regime of martial law: the routine torture of suspected deserters, widespread antisemitism among Union generals and officials, the common practice of seizing civilian hostages.He finds that though the system of military justice was flawed, it suffered less from merciless zeal, or political partisanship, than from inefficiency and the friction and complexities of modern war.
Drawing on a deep understanding of this unique period, Neely takes a comprehensive look at the issues of civil liberties during Lincoln's administration, placing them firmly in the political context of the time.Written with keen insight and an intimate grasp of the original sources, The Fate of Liberty offers a vivid picture of the crises and chaos of a nation at war with itself, changing our understanding of this president and his most controversial policies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Pulitzer material for sure
I gobbled up this book, but then, it falls right into my current research topic.Others who found it dull have a point if they are not into this era or the topic, but I loved reading it.I might have given it 4 1/2 stars because occasionally Neely's liberal side sneaks through, as when he deemed the military draft of 1862 an odious event.That's a personal value judgment, not a fact.That it was PERCEIVED by many Northerners as odious, is a fact.But that is a tiny, tiny flaw, and the book is definitely deserving of the Pulitzer it received.(And I suspect those occasional liberal slips were vital to winning the Pulitzer.)Neely's marvelous academic study contradicts with extensively researched facts (the man read 137 rolls of microfilm searching for arrest records) the rantings of the Lincoln-was-a-despot Libertarians such as Thomas DiLorenzo.Not light reading but highly recommended for scholars.

Everything you want to know on the subject.
This is a very worthy and scholarly work with more detail than you could ask for on the subject.My problem with it is that is is a difficult read that is best taken in small doses.No doubt Neely is the award winning expert, it shows.

Crucial book on civil liberties during wartime
Neely gives an excellent and detailed review of how civil liberties suffered during the War Between the States.The right of habeas corpus is Neely's main concern, but trials by military commissons and international law are covered among other topics.

If you're not a Civil War buff, this book may seem pretty dry.For example, a lot of space is devoted to evaluating the various claims of how many military prisoners there were.While this is important historical data, it made my eyes glaze over and prompted me to skim several sections of the book.

Given the post-9/11 discussions of military tribunals and other curtailments of the Bill of Rights, this book is more relevant than ever.

Excellent study of a misunderstood aspect of the Civil War
This book gives an excellent look into the policies of the Lincoln administration and the effects of these policies on civil liberties in the United States.A common misconception regarding this subject is that the majority of those arrested as a result of the suspension of habeas corpus were political enemies of Lincoln.This book, however, demonstrates how many of the arrests were not based upon politics, but upon how the crimes committed affected the war effort.Most attention in the past has focused on a few famous cases such as Clement Vallandingham, but this book shows that this case was an exception to the rule.

A must-read for anyone interested in the Civil War or Abraham Lincoln.Neely also writes in a clear prose that clearly explains his points and allows the reader to understand what he is talking about even without having an extensive knowledge of Lincoln or the Civil War. ... Read more

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Not long after Lincoln's assassination, the debate began: Was Lincoln a committed Christian or a confirmed skeptic? Scholar Philip Ostergard provides the answer with a thorough study of the president's references to God, the Bible, and Christian principles in his letters and speeches. The Inspired Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln illustrates the depth of Lincoln's knowledge of Scripture; the Bible's influence on his character; and the development of his faith, particularly as he wrestled with the issue of slavery and led the nation through the tumultuous years of the Civil War. Readers will find this a fascinating and inspiring handbook of answers to the questions about one of our greatest presidents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

AN OUTSTANDING BOOK ABOUT AN OUTSTANDING MAN!
This book was an refreshing, eye opening, outstanding presentation of the works of a very intelligent man with unwavering principle and character. About a man that grew in his love for God as he grew in seeking the right perspective on issues of life during a very tough time period for our nation, always seeking to do what was right with a true belief and frame of reference that "all men are created equal". Great book: revealing the true heart of a man dealing with tough issues with such wisdom and character!Glad I bought and read this book!!

Faith of the greatest president this country or the world has ever known.
I only wish the politicians of today would follow the lead of a man as simple and great as Abraham Lincoln. ... Read more

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A screen display featuring Abraham Lincoln. ... Read more

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INTO THE TWILIGHTis an historical NOVEL filled with characters who exude ambition and wanderlust, love and betrayal, and forbidden love and culpability, all of which leads to the procreation of a legend, our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln.

