Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President (Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library)

Book Description

Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln's most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address -- an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln's suitability for the presidency and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.

Award-winning Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer places Lincoln and his speech in the context of the times -- an era of racism, politicized journalism, and public oratory as entertainment -- and shows how the candidate framed the speech as an opportunity to continue his famous "debates" with his archrival Democrat Stephen A. Douglas on the question of slavery.

Holzer describes the enormous risk Lincoln took by appearing in New York, where he exposed himself to the country's most critical audience and took on Republican Senator William Henry Seward of New York, the front runner, in his own backyard. Then he recounts a brilliant and innovative public relations campaign, as Lincoln took the speech "on the road" in his successful quest for the presidency.

Customer Reviews:

How Lincoln got creditable...........2007-02-17

Harold Holzer's book on Abraham Lincoln's speech at Cooper Union gives a clarity to the importance of that speech and how it affected Lincoln as a speaker, politican and future candidate for his Republican Party. While Lincoln was well known among the western states, he wasn't that well regarded along the northeastern seaboard. One of the most important things about the book was how the author explained how this speech gave Lincoln so much creditability among the easterners and how that speech firmly put Lincoln on the political map national wide. This helped pave the way for Lincoln's nomination when others were looking for alternative choices beside William Seward who was at that time, the leading Republican front runner.

The book proves to be quite informative. Abraham Lincoln is obviously one person you cannot judge by your first impression. The author throughly explained the mannerism of Lincoln's speech skills and the way it contrast to his physical appearances which often led to initial misgiving by the audience before they roared in their approval at the end of the speech.

Its pretty clear that Mr. Holzer have complete command of his subject matter which is reflected on the superb writing and ease of reading material that only an expert can do to any subject. The book appears to be well researched and it was about time that a book on this subject came out (I think the last book about this speech came out before Mr. Holzer was born).

I would considered this book to be a mandatory reading material for anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln and probably a good background material for anyone interested in the coming of the American Civil War.

Another side of Lincoln.......2007-01-05

There are so many books written on Lincoln and many different prespectives on his life and presidency. Holzer looks at the Cooper Union Speech and shows how Lincoln, the master politician used the speech and his trip East to get the 1860 nomination. Many historians assert that the speech made Lincoln. However, Holzer shows a unique view of the trip and the speech and how Lincoln used the opportunity to campaign in the East before he was officially a candidate. Ironically, Holzer points out that Salmon Chase turned down the opportunity to speak at Cooper Union demonstrating just one more ocassion when Chase blew an opportunity to get to the White House.

While dispelling many myths about the speech and Lincoln's trip, Holzer also shows the brillance of Lincoln and the time and effort that he spent in preparation for this speech. He also shows how this speech became Lincoln's stump speech. Once nominated, Lincoln followed the tradition of the time and did not campaign but used the Cooper Union Speech as essentially his platform.

For the person just beginning their interest in Lincoln or the seasoned scholar, this book is well worth the read. To add to that it is a quick and enjoyable read.

"The Founding Fathers said . . .".......2006-02-24

For anyone who wants to use the founding fathers as a justification for their belief system should read this speech and this book.

Lincoln in tight, careful reasoning lays out exactly what the founding fathers believed in regard to slavery. Eloquent, exciting and challenging.

This is much needed study to the speeches of Lincoln.

Democracy in 1860.......2006-01-30

I enjoyed this book immensely and now look forward to reading more from Holzer about this period. It answered so many questions I had about the messy circumstances surrounding slavery and the formation of the country. What I had always thought of as such hypocrisy was, as I now understand it, an incredible lesson in the human tension between reality and ideals -- such a Christian tension and so true to life, and on such a grand and significant scale. Rather than merely acknowledging the "stain", as indeed it was, the focus today should be on the triumph of overcoming it.

In his highly detailed telling, Holzer over and over exposes Linclon myths surrounding the event and that are, in themselves so revealing of human tendencies. While deflating so many of these myths, in the doing he does so much to explain the likely origins -- often humourous, sometimes self serving, but always understandable and enriching to his story.

And not just myths. One I found particularly poignant was repeated on occasion by son Robert who was at Exeter at the time of the speech. While it had been only about 4 months since they had seen each other, a visit to Robert was one of Lincoln's excuses for taking the time and incurring the expense of going East to speak. Lincoln ultimately made about 10 subsequent stops to speak in New England on his return trip to and from Exeter before heading home. While these speeches laid the foundation for his calculating father's ultimate nomination and election, Robert steadfastly maintained the purpose of the trip was to see him. I found that very touching -- it's one thing to be a father to your country, but still another to be so to your son.

At the heart of it all was the speech itself and the eager ears, eventually eyes, which took it in. While Lincoln's personality was a factor, the power of his words was what carried he day. I found this revealing and a tonic to today's politics -- an altogether different America then.

