Lincoln And Emancipation

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Lincoln and Freedom

Author : Harold Holzer
Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809327645
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (276 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln and Freedom by : Harold Holzer

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.

Lincoln and Emancipation

Author : Edna Greene Medford
Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809333643
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln and Emancipation by : Edna Greene Medford

Download or read book Lincoln and Emancipation written by Edna Greene Medford and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this succinct study, Edna Greene Medford examines the ideas and events that shaped President Lincoln’s responses to slavery, following the arc of his ideological development from the beginning of the Civil War, when he aimed to pursue a course of noninterference, to his championing of slavery’s destruction before the conflict ended. Throughout, Medford juxtaposes the president’s motivations for advocating freedom with the aspirations of African Americans themselves, restoring African Americans to the center of the story about the struggle for their own liberation. Lincoln and African Americans, Medford argues, approached emancipation differently, with the president moving slowly and cautiously in order to save the Union while the enslaved and their supporters pressed more urgently for an end to slavery. Despite the differences, an undeclared partnership existed between the president and slaves that led to both preservation of the Union and freedom for those in bondage. Medford chronicles Lincoln’s transition from advocating gradual abolition to campaigning for immediate emancipation for the majority of the enslaved, a change effected by the military and by the efforts of African Americans. The author argues that many players—including the abolitionists and Radical Republicans, War Democrats, and black men and women—participated in the drama through agitation, military support of the Union, and destruction of the institution from within. Medford also addresses differences in the interpretation of freedom: Lincoln and most Americans defined it as the destruction of slavery, but African Americans understood the term to involve equality and full inclusion into American society. An epilogue considers Lincoln’s death, African American efforts to honor him, and the president’s legacy at home and abroad. Both enslaved and free black people, Medford demonstrates, were fervent participants in the emancipation effort, showing an eagerness to get on with the business of freedom long before the president or the North did. By including African American voices in the emancipation narrative, this insightful volume offers a fresh and welcome perspective on Lincoln’s America.

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

Author : Allen C. Guelzo
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416547959
Total Pages : 414 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (165 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation by : Allen C. Guelzo

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.

Lincoln’s Proclamation

Author : William A. Blair
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807895412
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (954 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln’s Proclamation by : William A. Blair

Download or read book Lincoln’s Proclamation written by William A. Blair and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Emancipation Proclamation, widely remembered as the heroic act that ended slavery, in fact freed slaves only in states in the rebellious South. True emancipation was accomplished over a longer period and by several means. Essays by eight distinguished contributors consider aspects of the president's decision making, as well as events beyond Washington, offering new insights on the consequences and legacies of freedom, the engagement of black Americans in their liberation, and the issues of citizenship and rights that were not decided by Lincoln's document. The essays portray emancipation as a product of many hands, best understood by considering all the actors, the place, and the time. The contributors are William A. Blair, Richard Carwardine, Paul Finkelman, Louis Gerteis, Steven Hahn, Stephanie McCurry, Mark E. Neely Jr., Michael Vorenberg, and Karen Fisher Younger.

Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 1861-1865

Author : William K. Klingaman
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101218703
Total Pages : 410 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 1861-1865 by : William K. Klingaman

Download or read book Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 1861-1865 written by William K. Klingaman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2001-03-19 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive account of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, William K. Klingaman takes a fresh look at what is arguably the most controversial reform in American history. Taking the reader from Lincoln's inauguration through the Civil War to his tragic assassination, it uncovers the complex political and psychological pressures facing Lincoln in his consideration of the slavery question, including his decision to issue the proclamation without consulting any member of his cabinet, and his meticulous attention to every word of the document. The book concludes with a discussion of what the Emancipation Proclamation really meant to four million newly freed blacks and its subsequent impact on race relations in America.

Lincoln's Gamble

Author : Todd Brewster
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451693893
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln's Gamble by : Todd Brewster

Download or read book Lincoln's Gamble written by Todd Brewster and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative account of the six-month period during which the 16th President wrote the Emancipation Proclamation and changed the course of the Civil War discusses his battles with his generals and cabinet, his struggles with depression and his private doubts about his cause. 50,000 first printing.