Was our favorite president really a Lincoln?Since the man called Abraham Lincoln entered politics and especially immediately after his assasination, unyielding efforts were made to squelch any reference to his true origins. This cover-up continues to the present day with modern biographers.

INTO THE TWILIGHT is drawn from a huge body of traditional lore that has existed for over two hundred years and places the birth of Abraham Lincoln in Rutherford County, North Carolina instead of Elizabethtown, Kentucky.This knowledge says that Lincoln was the illegitimate son of a well-to-do and well-educated farmer named Abraham Enloe, a man large in physical stature and with sexual appetites to match.

INTO THE TWILIGHT traces Lincoln's real father from his beginnings in South Carolina to the mountains of North Carolina in 1780.Here, some years later, the Enloe family takes on a ten-year-old bondservant, Nancy Hanks, who grows into a lovely young woman with whom Mr. Enloe becomes sexually entangled. Mr. Enloe, caught between the two women he loves, pays a man named Thomas Lincoln to marry Nancy Hanks, give her child his name and take her away to Kentucky.Filled with well-researched historical details and many actual characters, this novel reads more like truth than fiction.

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An absorbing, fascinating story
Annis Ward Jackson can be depended on to produce a well-written and well-researched story.While I enjoyed her murder mystery "Blind Malice," it is biographies, historical fiction, and memoirs that I favor.Annis's historical fiction "Into The Twilight:The True Origins of Abe Lincoln" has really captivated me with its rich details and descriptions of early US people, their customs and influences. My interest in Abraham Lincoln has increased tremendously.

Fiction not facts
It is a good story, but some glaring facts are wrong, Abraham was born in 1809, and his sister was older than him, also he had a baby brother that died in infancy,so Thomas Lincoln could father children.It's a good story if you don't know much about Lincoln. It's a good period piece and very interesting taken as fiction and if you don't look too hard for facts.

Great Class Project!
Having read a couple of Ms. Jackson's murder mysteries and her Christmas short story, I thought I would take a chance on her historical novel about Abraham Lincoln.My class will start studying Lincoln in January in preparation for his February birthday and I thought it would be neat to bring something new to the discussion.

I was so right!Into The Twilight not only gives my students a new topic on Lincoln, but it relates directly to North Carolina, and the book is not filled with objectionable language or explicit sex.The only violence is a realistic but not too graphic fight scene which I'm sure my boys will enjoy.

A really good story that may prove someday to be more fact than fiction!

Review INTO THE TWILIGHT
This is a stark departure from Jackson's murder mysteries.INTO THE TWILIGHT is a retelling in historical fiction genre of the traditional story that Abraham Lincoln was actually born in North Carolina, the illegitimate son of a wealthy mountain farmer.

Jackson brings to life the characters of Abraham Enloe, his wife Sarah, and Nancy Hanks, the ill-fated mother of our sixteenth president.The passion Enloe feels for his young bondservant is intense and equaled only by his wife's shock and fury when she learns that her husband has been repeatedly unfaithful, and that young Nancy Hanks is carrying his child.

Jackson's descriptive powers, her attention to crucial details, and the authenticity of her portrayal of period culture makes this an all-around good read for anyone interested in a well-developed historical drama. ... Read more

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Nathaniel W. Stephenson's classic biography
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Customer Reviews (5)

An under the radar masterpiece!
To preface this review, I have not yet finished this book.My total enjoyment of it thus far has warranted my review in the hope that more people will read this book.This book is difficult to get at a bookstore, as it is very under the radar.Nevertheless, it is superb.Rarely in history classes or books can you get such a comprehensive and complete examination of such a specific event in history.This book accomplishes this offering much information you won't learn elsewhere.Being very interested in Lincoln and the time period in which he lived, this book was right on.This is a must read for anyone interested in Lincoln or simply in the political arena that gave birth to the Republican party.Highly recommended.

