Citizen LincolnNova Publishers, 2004 - 229 σελίδες In modern times, some critics have belittled Abraham Lincoln's antislavery resolve as shallow. Some have portrayed him as a passive president, waiting upon the bold initiatives of others. 'Citizen Lincoln' regards him differently. First, it portrays Lincoln's animus against slavery as rooted in the highest ideals of the American Revolution, which he saw as being corrupted in his own time. Second, it analyses Lincoln's supposed 'passivity' as more aptly defined as wise caution. Lincoln learned as a legislator, first in Illinois and later in the United States Congress, that bold initiatives often backfire and fail to fulfil original intentions. In the state legislature, Lincoln supported a dramatic internal-improvements project that collapsed in the midst of a national depression. Lincoln also boldly opposed the Mexican War in Congress, only to see his cause evaporate as soon as a peace treaty was drafted with Mexico. In both instances, his timing was faulty. He had rushed into taking rigid policy positions when greater caution would have reaped better results. But in both instances, he learned lessons that would hold him in good stead later. Lincoln as president was wisely cautious, knowing that bold action could only disrupt the delicate coalition that kept the Union cause moving forward to victory. Harriet Beecher Stowe described Lincoln's unique strength as "swaying to every influence, yielding on this side and on that to popular needs, yet tenaciously and inflexibly bound to carry its great end". She wisely added that no other kind of strength could have seen the nation through the worst trial in its history. In filling this role, Abraham Lincoln fulfilled that which he had long regarded as his personal mission within the larger context of his nation's providential destiny. |
Περιεχόμενα
1 | |
Citizen Lincoln | 3 |
Lincoln Reconsidered | 4 |
The Mythological Lincoln | 7 |
The Real versus the Ideal Lincoln | 11 |
Hard and Humble Beginnings | 13 |
The Household of Thomas Lincoln | 14 |
The Influence of Henry Clay | 19 |
Quincy | 114 |
Alton | 115 |
Illinois Reelects Douglas | 118 |
Campaign and the Crisis | 119 |
Waiting in the Wings | 122 |
The Presidential Nomination | 124 |
The Election | 126 |
A Mandate for Limited Change | 129 |
Lincoln the Navigator | 22 |
A Young Man in Illinois | 24 |
Elected by the People | 29 |
New Challenges | 33 |
Young Lincoln on Slavery and Race | 37 |
Lincoln and Women | 39 |
Lawyer Lincolns Congressional Ambitions | 45 |
Frustrated Ambitions | 53 |
The Presidential Campaign of 1848 | 57 |
Lincoln Takes an Antislavery Stand | 65 |
California Gold Radicalizes American Politics | 67 |
Out of Office | 68 |
Slavery and Union | 70 |
Deep Cogitation | 73 |
The KansasNebraska Act | 81 |
Lincoln Opposes Calhoun | 84 |
Lincoln Challenges Douglas | 88 |
A Whig in Search of a New Party | 90 |
Somebody Named Lincoln | 95 |
The Dred Scott Decision | 96 |
The Lecompton Constitution | 99 |
Challenging Douglass Reelection | 100 |
Ottawa | 104 |
Freeport | 105 |
Jonesboro | 106 |
Charleston | 109 |
Galesburg | 111 |
Abstractions to Die For | 132 |
Lincoln Goes to Washington | 135 |
Waiting for War | 139 |
Responsibility for the Apocalypse | 143 |
Herding Cats | 147 |
Preserver Protector and Defender | 149 |
The Politics of Union | 152 |
Lincolns Gift of Detachment | 155 |
Lincoln and McClellan | 157 |
The Great Emancipator? | 162 |
The Cautious Emancipator | 166 |
Waiting and Preparing for the Backlash | 170 |
Antietams Aftermath | 172 |
A Union Worth Saving | 177 |
From Vallandigham to Gettysburg | 178 |
Turning Grant Loose | 182 |
Lincolns PreElection Political Arena | 185 |
Mr Lincolns Treachery | 187 |
A Momentum Toward Victory | 192 |
End Game | 196 |
Celebration and Tragedy | 200 |
Now He Belongs to the Ages | 205 |
A Man of Destiny | 209 |
Bibliography | 213 |
220 | |
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abolitionist Abraham Lincoln African Americans antislavery army became Boritt Calhoun campaign Civil comp compromise Confederate Congress Congressman Abraham Lincoln constitutional David Herbert Donald debate Democratic Donald Douglas Douglas's Dred Scott Decision election emancipation Emancipation Proclamation emphasized federal Fehrenbacher and Fehrenbacher Frémont friends Gabor Guelzo Harper & Row Henry Clay Herndon human Illinois Press inauguration issue John Kansas-Nebraska Act Kentucky later liberty Lincoln knew Lincoln New York Lincoln on Lincoln Lincoln told Lincoln wrote Lincoln's Virtues Malice Mary Todd Lincoln McClellan Mexican military Missouri Missouri Compromise Mitgang never nomination northern Oates Office Oxford University Press peace political politician popular sovereignty Prairie Lawyer presidential Proclamation proslavery radical Recollected Words Redeemer President regarded Republican Party secession slave slaveholding slavery slavery's South southern Speeches and Writings Springfield Stanford Stephen Taylor territories U.S. Senate United victory votes Washington Whig White House William Wilmot Proviso young Zall
Δημοφιλή αποσπάσματα
Σελίδα xix - I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere...
Σελίδα xi - Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into actual Service of the United States...