Lincoln And The Politics Of Slavery

Author : Daniel W. Crofts
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469627329
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery written by Daniel W. Crofts and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-02-13 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this landmark book, Daniel Crofts examines a little-known episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life: his role as the "Great Emancipator." Lincoln always hated slavery, but he also believed it to be legal where it already existed, and he never imagined fighting a war to end it. In 1861, as part of a last-ditch effort to preserve the Union and prevent war, the new president even offered to accept a constitutional amendment that barred Congress from interfering with slavery in the slave states. Lincoln made this key overture in his first inaugural address. Crofts unearths the hidden history and political maneuvering behind the stillborn attempt to enact this amendment, the polar opposite of the actual Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 that ended slavery. This compelling book sheds light on an overlooked element of Lincoln's statecraft and presents a relentlessly honest portrayal of America's most admired president. Crofts rejects the view advanced by some Lincoln scholars that the wartime momentum toward emancipation originated well before the first shots were fired. Lincoln did indeed become the "Great Emancipator," but he had no such intention when he first took office. Only amid the crucible of combat did the war to save the Union become a war for freedom.

Author : Eric Foner
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393080827
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.2X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery written by Eric Foner and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-09-26 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A masterwork [by] the preeminent historian of the Civil War era.”—Boston Globe Selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, this landmark work gives us a definitive account of Lincoln's lifelong engagement with the nation's critical issue: American slavery. A master historian, Eric Foner draws Lincoln and the broader history of the period into perfect balance. We see Lincoln, a pragmatic politician grounded in principle, deftly navigating the dynamic politics of antislavery, secession, and civil war. Lincoln's greatness emerges from his capacity for moral and political growth.

Author : Peter Burchard
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0689815700
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln and Slavery written by Peter Burchard and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1999-06 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of the sixteenth president which focuses on the issue of slavery and the importance it had throughout Lincoln's life from his early days as a lawyer through his presidency.

Author : Thomas E. Schneider
Publisher : University of Missouri Press
ISBN 13 : 0826265065
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln's Defense of Politics written by Thomas E. Schneider and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Examines six of Lincoln's key opponents (states' rights constitutionalists Alexander H. Stephens, John C. Calhoun, and George Fitzhugh; and abolitionists Henry David Thoreau, William Lloyd Garrison, and Frederick Douglass) to illustrate the broad significance of the slavery question and to highlight the importance of political considerations in public decision making"--Provided by publisher.

Author : Robert W. Johannsen
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 0807155527
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln, the South, and Slavery written by Robert W. Johannsen and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 1993-10-01 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1858, Abraham Lincoln declared his hatred for the institution of slavery, likening his feelings of opposition to those of the abolitionists. Although the fact that Lincoln always disliked slavery is indisputable, the idea that he always opposed it with the zeal and fervor of the abolitionists remains questionable. Only four years prior to his bold declaration, Lincoln admittedly paid little attention to slavery, viewing it as only a minor issue. But in the six years preceding his presidency, his antislavery stance underwent dramatic change. Fueled by political ambition, Lincoln’s argument against slavery and his prescription for dealing with it moved from what he initially labeled a middle-ground stance to a more radical position. Robert W. Johannsen’s Lincoln, the South, and Slavery traces the political dimension of Lincoln’s antislavery stance as it evolved from the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 to his election as president in 1860. Whereas previous scholars have largely ignored the political character of Lincoln’s antislavery argument, Johannsen sees Lincoln as an astute and ambitious politician whose statements where shaped and directed by the time’s ever-changing political exigencies and considerations. Johannsen does not demean the quality of Lincoln’s sincerity or downgrade the importance of his moral convictions on the slavery issue, but he does suggest that politics played a larger role than previously acknowledged in the form these convictions took. The four chapters that compose this work connect Lincoln’s position with his attitude toward the South and Southerners, from his initial appeal to Southerners at a time when he sought to revitalize the dying Whig party, through his deepening involvement in the Republican party, to his final belief that the South and Southern interests no longer needed to be considered as factors determining his national political success. Johannsen focuses on Lincoln’s debut in 1854 as an antislavery speaker, on the development of his stand for the ultimate extinction of slavery, on his espression of the doctrine of the irrepressible conflict, and finally on Lincoln’s and the South’s perceptions of each other in 1860. As no other work has done, Lincoln, the South, and Slavery shows how Lincoln, in response to the demands of politics, became increasingly anti-slavery and anti-Southern during the 1850s. It will be a welcome contribution to the ongoing debate about the enigma of Lincoln and about his role in the coming of the Civil War.