This was democracy at its best. There is clearly, to me at least, no ideal political system, as all can be manipulated. Now with Hamas the victors in Palestine, I guess even the current administration might be thinking this.

I could go on, but won't other than to quote the following recollection attributed to Lincoln and which might best be read with the thought of current schooling in mind:

I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when any body talked to me in a way I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything else in my life . . . I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part of the night walking up and down, and trying to make out what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, though I often tried to, when I got on such a hunt after an idea, until I had caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over, until I had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me; for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded it North, and bounded it South, and bounded it East, and bounded it West. Perhaps that accounts for the characteristic you observe in my speeches, though I never put the two things together before.

PS As a graduate of Cooper Union, I did find Holzer's account of Cooper's amazing building a bit thin. Plans and photos are available on the web. The stage is on the West, not the North as Holzer says, and there are 18 obstructing columns, not 16. These inaccuracies have not altered my faith in his account. I have inserted a plan of the hall in my copy.

Highly recommended.......2005-08-24

Another wonderful contribution to Lincoln scholarship by Harold Holzer! Like all of his previous contributions to our understanding of the Civil War president, this book is thoroughly researched, gracefully written, and richly informative.

Lincoln spoke on February 27, 1860, to a large crowd in New York's Cooper Union on the great political issue of the day, the extension of slavery into the American territories. The 90-minute speech was carefully researched, logically argued, and powerfully delivered, and, at its conclusion, the audience burst into cheers. The following day, it was printed in full in the major newspapers of New York City. In the weeks and months ahead, it was reprinted and avidly read in all parts of the country (except the slaveholding states of the South).

Holzer argues that the Cooper Union speech was, in a sense, both the first and the last of Lincoln's presidential campaign speeches, for it was the first major address in which he believed that he might actually be elected president, and after he returned to Illinois he never again delivered a campaign address (the custom of the time prohibited presidential candidates from actively seeking the office). But the speech was so warmly received and so widely read by voters from New England to California that it served its purpose over and over again, placing Lincoln's views before the electorate and demonstrating the formidable powers of reason and persuasion that he would bring to the presidency.

Holzer discusses the circumstances that led up to the Cooper Union speech, the time-consuming preparations Lincoln made for it, the effect that it produced (both in New York City and in the broader nation), and its historical significance. I was particularly fascinated by his description of New York in 1860, already the nation's preeminent metropolis, with a seething commercial, political, and journalistic life, and of Lincoln's experiences there, both inside and outside Cooper Union.

Highly recommended.

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A speech for the ages
Clear, enjoyable guide to vital Lincoln speech

Lincoln at Cooper Union
John A. Corry
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 141340135X

Customer Reviews:

A speech for the ages.......2005-04-26

There are two books with almost identical titles and cover art. There is "Lincoln at Cooper Union" with the subtitle "The Speech that made Abraham Lincon President," by Harold Holzer and there is this book written a few months earlier by John A. Corry. I earlier reviewed the Holzer book and gave it five stars and this book is also exellent and deserves five stars. The speech was originally to be delivered at Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. Lincoln had been invited to give a lecture there and after negotiations as to the the date of the speech, February 27, 1860 was agreed upon. For a number of logistical reasons, the sponsor of the speech was changed and it was relocated to Cooper Institute in Manhattan as part of a lecture series. In all of the correspondance between Lincoln and the sponsors, somehow Lincoln was never informed of the venue change and was quite surprised when he arrived in New York.

The speech was divided into three parts, (1)a lawyerly dissertation on the intent of the "fathers", to wit, the signers of the constitution, as to whether slavery could be banned in the territories, (2) an appeal to a hypothetical southern audience, and (3) a rallying cry to the Republican faithful. The speech includes the memorable phrase, at the conclusion, "let us have faith that right makes might." Sadly, the Civil War followed with both sides acting in the opposite manner, that "might makes right."

The speech was a huge success as it gave Lincoln a national prominence. He took variations of the speech on the road to New England where over the next two weeks, he spoke nine times. The speech was reprinted and indeed, in the appendix there is a reproduction of an annotated copy of the speech that was distributed (Holzer's book also reproduces the annotated speech). The wide distribution of the speech was instrumental in increasing Lincoln's national stature. The cover photograph was taken by Matthew Brady the day the speech was to be delivered and Brady did such a masterful job of making the ungainly Lincoln look distinguished that the photo, as much as the speech, may have helped propel Lincoln to the presidency.

The books are similar although, of course, there are differences. Corry relies on direct quotations more than does Holzer so Holzer's narrative flows a little more. Corry gives more background on the issue of slavery as it evolved in the decades leading up to the speech. Holzer, on the other hand, spends a little more time on the negotiations for Lincoln to deliver the speech and on Lincoln's preparations. As to the issue of preparation, Corry includes a great insight: that Lincoln was very intelligent but had a specific type of intelligence, an intelligence which had a capcity for extensive research and preparation. I agree with this insight. Although Lincoln is famous for humorous quips, his great speeches were all thoroughly prepared. If you read a history of the immediate aftermath of Appomattox, you will note that Lincoln was called upon to deliver an impromtu speech from the White House. At that moment of Lincoln's greatest triumph, he delievered a somewhat rambling, pedestrian speech that did little to inspire. However, the Cooper Union speech, Gettysburg Address, and second inaugeral speech, all meticulously prepared, are speeches for the ages.