Lincoln Emancipated

Author : Brian R. Dirck
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln Emancipated by : Brian R. Dirck

Download or read book Lincoln Emancipated written by Brian R. Dirck and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abraham Lincoln has long been revered by blacks and whites alike as the “Great Emancipator.” In recent years, however, this image has come under assault by scholars who question Lincoln s commitment to racial equality and who assert that he was in fact, as Frederick Douglass once noted, the “white man s president.” Such arguments challenging deep-seated assumptions about our nation s beloved leader demand serious investigation. What personal beliefs did Lincoln hold about the inherent differences or similarities between blacks and whites? How did his vision for race relations change as a result of the Civil War? What political, legal, and cultural circumstances prompted him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation? And in what ways have Americans chosen to remember Lincoln s legacy? Does he truly deserve his fame as the “Great Emancipator?” In this volume, seven historians attempt to answer these critical questions. Kenneth J. Winkle analyzes the racial climate of the early nineteenth-century Midwest in order to place Lincoln s views in context. Kevin R. C. Gutzman discusses the influence of Thomas Jefferson s racial politics upon Lincoln; and James N. Leiker scrutinizes Lincoln s attitudes toward Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics as well as toward blacks. Phillip S. Paludan and Brian Dirck describe Lincoln s tortured deliberation over emancipation, while Dennis K. Boman uses Missouri as a case study of the president s delicate handling of this explosive issue. By tracing the changes in Lincoln s proposals for the future of liberated slaves, Michael Vorenberg argues that, despite what many Americans today would consider limitations, Lincoln demonstrated a remarkable open-mindedness and capacity for growth. Allen C. Guelzo opens the volume with a thought-provoking foreword.

Emancipation Proclamation

Author : Tonya Bolden
Publisher : Abrams
ISBN 13 : 1613129777
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Emancipation Proclamation by : Tonya Bolden

Download or read book Emancipation Proclamation written by Tonya Bolden and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published on the anniversary of when President Abraham Lincoln’s order went into effect, this book offers readers a unique look at the events that led to the Emancipation Proclamation. Filled with little-known facts and fascinating details, it includes excerpts from historical sources, archival images, and new research that debunks myths about the Emancipation Proclamation and its causes. Complete with a timeline, glossary, and bibliography, Emancipation Proclamation is an engrossing new historical resource from award-winning children’s book author Tonya Bolden. Praise for Emancipation Proclamation: FOUR STARRED REVIEWS "A convincing, handsomely produced argument..." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Bolden makes excellent use of primary sources; the pages are filled with archival photos, engravings, letters, posters, maps, newspaper articles, and other period documents. Detailed captions and a glossary interpret them for today’s readers." —School Library Journal, starred review "The language soars, powerfully communicating not just the facts about the Emancipation Proclamation but its meaning for those who cared most passionately." —Booklist, starred review "Bolden tackles these questions in a richly illustrated overview of the lead-up to the Proclamation, organizing and reiterating information already familiar to many middle-schoolers, while introducing material that will probably be eye-opening to students who have taken their textbook’s version of history at face value." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review Award School Library Journal Best Book of 2013 Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbons List 2013 Notable Children's Books from ALSC 2014 2014 Carter G.Woodson Middle Level Book Award

Act of Justice

Author : Burrus Carnahan
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 081317273X
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Act of Justice by : Burrus Carnahan

Download or read book Act of Justice written by Burrus Carnahan and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2007-09-21 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln declared that as president he would “have no lawful right” to interfere with the institution of slavery. Yet less than two years later, he issued a proclamation intended to free all slaves throughout the Confederate states. When critics challenged the constitutional soundness of the act, Lincoln pointed to the international laws and usages of war as the legal basis for his Proclamation, asserting that the Constitution invested the president “with the law of war in time of war.” As the Civil War intensified, the Lincoln administration slowly and reluctantly accorded full belligerent rights to the Confederacy under the law of war. This included designating a prisoner of war status for captives, honoring flags of truce, and negotiating formal agreements for the exchange of prisoners—practices that laid the intellectual foundations for emancipation. Once the United States allowed Confederates all the privileges of belligerents under international law, it followed that they should also suffer the disadvantages, including trial by military courts, seizure of property, and eventually the emancipation of slaves. Even after the Lincoln administration decided to apply the law of war, it was unclear whether state and federal courts would agree. After careful analysis, author Burrus M. Carnahan concludes that if the courts had decided that the proclamation was not justified, the result would have been the personal legal liability of thousands of Union officers to aggrieved slave owners. This argument offers further support to the notion that Lincoln’s delay in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation was an exercise of political prudence, not a personal reluctance to free the slaves. In Act of Justice, Carnahan contends that Lincoln was no reluctant emancipator; he wrote a truly radical document that treated Confederate slaves as an oppressed people rather than merely as enemy property. In this respect, Lincoln’s proclamation anticipated the psychological warfare tactics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Carnahan’s exploration of the president’s war powers illuminates the origins of early debates about war powers and the Constitution and their link to international law.