Author : Harold Holzer
Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809327645
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln and Freedom written by Harold Holzer and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2007-08-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lincoln’s reelection in 1864 was a pivotal moment in the history of the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation had officially gone into effect on January 1, 1863, and the proposed Thirteenth Amendment had become a campaign issue. Lincoln and Freedom: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Thirteenth Amendment captures these historic times, profiling the individuals, events, and enactments that led to slavery’s abolition. Fifteen leading Lincoln scholars contribute to this collection, covering slavery from its roots in 1619 Jamestown, through the adoption of the Constitution, to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. This comprehensive volume, edited by Harold Holzer and Sara Vaughn Gabbard, presents Abraham Lincoln’s response to the issue of slavery as politician, president, writer, orator, and commander-in-chief. Topics include the history of slavery in North America, the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, the evolution of Lincoln’s view of presidential powers, the influence of religion on Lincoln, and the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation. This collection effectively explores slavery as a Constitutional issue, both from the viewpoint of the original intent of the nation’s founders as they failed to deal with slavery, and as a study of the Constitutional authority of the commander-in-chief as Lincoln interpreted it. Addressed are the timing of Lincoln’s decision for emancipation and its effect on the public, the military, and the slaves themselves. Other topics covered include the role of the U.S. Colored Troops, the election campaign of 1864, and the legislative debate over the Thirteenth Amendment. The volume concludes with a heavily illustrated essay on the role that iconography played in forming and informing public opinion about emancipation and the amendments that officially granted freedom and civil rights to African Americans. Lincoln and Freedom provides a comprehensive political history of slavery in America and offers a rare look at how Lincoln’s views, statements, and actions played a vital role in the story of emancipation.

Author : Allen C. Guelzo
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416547959
Total Pages : 414 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation written by Allen C. Guelzo and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-11-07 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the nation's foremost Lincoln scholars offers an authoritative consideration of the document that represents the most far-reaching accomplishment of our greatest president. No single official paper in American history changed the lives of as many Americans as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. But no American document has been held up to greater suspicion. Its bland and lawyerlike language is unfavorably compared to the soaring eloquence of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural; its effectiveness in freeing the slaves has been dismissed as a legal illusion. And for some African-Americans the Proclamation raises doubts about Lincoln himself. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation dispels the myths and mistakes surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation and skillfully reconstructs how America's greatest president wrote the greatest American proclamation of freedom.

Author : Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 140083208X
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lincoln on Race and Slavery written by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-22 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From acclaimed scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the most comprehensive collection of Lincoln's writings on race and slavery Generations of Americans have debated the meaning of Abraham Lincoln's views on race and slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw slavery, yet he also harbored grave doubts about the intellectual capacity of African Americans, publicly used the n-word until at least 1862, and favored permanent racial segregation. In this book—the first complete collection of Lincoln's important writings on both race and slavery—readers can explore these contradictions through Lincoln's own words. Acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentary filmmaker Henry Louis Gates, Jr., presents the full range of Lincoln's views, gathered from his private letters, speeches, official documents, and even race jokes, arranged chronologically from the late 1830s to the 1860s. Complete with definitive texts, rich historical notes, and an original introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this book charts the progress of a war within Lincoln himself. We witness his struggles with conflicting aims and ideas—a hatred of slavery and a belief in the political equality of all men, but also anti-black prejudices and a determination to preserve the Union even at the cost of preserving slavery. We also watch the evolution of his racial views, especially in reaction to the heroic fighting of black Union troops. At turns inspiring and disturbing, Lincoln on Race and Slavery is indispensable for understanding what Lincoln's views meant for his generation—and what they mean for our own.

Author : James Oakes
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393061949
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Radical and the Republican written by James Oakes and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2007 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opponents at first, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln gradually became allies, each influenced by and attracted to the other. James Oakes brings these two iconic figures to life and sheds new light on the central issues of slavery, race and equality in Civil War America.

Author : James Oakes
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 1324005866
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution written by James Oakes and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the 2022 Lincoln Prize An award-winning scholar uncovers the guiding principles of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies. The long and turning path to the abolition of American slavery has often been attributed to the equivocations and inconsistencies of antislavery leaders, including Lincoln himself. But James Oakes’s brilliant history of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies reveals a striking consistency and commitment extending over many years. The linchpin of antislavery for Lincoln was the Constitution of the United States. Lincoln adopted the antislavery view that the Constitution made freedom the rule in the United States, slavery the exception. Where federal power prevailed, so did freedom. Where state power prevailed, that state determined the status of slavery, and the federal government could not interfere. It would take state action to achieve the final abolition of American slavery. With this understanding, Lincoln and his antislavery allies used every tool available to undermine the institution. Wherever the Constitution empowered direct federal action—in the western territories, in the District of Columbia, over the slave trade—they intervened. As a congressman in 1849 Lincoln sponsored a bill to abolish slavery in Washington, DC. He reentered politics in 1854 to oppose what he considered the unconstitutional opening of the territories to slavery by the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He attempted to persuade states to abolish slavery by supporting gradual abolition with compensation for slaveholders and the colonization of free Blacks abroad. President Lincoln took full advantage of the antislavery options opened by the Civil War. Enslaved people who escaped to Union lines were declared free. The Emancipation Proclamation, a military order of the president, undermined slavery across the South. It led to abolition by six slave states, which then joined the coalition to affect what Lincoln called the "King’s cure": state ratification of the constitutional amendment that in 1865 finally abolished slavery.