Both this book and Holzer's effort are superb and I recommend both. If you are to read only one, you would not go wrong by reading either of the two.

Clear, enjoyable guide to vital Lincoln speech.......2004-05-22

This is a great companion to Holzer's work on the same topic. The authors approach this Lincoln speech from somewhat different angles. Together, though, you have a three-dimensional view of a watershed event in American history.

The Boundaries of American Political Culture in the Civil War Era (The Steven and Janice Brose Lectures in the Civil War Era)

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A delight
Material Culture Analysis of Mid-Nineteenth Century Politics

The Boundaries of American Political Culture in the Civil War Era (The Steven and Janice Brose Lectures in the Civil War Era)
Mark E., Jr. Neely
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807829862
Release Date: 2006-02-23

Book Description

Did preoccupations with family and work crowd out interest in politics in the nineteenth century, as some have argued? Arguing that social historians have gone too far in concluding that Americans were not deeply engaged in public life and that political historians have gone too far in asserting that politics informed all of Americans' lives, Mark Neely seeks to gauge the importance of politics for ordinary people in the Civil War era.

Looking beyond the usual markers of political activity, Neely sifts through the political bric-a-brac of the era--lithographs and engravings of political heroes, campaign buttons, songsters filled with political lyrics, photo albums, newspapers, and political cartoons. In each of four chapters, he examines a different sphere--the home, the workplace, the gentlemen's Union League Club, and the minstrel stage--where political engagement was expressed in material culture. Neely acknowledges that there were boundaries to political life, however. But as his investigation shows, political expression permeated the public and private realms of Civil War America.

Customer Reviews:

A delight.......2006-03-05

It was a delight to read this charming and cogently argued book that takes one into the world of politicking in the mid- nineteenth century and shows how involved voters got. Splendid.

Material Culture Analysis of Mid-Nineteenth Century Politics.......2005-12-11

Neely's book offers a fresh and insightful analysis of American political culture during the American Civil War period. More specifically, his book offers a material culture approach to understanding the relationship between people and politics. This study of objects includes lithographs, prints, political cartoons and posters, sheet music, pamphlets and other objects that contained political meaning. These objects can help reinforce or add new interpretations to our understanding of the past.

Neely is interested in showing us these objects of American political culture which in turn tells us more about the people of that time period and their interest or activity in politics. The theme of his book concerns the boundaries between the public realm of politics and the private home. In other words just how interested and involved ordinary citizens were in the politics of their day. Neely argues that the boundary lines weren't as distinct and separate as some historians have argued, though not denying the very limited role of women in political issues and debates for example.

The workplace and clubs like the Union League offered some means of public expression of political activity on the part of various groups of citizens. Minstrel shows, which could be considered part of the pop culture of the mid nineteenth century, became caught up in the political debates and issues of the day, though never purely connected to any party or cause.

Neely discusses these topics much better than I can. His book is relatively short and not always fulfilling; it does lack a bit in terms of comprehensiveness, but as he admits, the material evidence isn't always there in large quantities. Nevertheless, this book offers a different way of looking at political culture during the Civil War period, mainly concerning Northern politics.

A Valley of Betrayal (Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War, Book 1)

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Marvelous Must Read!
A winning story of a war-torn country
First Book In Tricia's New Series
Historical ficion at it's best
A Valley You Won't Soon Forget

A Valley of Betrayal (Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War, Book 1)
Tricia Goyer
Manufacturer: Moody Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802467679

Book Description

For reasons beyond her control, Sophie fi nds herself alone in the wartorn Spanish countryside. What was once a thriving paradise has become

Customer Reviews:

Marvelous Must Read!.......2007-09-09

Tricia Goyer has a way of weaving a host of intriguing characters and chronicling the Spanish Civil War and tying it all together within a "page-turning book". I love the romance, the history, the story of Sophie who is caught up in the drama showing both sides of the heartache of war. And who along the way discovers that it's her passion that holds the key to so much!

A winning story of a war-torn country.......2007-06-21

The first novel in a new series about the Spanish Civil War, A Valley of Betrayal unfolds with a distinctively Goyer-esque feel to it. In this book, author Tricia Goyer does another brilliant job bringing history to life with vivid characters searching for their meaning in the midst of conflict, each wanting to contribute their utmost for their cause.

In this time and place in history, it's the middle of the Spanish Civil War. The Nazi's are exerting their influence from one side, strong-arming Fascism over the country. At the same time, Russia is enticing the area with the idealistic vision of Communism. Spain is divided between the two political perspectives, and the resulting battleground ravages the country in the process.