The Emancipation Proclamation

Author : Abraham Lincoln
Publisher : DigiCat
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 14 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (596 download)

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Book Synopsis The Emancipation Proclamation by : Abraham Lincoln

Download or read book The Emancipation Proclamation written by Abraham Lincoln and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-16 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Emancipation Proclamation" by Abraham Lincoln. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

Author : Eric Foner
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393080827
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by : Eric Foner

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.

The Emancipation Proclamation, Smithsonian Edition

Author : Abraham Lincoln
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 1588347087
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (883 download)

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Book Synopsis The Emancipation Proclamation, Smithsonian Edition by : Abraham Lincoln

Download or read book The Emancipation Proclamation, Smithsonian Edition written by Abraham Lincoln and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-03-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This distinguished edition captures a pivotal moment of justice in the United States with a document that paved the way for the abolition of slavery This handsome, pocket-sized Smithsonian edition printed in the United States contains Lincoln's groundbreaking executive order and the writings that helped form it, with features that make it the perfect keepsake: Bound in faux leather Foil-stamped in gold Sturdy, quality hardcover The edition stands out in the market with an illuminating new introduction from Paul Gardullo, curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History. His research on the impact of slavery in America's cultural memory contextualizes the historical document as part of a larger cultural narrative, connecting its legacy to modern day. Abraham Lincoln considered the Emancipation Proclamation the crowning achievement of his presidency, and it is easy to see why. The imperative document freed African Americans enslaved in the Confederate states, transformed the purpose and stakes of the Civil War, and served as a precursor to the Thirteenth Amendment, which would end slavery across the nation. The Emancipation Proclamation was a major turning point in the struggle for African American freedom.

Emancipating Lincoln

Author : Harold Holzer
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674065204
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Emancipating Lincoln by : Harold Holzer

Download or read book Emancipating Lincoln written by Harold Holzer and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emancipating Lincoln seeks a new approach to the Emancipation Proclamation, a foundational text of American liberty that in recent years has been subject to woeful misinterpretation. These seventeen hundred words are Lincoln's most important piece of writing, responsible both for his being hailed as the Great Emancipator and for his being pilloried by those who consider his once-radical effort at emancipation insufficient and half-hearted. Harold Holzer, an award-winning Lincoln scholar, invites us to examine the impact of Lincoln's momentous announcement at the moment of its creation, and then as its meaning has changed over time. Using neglected original sources, Holzer uncovers Lincoln's very modern manipulation of the media-from his promulgation of disinformation to the ways he variously withheld, leaked, and promoted the Proclamation- in order to make his society-altering announcement palatable to America. Examining his agonizing revisions, we learn why a peerless prose writer executed what he regarded as his 'greatest act' in leaden language. Turning from word to image, we see the complex responses in American sculpture, painting, and illustration across the past century and a half, as artists sought to criticize, lionize, and profit from Lincoln's endeavor. Holzer shows the faults in applying our own standards to Lincoln's efforts, but also demonstrates how Lincoln's obfuscations made it nearly impossible to discern his true motives. As we approach the 150th anniversary of the Proclamation, this concise volume is a vivid depiction of the painfully slow march of all Americans-white and black, leaders and constituents-toward freedom. -- Publisher description.

Lincoln’s Hundred Days

Author : Louis P. Masur
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674067533
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln’s Hundred Days by : Louis P. Masur

