Download or read book Gathering to Save a Nation written by Stephen D. Engle and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this rich study of Union governors and their role in the Civil War, Stephen D. Engle examines how these politicians were pivotal in securing victory. In a time of limited federal authority, governors were an essential part of the machine that maintained the Union while it mobilized and sustained the war effort. Charged with the difficult task of raising soldiers from their home states, these governors had to also rally political, economic, and popular support for the conflict, at times against a backdrop of significant local opposition. Engle argues that the relationship between these loyal-state leaders and Lincoln's administration was far more collaborative than previously thought. While providing detailed and engaging portraits of these men, their state-level actions, and their collective cooperation, Engle brings into new focus the era's complex political history and shows how the Civil War tested and transformed the relationship between state and federal governments.
Download or read book Lincoln and the Union Governors written by William C. Harris and published by Southern Illinois University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of the Civil War, fifty-nine men served as governors of the twenty-five Union states. Although these state executives were occasionally obstructionist and often disagreed amongst themselves, their overall cooperation and counsel bolstered the policies put forth by Abraham Lincoln and proved essential to the Union’s ultimate victory. In this revealing volume, award-winning historian William C. Harris explores the complex relationship between Lincoln and the governors of the Union states, illuminating the contributions of these often-overlooked state leaders to the preservation of the nation. Lincoln recognized that in securing the governors’ cooperation in the war he had to tread carefully and, as much as possible, respect their constitutional authority under the federal system of government. Contributing to the success of the partnership, Harris shows, was the fact that almost all of the governors were members of Lincoln’s Republican or Union Party, and most had earlier associated with his Whig party. Despite their support for the war, however, the governors reflected different regional interests, and Lincoln understood and attempted to accommodate these differences in order to maintain a unified war effort. Harris examines the activities of the governors, who often worked ahead of Lincoln in rallying citizens for the war, organizing state regiments for the Union army, and providing aid and encouragement to the troops in the field. The governors kept Lincoln informed about political conditions in their states and lobbied Lincoln and the War Department to take more vigorous measures to suppress the rebellion. Harris explores the governors’ concerns about many issues, including the divisions within their states over the war and Lincoln’s most controversial policies, especially emancipation and military conscription. He also provides the first modern account of the 1862 conference of governors in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which provided important backing for Lincoln’s war leadership. By emphasizing the difficult tasks that both the governors and President Lincoln faced in dealing with the major issues of the Civil War, Harris provides fresh insight into the role this dynamic partnership played in preserving the nation’s democratic and constitutional institutions and ending the greatest blight on the republic—chattel slavery.
Download or read book Lincoln and the Border States written by William C. Harris and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adopting a new approach to an American icon, an award-winning scholar reexamines the life of Abraham Lincoln to demonstrate how his remarkable political acumen and leadership skills evolved during the intense partisan conflict in pre-Civil War Illinois. By describing Lincoln's rise from obscurity to the presidency, William Harris shows that Lincoln's road to political success was far from easy-and that his reaction to events wasn't always wise or his racial attitudes free of prejudice. Although most scholars have labeled Lincoln a moderate, Harris reveals that he was by his own admission a conservative who revered the Founders and advocated "adherence to the old and tried." By emphasizing the conservative bent that guided Lincoln's political evolution-his background as a Henry Clay Whig, his rural ties, his cautious nature, and the racial and political realities of central Illinois-Harris provides fresh insight into Lincoln's political ideas and activities and portrays him as morally opposed to slavery but fundamentally conservative in his political strategy against it. Interweaving aspects of Lincoln's life and character that were an integral part of his rise to prominence, Harris provides in-depth coverage of Lincoln's controversial term in Congress, his re-emergence as the leader of the antislavery coalition in Illinois, and his Senate campaign against Stephen A.Douglas. He particularly describes how Lincoln organized the antislavery coalition into the Republican Party while retaining the support of its diverse elements, and sheds new light on Lincoln's ongoing efforts to bring Know Nothing nativists into the coalition without alienating ethnic groups. He also provides new information and analysis regarding Lincoln's nomination and election to the presidency, the selection of his cabinet, and his important role as president-elect during the secession crisis of 1860-1861. Challenging prevailing views, Harris portrays Lincoln as increasingly driven not so much by his own ambitions as by his antislavery sentiments and his fear for the republic in the hands of Douglas Democrats, and he shows how the unique political skills Lincoln developed in Illinois shaped his wartime leadership abilities. By doing so, he opens a window on his political ideas and influences and offers a fresh understanding of this complex figure.
Download or read book Lincoln and Reconstruction written by John C Rodrigue and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although Abraham Lincoln dominates the literature on the American Civil War, he remains less commonly associated with reconstruction. Previous scholarly works touch on Lincoln and reconstruction, but they tend either to speculate on what Lincoln might have done after the war had he not been assassinated or to approach his reconstruction plans merely as a means of winning the war. In this thought-provoking study, John C. Rodrigue offers a succinct but significant survey of Lincoln’s wartime reconstruction initiatives while providing a fresh interpretation of the president’s plans for postwar America. Revealing that Lincoln concerned himself with reconstruction from the earliest days of his presidency, Rodrigue details how Lincoln’s initiatives unfolded, especially in the southern states where they were attempted. He explores Lincoln’s approach to various issues relevant to reconstruction, including slavery, race, citizenship, and democracy; his dealings with Congressional Republicans, especially the Radicals; his support for and eventual abandonment of colonization; his dealings with the border states; his handling of the calls for negotiations with the Confederacy as a way of reconstructing the Union; and his move toward emancipation and its implications for his approach to reconstruction. As the Civil War progressed, Rodrigue shows, Lincoln’s definition of reconstruction transformed from the mere restoration of the seceded states to a more fundamental social, economic, and political reordering of southern society and of the Union itself. Based on Lincoln’s own words and writings as well as an extensive array of secondary literature, Rodrigue traces the evolution of Lincoln’s thinking on reconstruction, providing new insight into a downplayed aspect of his presidency.