The most serious fighting isn't found on the front lines, though, but in the internal struggle of every individual who must decide who they are and what they truly believe in. Some of the characters are natives of Spain; others from different countries who are drawn to the area for their own reasons. Some come to fight, and some to serve, but they all discover themselves in the process. Each naturally feels that their side has the most righteous cause, and all are willing to risk everything in the effort to win the war.

Goyer tries to communicate the struggle of a people searching for themselves amidst the rubble of their ideals. It's not an easy struggle, nor an easy story to read considering the cost of the war. But despite the fact that no one seems to emerge on top in this bloody battle, the novel itself is a winner. I highly recommend A Valley of Betrayal by author Tricia Goyer, and eagerly look forward to the next installment in the series.

First Book In Tricia's New Series.......2007-06-14

I just finished reading Valley of Betrayal and it is very moving. Tricia writes in such a way that it makes you feel like you're in a war zone yourself. I would be reading along and realize that my heart was hammering as if there were bombs dropping outside. This is a very stirring novel. If you like historical Christian fiction then definitely check this one out.

Historical ficion at it's best.......2007-04-13

The Spanish Civil War pitted the Spanish Republicans and their allies, the Soviet Union and the International Brigade, including many Americans against Franco and his fascist military troups, machinery and weapons supplied by Hitler and Mussolini. As in other wars, there were no clear lines between good and evil. It destroyed lives and tore Spain apart.

Sophia Grace traveled to Spain to be with Michael, her fiance, an international correspondent. She had no idea what she was getting into and war turned out to be a lot more personal than she expected.
Phillip Stanford, a member of the American track team became involved in the war because he refused to leave a friend. And Ritter Agler wanted to win the heart of Isanna, knowing she admired heroes. These three and others became entangled in a war that both intrigued and repelled them. although Tricia Goyer writes about war, she never loses sight of the people involved. Her characters are living, breathing individuals the reader will remember long after the book is finished. A fascinating, complex story about a little known time in world history.

A Valley You Won't Soon Forget.......2007-04-05

The Spanish Civil War, often ignored, is a prelude of sorts to World War II. Yet, it deserves to be more than a prelude, and Tricia Goyer gives it the attention it deserves through this new series of historical fiction, The Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War. In this war, the lines between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" are blurred. Fascism and Communism, neither of which seems desirable, are the two sides dividing the people of Spain who long for personal, religious, and political freedom.

Other people from other countries come alongside the Spanish people to fight for and with them. Disillusioned Deion, a black man from Chicago who wants to escape from the racism of the American South. Artist Sophie, who traveled from Boston to Spain for love, but instead finding her life's purpose in war-torn Spain. German pilot Ritter, flying for the cause he believes in so strongly. Philip, accompanying his friend but finding his own desire to fight along the way. So many others, whose stories tug at our heartstrings as we read this complex story.

To this reader who spent her adolescence at the end of the Cold War, reading about a time when Russians and Communism were seen as preferable by some, and not as enemies of the United States, seems a bit disconcerting. Knowing through hindsight that Communism in practice doesn't work as well as its ideals claim seems to add a fatalistic air around these characters laboring under its illusions and ideals.

The stories here are compelling. The characters are well-rounded and sympathetic on both sides of this civil conflict. Tricia Goyer does a fantastic job of making sure we readers are not able to choose a side, and this ability to make the characters sympathetic accentuates the brutality and incongruity of this war.

If you like the fiction of Bodie and Brock Thoene, you will enjoy this novel.

Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union (Cobblestone the Civil War)

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Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union (Cobblestone the Civil War)

Manufacturer: Cobblestone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0812679024

Book Description

When Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States in 1861, he faced the most severe crisis the nation had ever experienced. The Southern states had broken from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, challenging the authority of the president and threatening the young nation. When Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, Lincoln called for volunteers to defend the Union. The war between the states — the Civil War — had begun.

Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union tells the story of the remarkable man who lead the nation through its bloodiest conflict. Discover how a boy who was born in a one-room log cabin grew up to be a lawyer and later a president. Explore the fight to end slavery and see how Lincoln's bold Emancipation Proclamation changed the course of the war and the nation. Meet the leader determined to preserve the Union, who sought to bring "a new birth of freedom" to all Americans.

Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865 (Civil War America)

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A man of war, a man of letters...a magnificent collection of Uncle Billy's writings!!
A great collection of primary documents
Wonderful glimpse into the mind of Sherman

Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865 (Civil War America)
Brooks D. Simpson
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807824402
Release Date: 1999-04-14

Book Description

The first major modern edition of the wartime correspondence of General William T. Sherman, this volume features more than 400 letters written between the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the day Sherman bade farewell to his troops in 1865. Together, they trace Sherman's rise from obscurity to become one of the Union's most famous and effective warriors.

