Lincoln and the Border States

Lincoln and the Border States

Author: William C. Harris

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2014-08-15

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 070062015X

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Adopting a new approach to an American icon, an award-winning scholar reexamines the life of Abraham Lincoln to demonstrate how his remarkable political acumen and leadership skills evolved during the intense partisan conflict in pre-Civil War Illinois. By describing Lincoln's rise from obscurity to the presidency, William Harris shows that Lincoln's road to political success was far from easy-and that his reaction to events wasn't always wise or his racial attitudes free of prejudice. Although most scholars have labeled Lincoln a moderate, Harris reveals that he was by his own admission a conservative who revered the Founders and advocated "adherence to the old and tried." By emphasizing the conservative bent that guided Lincoln's political evolution-his background as a Henry Clay Whig, his rural ties, his cautious nature, and the racial and political realities of central Illinois-Harris provides fresh insight into Lincoln's political ideas and activities and portrays him as morally opposed to slavery but fundamentally conservative in his political strategy against it. Interweaving aspects of Lincoln's life and character that were an integral part of his rise to prominence, Harris provides in-depth coverage of Lincoln's controversial term in Congress, his re-emergence as the leader of the antislavery coalition in Illinois, and his Senate campaign against Stephen A.Douglas. He particularly describes how Lincoln organized the antislavery coalition into the Republican Party while retaining the support of its diverse elements, and sheds new light on Lincoln's ongoing efforts to bring Know Nothing nativists into the coalition without alienating ethnic groups. He also provides new information and analysis regarding Lincoln's nomination and election to the presidency, the selection of his cabinet, and his important role as president-elect during the secession crisis of 1860-1861. Challenging prevailing views, Harris portrays Lincoln as increasingly driven not so much by his own ambitions as by his antislavery sentiments and his fear for the republic in the hands of Douglas Democrats, and he shows how the unique political skills Lincoln developed in Illinois shaped his wartime leadership abilities. By doing so, he opens a window on his political ideas and influences and offers a fresh understanding of this complex figure.


America's Great Debate

America's Great Debate

Author: Fergus M. Bordewich

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-04-16

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 1439124612

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Chronicles the 1850s appeals of Western territories to join the Union as slave or free states, profiling period balances in the Senate, Henry Clay's attempts at compromise, and the border crisis between New Mexico and Texas.


The Man Who Saved the Union

The Man Who Saved the Union

Author: H. W. Brands

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2013-05-28

Total Pages: 754

ISBN-13: 0307475158

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From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War—a masterful biography of the Civil War general and two-term president who saved the Union twice, on the battlefield and in the White House. • “[A] splendidly written biography ... Brands does justice to one of America’s most underrated presidents.” —Dallas Morning News Ulysses Grant emerges in this masterful biography as a genius in battle and a driven president to a divided country, who remained fearlessly on the side of right. He was a beloved commander in the field who made the sacrifices necessary to win the war, even in the face of criticism. He worked valiantly to protect the rights of freed men in the South. He allowed the American Indians to shape their own fate even as the realities of Manifest Destiny meant the end of their way of life. In this sweeping and majestic narrative, bestselling author H.W. Brands now reconsiders Grant's legacy and provides an intimate portrait of a heroic man who saved the Union on the battlefield and consolidated that victory as a resolute and principled political leader. Look for H.W. Brands's other biographies: THE FIRST AMERICAN (Benjamin Franklin), ANDREW JACKSON, TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS (Franklin Roosevelt) and REAGAN.


Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Author: Russell Shorto

Publisher: Stan Clark Military Books

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 9780382099373

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A biography of the President who led the country through the stormy years of the Civil War.


The Cavalry Battle That Saved the Union

The Cavalry Battle That Saved the Union

Author: Paul D. Walker

Publisher: Pelican Publishing

Published: 2002-04-30

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9781455601950

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Civil War historians have long been puzzled by Pickett’s seemingly suicidal frontal attack on the Union center at Gettysburg. Here, for the first time, Paul D. Walker reveals Robert E. Lee’s true plan for victory at Gettysburg: a simultaneous strike against the Union center from the front and rear—Pickett’s infantry to charge the front, while Stuart’s cavalry struck the rear. The frontal assault by Pickett went off as scheduled, but as Stuart’s forces approached from the rear, they encountered a Union cavalry contingent. As the forces joined, the Union cavalry leader was quickly killed, and command fell to one of the most dynamic figures in American history—George Armstrong Custer. What followed was America’s greatest cavalry battle: 7,500 Confederate horsemen ranged against 5,000 Union cavalry, Jeb Stuart against George Custer, with the outcome of the Civil War at stake.


The Union War

The Union War

Author: Gary W. Gallagher

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2011-04-25

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0674045629

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In a searing analysis of the Civil War North as revealed in contemporary letters, diaries, and documents, Gallagher demonstrates that what motivated the North to go to war and persist in an increasingly bloody effort was primarily preservation of the Union.


Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Author: Christi E. Parker

Publisher: Teacher Created Materials

Published: 2005-05-31

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13: 9780743989169

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Abraham Lincoln is often considered one of the greatest American presidents. Readers will discover the incredible things Lincoln accomplished during his time as president and the impact he made on slavery, the Civil War, and the country. The easy to read text and enlightening facts highlight such aspects of Lincoln's presidency as the Emanicpation Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg, and how the popular and electoral votes led to his nomination. Detailed images and illustrations show readers real examples of documents and photos of Ford's Theater, where John Wilkes Booth committed Lincoln's assassination. Readers will feel engaged from cover to cover!


The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

Author: Eric Foner

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2011-09-26

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 039308082X

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“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.


Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

Author: Allen C. Guelzo

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-11-07

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 1416547959

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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.


The Battles that Made Abraham Lincoln

The Battles that Made Abraham Lincoln

Author: Larry Tagg

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2012-12-19

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 1611211271

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A timely look at the atmosphere of political hostility surrounding the Civil War, and the venom faced by America’s sixteenth president. Today, Abraham Lincoln is a beloved American icon, widely considered to be our best president. It was not always so. This book takes a look at what Lincoln’s contemporaries actually thought and said about him during his lifetime, when political hostilities, and ultimately civil war, raged. The era in which our sixteenth president lived and governed was the most rough-and-tumble in the history of American politics. The hostility behind the criticism aimed at Lincoln by the great men of his time, on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, is startling, the spectacular prejudice against him often shocking for its cruelty, intensity, and unrelenting vigor. The plain truth is that Lincoln was deeply reviled by many in his time. This book is both an entertaining read and a well-researched, serious look at the political context that begat the president’s predicament. Lincoln’s humanity has been unintentionally trivialized by some historians and writers who have hidden away the real man in a patina of bronze. This book helps us better understand the man he was, and how history is better and more clearly viewed through a long-distance lens. “Not the warm and fuzzy portrait we’re used to seeing . . . An eye-opening study, the first of its kind to focus on what Lincoln’s contemporaries really thought of him. On the other hand, this is not mean-spirited Lincoln-bashing . . . Tagg assesses his presidency through the social and political context of mid-19th century America. It was a time, for example, when ‘the rabid press routinely destroyed the reputations of public men,’ when the stature of the presidency, ‘stained by feeble performances from a string of the poorest presidents in the nation’s history,’ had plunged over decades.” —Civil War Times Magazine