Excellent Book on Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency
Gary Ecelbarger succeeds in crafting a well-written tome that captures Lincoln's effort to obtain the Republican nomination for the 1860 Presidential election. Although just defeated by Stephen Douglass in the 1858 Senatorial contest, Lincoln quickly laid the groundwork for his presidential campaign that changed the nation. Mr. Ecelbarger writes in a smooth, descriptive manner that creates vivid images in the mind of the reader. We not only learn about the when, where and why of Lincoln's political journey but actually feel as if we were part of the campaign that led to Lincoln's nomination.

Principled Pragmatist

How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the 1860 Republican Nomination?

Does the Great Comeback answer this Question? This work is a very pleasing narrative about Lincoln's life from his losing to Stephen A. Douglas in 1858 for the Illinois Senate Race up to his nomination for the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States in 1860. Who organized the Lincoln Campaign? How was Abraham Lincoln sold to the public? How did Lincoln depict himself to the public and how did he want to be perceived? Lincoln was a successful criminal lawyer. Lincoln also made public speeches for fee. It is the latter that he used to sell himself. Lincoln argued against the expansion of Slavery to other territories. The front runner, for the Republican nomination, Seward was an abolitionist. Lincoln speeches did not argue against Seward's position but Douglas' position on popular sovereignty. Douglas the eventual Democratic nominee only was the likely nominee when Lincoln campaign for the nomination.Lincoln also made a speech about the poor economics of slave labor as oppose to free labor. These speeches were made in several states up north and one in the Kansas territory. These speeches were published in several newspapers outside Illinois and the geographic area made including the southern states.

To a lesser extent except convention week, the book deals with inside politics: The organizing of campaign workers and delegates. There is some discussion of how Lincoln tried to keep himself above the fray between egos in the party. Important items were getting the convention to be held in Chicago. Which was important that popular support of the area could come to their aid? The placement where delegates were sitted: limit Seward's New York handler's ability to cajole delegates. Lincoln's handlers had negotiations between the State delegations that eventually gave Lincoln the nomination on the Third ballot.This book will bring some insight to the United States chose their leader who eventually led the Union.

Excellent new book vividly describes Lincoln's run for his party's nomination
Gary Ecelbarger brings alive a fascinating little-studied chapter in Lincoln's much-documented life: the 16 months from January 1859, following his devastating senate loss to Stephen Douglas, to May 18, 1860 when he emerged from a field of popular front-runners to capture the Republican Party nomination and set the scene for his election to the presidency.This is an engrossing book -- and an especially timely one during this election year and the Lincoln Bicentennial. I highly recommend it.

a new look at lincoln
This is a unique look at Lincoln, one that shows us how he took his first steps to becoming president, how he turned his career around, how he rose from dark horse candidate to the presidential nominations.It also provides a great look at "back room" politics of the time.A new and often overlooked chapter in the history of this legendary president! ... Read more

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“Cruel, merciful; peace-loving, a fighter; despising Negroes and letting them fight and vote; protecting slavery and freeing slaves.” Abraham Lincoln was, W. E. B. Du Bois declared, “big enough to be inconsistent.” Big enough, indeed, for every generation to have its own Lincoln—unifier or emancipator, egalitarian or racist. In an effort to reconcile these views, and to offer a more complex and nuanced account of a figure so central to American history, this book focuses on the most controversial aspect of Lincoln’s thought and politics—his attitudes and actions regarding slavery and race. Drawing attention to the limitations of Lincoln’s judgment and policies without denying his magnitude, the book provides the most comprehensive and even-handed account available of Lincoln’s contradictory treatment of black Americans in matters of slavery in the South and basic civil rights in the North.

George Fredrickson shows how Lincoln’s antislavery convictions, however genuine and strong, were held in check by an equally strong commitment to the rights of the states and the limitations of federal power. He explores how Lincoln’s beliefs about racial equality in civil rights, stirred and strengthened by the African American contribution to the northern war effort, were countered by his conservative constitutional philosophy, which left this matter to the states. The Lincoln who emerges from these pages is far more comprehensible and credible in his inconsistencies, and in the abiding beliefs and evolving principles from which they arose. Deeply principled but nonetheless flawed, all-too-human yet undeniably heroic, he is a Lincoln for all generations.