Arranged chronologically and grouped into chapters that correspond to significant phases in Sherman's life, the letters—many of which have never before been published—reveal Sherman's thoughts on politics, military operations, slavery and emancipation, the South, and daily life in the Union army, as well as his reactions to such important figures as General Ulysses S. Grant and President Lincoln.

Lively, frank, opinionated, discerning, and occasionally extremely wrong-headed, these letters mirror the colorful personality and complex mentality of the man who wrote them. They offer the reader an invaluable glimpse of the Civil War as Sherman saw it.

Customer Reviews:

A man of war, a man of letters...a magnificent collection of Uncle Billy's writings!!.......2007-07-19

William Tecumseh Sherman was a brilliant military genius and a true eccentric.
A fascinating and complex man, who found his destiny in war. Sherman revelled in war and owed much to it: he began it as an former officer of modest means and ended it hailed as the Union greatest general next to Grant. At the same time he loathed and despised war and was horrified by it. He was shocked by what the war did to his country, his people, his soldiers and to himself. At times he was appalled by his duties as an officer, but he was always highly resolved to perform these duties.

Everybody who has ever read his memoirs knows that Sherman was not only a great general but also a very talented writer. His memoirs are not a dry succession of events and his part in it, but they convey how he lived through the war and how and why he did what he did in it.
Now professor Brooks D. Simpson has edited a big volume of his Sherman's correspondence from the Civil War years. Again it is the quality of the Sherman's writing which catches the eye and pleases the mind. His letters, as are his memoirs, are a joy to read. This book offers an interesting perspective on Sherman and his part in the war. Reading the memoirs is like having Sherman telling his war experiences to you, long after the facts. This is interesting enough but reading his letters is even more so. It feels like being there with him in his tent, in some Union camp during the war, looking over his shoulder while events are shaping. A truly fascinating experience.
He pours his heart out to his brother John, to his wife Ellen, to his friend Grant and to many others.
So many aspects of his personality appear: his quicksilver intelligence, his warmth and humanity, his wicked and dry sense of humour, his fundamental decency and his military capability.
Read this book and look intro Sherman's mind: it is an interesting place.

The book itself is a big b*gger, but once you've started, you'll be grateful that is is so big: you'll hate to finish it. It looks great, which I like in books and it's very nicely turned out, with good quality binding , high grade paper, a pretty typesetting and a nice dust jacket design. Listings and indexes are clear and elaborate, which is useful in a book like this. So here's a big thumbs up to the publisher's (Chapel Hill North Carolina State University Press): very well done, a fine piece of work!!!

I can't recommend this too highly. A must for all those who are interested in history, in the American Civil War and/or in Sherman. Read and enjoy the letters uncle Billy wrote in those four years of war and enjoy the sight and the feel of this beautifully made book.

A great collection of primary documents.......2006-05-16

It's difficult to rate a collection of primary documents such as this one for several reasons. The quality of the documents themselves might be very good but the arrangement or editing of them might be very poor, in which case it becomes a question of whether you should rate the volume well for the documents themselves or poorly for the editing job. Fortunately this collection does not have that issue, as both the primary documents themselves and the editing of them are excellent.

This massive volume contains much of Sherman's correspondence during the war. Surprisingly, these letters are enjoyable to read, and the editors have done a great job of compiling and editing them. Reading these letters, orders, etc of General Sherman can give someone a very unique perspective of the Civil War as Sherman himself saw it, without the bias of authors who have written about it since and without the inevitable coloring of events that happens later when war heroes write about their experiences (and which certainly affected his memoirs, though I do believe they were very honest and straightforward). General Sherman is one of my heroes from the Civil War, and this collection of glimpses into his brilliant mind certainly fed my understanding and fascination of the man.

Wonderful glimpse into the mind of Sherman.......2000-12-31

William T. Sherman was an irascible, unpredictably brilliant man and his letters bring out these myriad traits. He was a fascinating man and his own words illuminate his fiery personality. Sherman's own 1875 memoirs are a mixed bag, marred by an over-abundance of wartime correspondence and ancillary material. This collection of his letters actually makes for more engrossing, instructive reading. We hear his opinions on the major players of the Civil War: Grant, Halleck and Lincoln. We gain an understanding of his tortured relationship with his wife, Ellen, to whom many of the letters are addressed. His visceral hatred of the press and reporters is well represented.

The collection is expertly edited by Brooks Simpson, someone who thoroughly understands both Sherman and the civil war era. The notes are instructive and unobtrusive and the introduction lays the groundwork for appreciating Sherman and his correspondence. This is an outstanding book for anyone who wishes to get to know the erratic and intellectual General who was second only to Ulysses S. Grant in ability and results.

Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War
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Lincoln's moral battle against slavery

A Different Civil War Battle

Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War
Howard Jones
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0803225822

Book Description

In Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom, Howard Jones explores the relationship between President Lincoln's wartime diplomacy and his interrelated goals of forming a more perfect Union and abolishing slavery. From the outset of the Civil War, Lincoln's central purpose was to save the Union by defeating the South on the battlefield. No less important was his need to prevent a European intervention that would have facilitated the South's move for independence. Lincoln's goal of preserving the Union, however, soon evolved into an effort to form a more perfect Union, one that rested on the natural rights principles of the Declaration of Independence and thus necessitated emancipation.

Customer Reviews:

Lincoln's moral battle against slavery.......2003-09-10

Howard Jones is University Research Professor in the Department of History at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of the Slave Revolt And its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy which provided historical basis for the movie Amistad.

Abraham Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong but legally protected by the Constitution. This initial stance never changed. He had said in his speeches that a nation half slave and half free cannot endure. He had considered the option of paying for slaves in the South. He had considered moving slaves to another country, as did James Monroe, to Liberia. He said that he would accept some slaves as free and others not - whatever it took to keep the union intact. He believed that slavery would die by stopping its expansion.

Expansion had been stopped by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed it, and the Dred Scott decision, which declared it unconstitutional, meant that slavery would grow. Lincoln knew that only by ending slavery would the nation endure.

The Emancipation Proclamation, though considered by some to be effete because it did not free all the slaves, placated the western states and urged the slaves to desert the South to join the fight. Some 50,000 did. England now realized that the destruction of slavery was the main issue and recognition of the Confederacy was no longer viable. Without England as an ally, the ambitions of France were doomed.

Historian Allan Nevins said, "No battle, not Gettysburg, not the Wilderness, was more important in the contest waged in the diplomatic arena and the form of public opinion. It
is hardly too much to say that the future of the world as we know it was at stake."

Had Great Britain and France recognized the South, the rest of the world would have followed. Fortunately for the Union, the Anglo-Franco rivalry stopped intervention. While both nations claimed to be anti-slavery, their true intentions were nefarious. For Great Britain, a Confederate nation to the south of the United States and Canada to the north would have left the United States between two non-friendlies and no threat to Great Britain. Napoleon still had designs on Mexico and even the western United States in the establishment of a dictatorship friendly to him in the form of Maximilian. England's Palmerston and France's Napoleon were "...self-appointed keepers old world order...."
Only Russia among the larger nations was in accord with the Union (sound familiar) because of the Czar's tenuous hold.

In Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth Of Freedom, historian Howard Jones focuses intensely on Abraham Lincoln's strong belief that slavery was immoral and must be destroyed for this nation to find "a new birth of freedom" as expressed in the one nation theme of the "Gettysburg Address" and the unfulfilled promise of the Declaration of Independence. This theme repeats throughout the book's 192 pages of text and illustrations (the remainder of book is notes and index) as though Jones were lecturing with pedagogical "foot-stompers". If one comes away with a different idea of Lincoln's beliefs, he or she has missed the point.

In a sense, Jones stretches the theme of diplomacy since it could be stated in a few hundred words. In fact, the entire book could easily be condensed into a standard magazine article or monograph.

That being said, Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom is a book that I have heavily underscored, read deliberately, and will keep for re-reading and reference in my library. If one does not have time for the entire book, I suggest they buy it for reference and its pregnant prologue and epilogue.

Mark Witt
Parrish, Florida

A Different Civil War Battle.......2000-06-14

What is the relation between the American Civil War and the Monroe Doctrine? Where's the connection between the Emancipation Proclamation and the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857? Did you know that one of the crucial battles of the Civil War was fought nowhere near the bloody fields of Virginia or Tennessee?

"Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom" traces the events surrounding Lincoln's fight to keep the European Powers from intervening on the side of the Confederacy. Without help from abroad the Confederate cause was virtually doomed; the leadership in Richmond compared their fight with that of the Revolutionary War of 1776-81 and the importance then of the active intervention of France. The stumbling block for the leaders of Britain and France in 1862 was slavery in the Southern states. While the upper classes who led these European nations were sympathetic to the South, the middle and working classes were against slavery and thus for the North.

What makes this book interesting is that it goes beyond high school level history and shows the complexities of British politics and French imperial ambitions. What happened was neither straightforward nor obvious. The twists and turns of diplomacy are shown along with the mistakes of ambitious leaders and politicians in stark contrast with the stubborn, steadfast policy of Lincoln himself.

Book Description

The real truth behind the assassination of our 16th president

Customer Reviews:

Don't disregard because of your prejudices.......2006-06-18

A fascinating read. While not a historian myself, I do have a problem with critics here who find alliances between North and South brewing a conspiracy to be "unbelievable" because the 2 sides would ever agree on anything.

This is why black-ops against leaders always succeed - we are too conditioned to accept the power that large sums of money truly has over individuals. (You can find examples of Arabs and Isrealis who mutually profit from businesses.) It's time we wake up and realize the control that banks and bankers have over world societies, by way of war-created debt and their media ownership.