Download or read book Lincoln’s Hundred Days written by Louis P. Masur and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-22 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The time has come now," Abraham Lincoln told his cabinet as he presented the preliminary draft of a "Proclamation of Emancipation." Lincoln's effort to end slavery has been controversial from its inception-when it was denounced by some as an unconstitutional usurpation and by others as an inadequate half-measure-up to the present, as historians have discounted its import and impact. At the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, Louis Masur seeks to restore the document's reputation by exploring its evolution. Lincoln's Hundred Days is the first book to tell the full story of the critical period between September 22, 1862, when Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation, and January 1, 1863, when he signed the final, significantly altered, decree. In those tumultuous hundred days, as battlefield deaths mounted, debate raged. Masur commands vast primary sources to portray the daily struggles and enormous consequences of the president's efforts as Lincoln led a nation through war and toward emancipation. With his deadline looming, Lincoln hesitated and calculated, frustrating friends and foes alike, as he reckoned with the anxieties and expectations of millions. We hear these concerns, from poets, cabinet members and foreign officials, from enlisted men on the front and free blacks as well as slaves. Masur presents a fresh portrait of Lincoln as a complex figure who worried about, listened to, debated, prayed for, and even joked with his country, and then followed his conviction in directing America toward a terrifying and thrilling unknown.

Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln

Author : Jonathan W. White
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 080715458X
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln by : Jonathan W. White

Download or read book Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln written by Jonathan W. White and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2014-06-09 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Union army's overwhelming vote for Abraham Lincoln's reelection in 1864 has led many Civil War scholars to conclude that the soldiers supported the Republican Party and its effort to abolish slavery. In Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln Jonathan W. White challenges this reigning paradigm in Civil War historiography, arguing instead that the soldier vote in the presidential election of 1864 is not a reliable index of the army's ideological motivation or political sentiment. Although 78 percent of the soldiers' votes were cast for Lincoln, White contends that this was not wholly due to a political or social conversion to the Republican Party. Rather, he argues, historians have ignored mitigating factors such as voter turnout, intimidation at the polls, and how soldiers voted in nonpresidential elections in 1864. While recognizing that many soldiers changed their views on slavery and emancipation during the war, White suggests that a considerable number still rejected the Republican platform, and that many who voted for Lincoln disagreed with his views on slavery. He likewise explains that many northerners considered a vote for the Democratic ticket as treasonous and an admission of defeat. Using previously untapped court-martial records from the National Archives, as well as manuscript collections from across the country, White convincingly revises many commonly held assumptions about the Civil War era and provides a deeper understanding of the Union Army.

Lincoln and the Abolitionists

Author : Fred Kaplan
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062440012
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (624 download)

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Book Synopsis Lincoln and the Abolitionists by : Fred Kaplan

Download or read book Lincoln and the Abolitionists written by Fred Kaplan and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Anyone who wants to understand the United States' racial divisions will learn a lot from reading Kaplan's richly researched account of one of the worst periods in American history and its chilling effects today in our cities, legislative bodies, schools, and houses of worship." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch The acclaimed biographer Fred Kaplan returns with a controversial exploration of how Abraham Lincoln’s and John Quincy Adams’ experiences with slavery and race shaped their differing viewpoints, providing perceptive insights into these two great presidents and a revealing perspective on race relations in modern America Though the Emancipation Proclamation, limited as it was, ultimately defined his presidency, Lincoln was a man shaped by the values of the white America into which he was born. While he viewed slavery as a moral crime abhorrent to American principles, he disapproved of antislavery activists. Until the last year of his life, he advocated “voluntary deportation,” concerned that free blacks in a white society would result in centuries of conflict. In 1861, he reluctantly took the nation to war to save it. While this devastating struggle would preserve the Union, it would also abolish slavery—creating the biracial democracy Lincoln feared. Years earlier, John Quincy Adams had become convinced that slavery would eventually destroy the Union. Only through civil war, sparked by a slave insurrection or secession, would slavery end and the Union be preserved. Deeply sympathetic to abolitionists and abolitionism, Adams believed that a multiracial America was inevitable. Lincoln and the Abolitionists, a frank look at Lincoln, “warts and all,” including his limitations as a wartime leader, provides an in-depth look at how these two presidents came to see the issues of slavery and race, and how that understanding shaped their perspectives. Its supporting cast of characters is colorful, from the obscure to the famous: Dorcas Allen, Moses Parsons, Usher F. Linder, Elijah Lovejoy, William Channing, Wendell Phillips, Rufus King, Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew Johnson, Abigail Adams, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and Frederick Douglass, among scores of significant others. In a far-reaching historical narrative, Kaplan offers a nuanced appreciation of the great men—Lincoln as an antislavery moralist who believed in an exclusively white America, and Adams as an antislavery activist who had no doubt that the United States would become a multiracial nation—and the events that have characterized race relations in America for more than a century, a legacy that continues to haunt us all.

The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution

Author : James Oakes
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 1324005866
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution by : James Oakes

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.