Customer Reviews (4)

"Emphatically the Black Man's President"
So said the great black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, about Lincoln, in 1865. The conventional PC view of Lincoln would deny him his rightful place in the struggle for freedom and equality. Lincoln's claim to being the Great Emancipator lies not just with his Emancipation Proclamation, but also with the 13th Amendment, which he insisted on & sheparded through Congress. Those who feel Lincoln was insincere about freedom and equality would do well to read LaWanda Cox's Lincoln and Black Freedom: A Study in Presidential Leadership; Richard Striner's Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle To End Slavery; and Harry Jaffa's Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates; as well as Allen Guelzo's Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America; and James Oakes's The Radical and the Republican. Lincoln felt that politics was the art of the possible. His political artistry included an acute knowledge of public opinion(and prejudices), a finely-honed sense of timing, and political discretion. Lincoln never retreated from emancipation once it was decided upon, just as he never affirmed black inferiority to be inherent. During his debates with Stephen Douglas he never said that he would never(in future) support equality. He didn't put stock in physical differences. In a well-known private memoranda he mused how anyone could be enslaved if the criterion was to have darker skin, or lesser intellect, because everyone was lighter or darker, or of varing degrees of smartness. In Chicago, in July 1858, he implored people to "discard" all their "quibbling" about supposed inferiority, and unite around the equality of the Declaration of Independence. However, a race-baiting Stephen Douglas forced him to subsequently in those debates down-play the full implications of his anti-slavery position. Again, he was a politician seeking an anti-slavery victory in a racist state[Illinois]. But, during his presidency he approved of bills abolishing segregation on horse-drawn streetcars in D.C., for equal pay for black troops, for black witnesses in federal courts, for equal penalties for the same crimes, for the Freedmen's Bureau. He supported education for the freedmen. He had African-Americans picnic on the White House lawn, bowed publicly to a black gentleman in Richmond, welcomed(for the first time) an ambassador from Haiti, and met African-American leaders in the White House for discussions. Any colonization was to be voluntary and was later dropped, whites and blacks having to "live out of the old relation and into the new." Sojourner Truth said that she had never been treated with more "kindness and cordiality" by anyone. Lincoln called for the vote for educated blacks and soldiers[a first step]. John Wilkes Booth was in the audience, and told a companion that that meant "N-- citizenship" and vowed it would be Lincoln's last speech. He was assassinated 3 days later. Frederick Douglass noted Lincoln's "entire freedom from popular prejudice against the colored race."

About Lincoln's flip-flopping
there is only one thing to say.He was big enough to be inconsistent.He was not going to be caught up in hobgoblins of little minds, apologies to RWE.It seems timely that we should consider this issue in our presidents when we are besieged by frightful scenarios of a president who might change his mind.How wonderful if we could have politicians who, regardless of what common sense, intelligence, and changing circumstances might indicate, hold true to their original engraved in stone views of the revealed truth.Perhaps reading and digesting this little book can put some of our fears to rest.

Unless you are a fan of George Fredrickson, an avid student of Lincoln's thoughts, and interested in projecting a true picture of 19th century America--I am guilty of all counts--you may hesitate to purchase this 126 page (text pages only) large print and small page book even for the fair price Amazon lists.Be assure, this book is valuable enough to make it worth more than the publisher's price.When we are faced with a barrage of anti-Lincoln literature compensated for by an equal barrage of myth making of our sixteenth president, an open, well researched, thoughtful book that does neither is of real value.Particularly now.The political threat to Lincoln's presidency was not whether he favored free choice on abortion, but something a bit more urgent to living individuals and those to be born--should slavery cease to exist through the mandate of government.Had Lincoln been faced with Roe v Wade he, like any other thinking person, probably would change his mind a few times before settlingon a "final" stand.

"The first public statement of [the disapproval of slavery] came when Lincoln was serving his first term in the Illinois state legislature in 1837:he voted against a resolution condemning the abolitionists and their doctrines and affirming the right under the Constitution to hold slaves where permitted by state law.It is unclear why Lincoln voted against the resolution; for the next twenty-five years he would maintain that the Constitution protected slavery in the states and that abolitionists did more harm than good (pp. 43-44)."The turning point for Lincoln seems to have been the Kansas-Nebraska Act which opened the door for the spread of the peculiar institution.Fredrickson points out that the Lincoln family left Kentucky for Illinois because free farmers could not compete with slaveholders.There is nothing to show Lincoln did not abhor the practice of slavery on moral grounds, but as a politician he fought against it on a practical level.The war experience during his presidency, a period when many men alter or reverse their previous thinking, showed him the value of using the slaves against the Confederacy.That the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation was a tactical move rather than a humanitarian move does not make the president less courageous.He was an extraordinary man of his time.One who had the courage to "flip-flop" on his original views and rethink the meaning of the Constitution on the question of state rights and slavery.And he still pushed for colonization of the freed blacks.Yet again he submitted no to the pressures of his constituents but to political reality of the 1860's.