The plot detailed in this book is simply a result of that - and I think that's why this book has been raked over the coals. It's simply more evidence of that centuries of increasing control.

Hard to believe........2006-05-31

This book is hard to believe. There are some elemental truths in this book, like the black market trade in cotton, which some in the government sanctioned. Other things, like the two groups of fugitives going across the Potomic and the attack on Seward supposedly by his eldest is just unbelieveable. The authors roll out some sketchy facts, but not sufficient proof that an actual conspiracy took place. The alleged conspiracy itself is kind of hard to believe. The authors would have us believe that greedy businessmen, along with radical Republicans and Southern government officials combined to rid the government of Abraham Lincoln. I am not sure you could get all those people in the same room, lest agree.

This is a poor book in revisionist history. I liked the review of the clandestine business deals that took place with the South. Much of the rest of the book was not very believeable.

Mixed thoughts..........2005-12-16

I have mixed thoughts on this book as it does bring to light the possibility of an early war conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. I did like how Guttridge brought ideas to the table about how the food for cotton program started, but a lot of this book is full of "could be" situations. I found it a bit confusing as to how Booth came involved with the early war plot or how he came into the fold with the profiteers and their connection. I did like reading about the chase to find Booth at the end of the book and how questions arised from whether or not Booth was actually captured.

I found this book covering a few topics that at times didn't seem to mix well or flow with each other. At the end of the book, it seemed more like a Booth biography, but didn't really match the original content. The Lincoln assassination does bring up a lot of possibilities though I think Guttridge needed to focus on one and kept it simple versus jumping on a lot of different ideas and making me wonder how some related to others.

Could Be - But I'm Not Convinced.......2005-08-28

I came across "Dark Union" the other evening in a late-night visit to a bookstore and was immediately intrigued by its premise. However, I am, like President Lincoln, "vacillating"...vacillating between continuing to read this book or returning it to the bookstore.

Why?

To begin with, while I don't doubt the integrity of Mr. Guttridge, a very good historian, there are too many things here - unresolved issues, unconnected dots, that don't hold water. The authors claim that Lincoln authorized a "meat-for-cotton" deal to save the Union financial structure. Fine, if one considers that if Lincoln truly needed the cotton, he would have authorized another "Red River" expedition headed by someone more militarily astute than Nathaniel Commissary Banks. He would not have agreed on a financial deal to save the Union based on Confederate cotton.

Secondly, Andrew Johnson's chief aide? Relations were already bad between Johnson and some of the other alledged co-conspirators (Edwin Stanton, et. al.,) that why would they want someone affiliated with the detested Johnson to run the show. And bringing in John Wilkes Booth, a blatant Confederate symp and hater of Lincoln to be part of the team? C'mon.

John Wilkes Booth was, according to nearly every account that I've read, never married. If he was, where's the proof. On the other hand, women like the relative of Senator Sumner who tried to distance herself from any association with him, or the poor beautiful actress who tried to kill herself after her lover murdered the President are much more numerous and much more known.

As for Lafayette Baker and Stanton, sure, these were very powerful and yes, very despicable men. But this deal to kidnap Lincoln when he vacillated on the deal, preferring, according to the book a decisive military victory, simply is too unwieldly - and there would have been too many people who would have spilled the beans, no matter who might have been involved. General Grant allowing Lincoln to be kidnapped or murdered - and Lew Wallace described as being close to Grant??? Anyone who has read about Grant's anger towards Wallace after Shiloh would have known better, even if Wallace did get back into Grant's good graces after his valiant one-day stand at Monocacy against Jubal Early.

Finally, John Wilkes Booth being smuggled out of the country to India, courtesy of Stanton. This is just too rich for me.

A good conspiracy call, - but just too unwieldly, too unbelieveable, even if Stanton was involved up to his armpits. I'll leave it to some of my friends who are Lincoln experts to sort this thing out.

Were Leonard Guttridge and Ray Neff playing a joke on all of us??

Has the DNA been checked yet???

Too Thin to Hold Up.......2005-03-12

Who does not enjoy a delicious conspiracy theory and the Lincoln assissination has been one of the best around for a very long time now. It has it all, money, corruption, shadowy figures, false corpses, and a little sex. The problem with this book by Leonard F. Guttridge (of the much better and recommended Icebound and Ghosts of Cape Sabine) and Ray A Neff is that these characters, coincidences, schemes, and double dealings are paraded in a brief fashion before the reader resulting in more of a confusion than a sustainable conspiracy. It seems that everyone (both from the North and the South) was invovled at one point or another for a wide range of multiple reasons. The whole sequence of events becomes quite chaotic and, in the end, it appears John Wilkes Booth committed murder without any regard to the previous plans, although seems vague as well. The authors play the usual game of conspiracy theorists by leaving out any facts not suited to their ideas but commit the error of then replacing the missing ideas with a plethora of every shady notion attached to those months, regardless of the contraditions. A confusing book, that while often interesting, could have used a little more space to fully explain and connect all the dots.

The Emergence of Lincoln, Vol. 2: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-1861

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The Emergence of Lincoln, Vol. 2: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-1861
Allan Nevins
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Team of Rivals

ASIN: 0684104164

The Military Memoirs of General John Pope (Civil War America)

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Two Cheers for General Pope
A "fresh" take on an old subject!

The Military Memoirs of General John Pope (Civil War America)
Peter Cozzens , and John Y. Simon
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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General John Pope: A Life for the Nation
Injustice on Trial: Second Bull Run, General Fitz John Porter's Court Martial, and the Schofield Board Investigation That Restored His Good Name

ASIN: 0807824445
Release Date: 1998-11-25

Book Description

Union general John Pope was among the most controversial and misunderstood figures to hold major command during the Civil War. Before being called east in June 1862 to lead the Army of Virginia against General Robert E. Lee, he compiled an enviable record in Missouri and as commander of the Army of the Mississippi. After his ignominious defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, he was sent to the frontier. Over the next twenty-four years Pope held important department commands on the western plains and was recognized as one of the army's leading authorities on Indian affairs, but he never again commanded troops in battle.

In 1886, Pope was engaged by the National Tribune, a weekly newspaper published in Washington, D.C., to write a series of articles on his wartime experiences. Over the next five years, in twenty-nine installments, he wrote about the war as he had lived it. Collected here for the first time, Pope's "war reminiscences" join a select roster of memoirs written by Civil War army commanders.

Pope presents a detailed review of the campaigns in which he participated and offers vivid character sketches of such illustrious figures as Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Clearly written and balanced in tone, his memoirs are a dramatic and important addition to the literature on the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

Two Cheers for General Pope .......2006-10-03

Peter Cozzens and Robert Girardi provided an excellent service to Civil War scholars by assembling the collected newspaper essays that General John Pope wrote in way of reflecting on his Civil War career. Best known for his stunning defeat at Second Bull Run and his bravado, a very different Pope emerges here. Often witty, Pope left excellent sketches of President Lincoln (an old friend of the family), Edwin Stanton, as well as numerous commanders of both the North and the South. Pope is excellent in capturing the chaos and incompetence of John Fremont's command in Missouri in the first days of the war. His scathing attack on Henry Halleck's torturously slow move towards Corinth reveals the extent of this wasted opportunity. But Pope is best known for two battles: Island Number 10 and Second Bull Run. His account of Island Number 10 is a bit rushed though certainly through. While Pope does an excellent job of describing the layout of his forces at the start of the Bull Run campaign, he relies on official records a bit too much and seems willing to let the matter slide. That is understandable, after all Pope was humiliated by Lee at Second Bull Run. The problem is that the Second Bull Run campaign was Pope's moment in the sun and he has little to say on it. With the large exceptions of George McClellan and Fitz John Porter, who Pope believed deliberately undermined his command, there is little bitterness. Even Nathaniel Banks, who picked a fight at Cedar Mountain against Pope's orders and was mauled by Stonewall Jackson, comes off relatively unscathed. It seems as if all of Pope's fire was being saved for McClellan and Porter, as can be seen in the memoirs as well as in a correspondence with the Comte de Paris which is included in an appendix. The memoirs reveal Pope to be much more intelligent and witty than his traditional blowhard persona would indicate though the bile is still there certainly in the cases of Porter and McClellan. One can see from these memoirs why so many men, including Grant and Sherman, seemed to like and respect Pope and while others had no use for the man. All in all, an interesting and revealing memoir to some long neglected parts of the war though be warned the main course, Second Bull Run, remains a bit bland.

A "fresh" take on an old subject!.......1999-01-24

Peter Cozzens rightly compares General John Pope's memoires with those of U.S. Grant and W.T. Sherman. This is a highly readable account from one of the participants in some of the least-understood episodes of the Civil War.

Of course, Pope's writings are not "new." As Cozzens relates, the entries which make up this book appeared in the National Tribune and other Reconstruction-era publications. However, they have spent the last century forgotten by the general public. Cozzens and his colleague, Gerardi, have done a great service both to Civil War scholars and to the casual Civil War buff by bringing Pope's reminiscences and analyses to life.

What is most surprising is the humor, candor and generosity of a man who has gone down in history as a narrow, bitter mediocrity. For example, devotees of General Lee, whose comments largely consigned Pope to history almost as a barbarian, will be surprised to read Pope's poetic evocation of the beauty of Virginia and the nobility of its citizens.

In a similar vein, readers will benefit from a "fresh" take on a wide range of issues -- such as the relationships between Lincoln, Stanton, Halleck and McClellan -- from a player very much in the know, but whose views have gone largely unremarked.

My only cautionary note would be that an appreciation of this volume depends upon a basic understanding of the events of the war, and perhaps also upon an introductory familiarity with the post-war debates on those events.

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