The author concludes his work with a quotation from Frederick Douglass, not one known for mincing words.Douglass's evaluation was "Viewed from genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical and determined."

Well written piece.
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race (The W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures) This is a well written book looking at the aspects that influenced Lincoln in his life and how they affected his stand on slavery and race. You get a look at not only how he felt personally but also how his love of the U.S. Constitution led to how he made many of his decisions regarding slavery.

Moral ambiguity:Plumbing the complexity of Lincoln's attitudes on slavery and race
Of the writing of books on Lincoln, there is, apparently, no end.Americans' fascination for the man seems to increase rather than diminish.But this fascination is rarely uninterested.Authors (and readers) on Lincoln tend to be hagiographers or debunkers, intent either on canonizing or damning him.As a consequence, it's frequently difficult to discover the real man underneath the legend.

In his Big Enough to Be Inconsistent, veteran Civil War scholar George Frederickson defends an interpretation of Lincoln's views on slavery and race that seeks a "middle ground" between the hagiographers who see the president as a proto-civil liberties advocate and the debunkers who see him as a hypocritical racist.Frederickson argues that Lincoln's views on both the institution of slavery and racial inequality changed over time, and that their fluidity suggests a position that's much more complex and ambiguous than hagiographers and debunkers allow.Like most of us, Lincoln's position on race wasn't entirely consistent.Moreover, Lincoln's ambivalence is complicated by the fact that he was a politician, and sometimes said things for public consumption that were more expedient than genuinely believed.

One thing is certain.Lincoln was never ambivalent in his moral opposition to slavery.But the racist assumptions he absorbed from his virulently Negrophobic home state of Illinois clustered to form views in the pre-war Lincoln that Frederickson doesn't hesitate to characterize as white supremicist, albeit a "relatively passive or reactive" sort (p. 84).Lincoln advocated a minimalist bestowal of free trade rights on blacks, but balked at defending full civil and moral equality.Moreover, his deep-seated Constitutional conservatism and his near-religious veneration of the Union made him a staunch advocate of gradual emancipation (a model defended by Henry Clay, one of Lincoln's heroes) and an equally staunch critic of abolitionists.Again like Clay, Lincoln was also a firm supporter of expatriation and colonization of freed blacks.

But the war experience began to change Lincoln's views.Gradually recognizing the value of using enslaved blacks against the Confederacy, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation primarily as a war effort.This reversed his position at war's beginning that "the Negro" shouldn't be "dragged" into the conflict (p. 90).Even after the Emancipation, Lincoln was reluctant to use blacks as soldiers, believing that they were fit only as laborers.But by August 1863, after witnessing the bravery and skill of "colored troops," Lincoln had changed his mind.This reversal also seems to have reconciled Lincoln to the possibility that free blacks had a legitimate place in American society, because he also dropped his insistence on colonization (much to the relief of his secretary John Hay, who always considered the strategy "a hideous and barbarous humbug" - p. 113).But Lincoln didn't reverse the conviction, born of his Constitutional conservatism, that civil liberties for blacks had to be determined by the states, not the federal government.Right up to the end of his life, then, the tension between his moral convictions and his political principles endured.

As Frederickson himself concedes, "none of this should be surprising to good historians" (p. xi).But the skill with which Frederickson makes his case for a "middle ground" between Lincoln-veneration and Lincoln-hatred, as well as the compact elegance of this little book, make it well worth reading.It would've been good had Frederickson reflected more on the curious tension between Lincoln's fidelity to the Constitution and his moral aversion to slavery.Is it appropriate, for example, that constitutionalism trumps immediate response to glaring moral wrongs?But Frederickson's reminder that inconsistency and ambiguity are almost always embedded in our ethical positions is a refreshing response to true believers of any stripe who insist that anything less than lockstep consistency is morally condemnable.

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