Download or read book Lincoln and the War Governors written by William Best Hesseltine and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The conflict of 1861-5 was a war between the states on the one hand and the growing power of the national government on the other. In popular speech, the Southern Confederacy symbolized the particularist principles of states' rights, and the United States embodied the national creed. But, as in most wars, neither side had a clear monopoly of either contending dogma. Within the confines of the Confederacy, ardent Southern nationalists battled unceasingly with the adherents of state sovereignty, while in the North the struggle between nation and state went on steadily. This latter struggle is the theme of this book. When the smoke of the Civil War had lifted from the battlefields, it was seen that a new nation had been erected on the ruins of the old federal union. But though the fact of national sovereignty was distinct, the process by which Abraham Lincoln, architect of the nation, had used the exigencies of war and politics to build a new structure was not so readily evident. Only by tracing the relations between the federal government and the states during the war years can the foundation of the new nation be made clear"--Page v-vi.
Download or read book Tried by War written by James M. McPherson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-10-07 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "James M. McPherson’s Tried by War is a perfect primer . . . for anyone who wishes to understand the evolution of the president’s role as commander in chief. Few historians write as well as McPherson, and none evoke the sound of battle with greater clarity." —The New York Times Book Review The Pulitzer Prize–winning author reveals how Lincoln won the Civil War and invented the role of commander in chief as we know it As we celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this study by preeminent, bestselling Civil War historian James M. McPherson provides a rare, fresh take on one of the most enigmatic figures in American history. Tried by War offers a revelatory (and timely) portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. Suspenseful and inspiring, this is the story of how Lincoln, with almost no previous military experience before entering the White House, assumed the powers associated with the role of commander in chief, and through his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union.
Download or read book Lincoln s Loyalists written by Richard Nelson Current and published by UPNE. This book was released on 1992 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With this path-breaking book, Richard Nelson Current closes a major gap in our understanding of the important role of white southerners who fought for the Union during the Civil War. The ranks of the Union forces swelled by more than 100,000 of these men known to their friends as "loyalists" and to their enemies as "tories". They substantially strengthened the Union, weakened the Confederacy, and affected the outcome of the Civil War. Despite the assertions of southern governors that Lincoln would get no troops from the South to preserve the Union, every Confederate state except South Carolina provided at least a battalion of white troops for the Union Army. The role of black soldiers (including those from the South) continues to receive deserved attention. Curiously, little heed has been paid to the white southern supporters of the Union cause, and nothing has been published about the group as a whole. Relying almost entirely on primary sources, Current here opens the long-overdue investigation of these many Americans who, at great risk to themselves and their families, made a significant contribution to the Union's war effort. Current meticulously explores the history of the loyalists in each Confederate state during the war. Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia provided over 70 percent of the loyalist troops, but 10,000 from Arkansas, 7,000 from Louisiana, and thousands from North Carolina, Texas, and Alabama volunteered as well. The author weaves the separate state stories into an intriguing and detailed tapestry. The loyalists served in a variety of capacities--some performing mundane tasks, some fighting with valor. Whatever his individual role, each southerner joining the Unionconstituted a double loss to the Confederacy: a subtraction from its own ranks and an addition to the Union's. Undoubtedly, this played an important role in the Confederate defeat.
Download or read book Lincoln at Gettysburg written by Garry Wills and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-11 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead, he gave the whole nation "a new birth of freedom" in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training, and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece. By examining both the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln came to change the world and to effect an intellectual revolution, how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns, and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken.
Download or read book Copperheads written by Jennifer L. Weber and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Disgraced after the war, the Copperheads melted into the shadows of history. Here, Jennifer L. Weber illuminates their story."--Jacket.
Download or read book Braxton Bragg written by Earl J. Hess and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-09-02 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a leading Confederate general, Braxton Bragg (1817–1876) earned a reputation for incompetence, for wantonly shooting his own soldiers, and for losing battles. This public image established him not only as a scapegoat for the South's military failures but also as the chief whipping boy of the Confederacy. The strongly negative opinions of Bragg's contemporaries have continued to color assessments of the general's military career and character by generations of historians. Rather than take these assessments at face value, Earl J. Hess's biography offers a much more balanced account of Bragg, the man and the officer. While Hess analyzes Bragg's many campaigns and battles, he also emphasizes how his contemporaries viewed his successes and failures and how these reactions affected Bragg both personally and professionally. The testimony and opinions of other members of the Confederate army--including Bragg's superiors, his fellow generals, and his subordinates--reveal how the general became a symbol for the larger military failures that undid the Confederacy. By connecting the general's personal life to his military career, Hess positions Bragg as a figure saddled with unwarranted infamy and humanizes him as a flawed yet misunderstood figure in Civil War history.
Download or read book Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery written by Daniel W. Crofts and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-02-13 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this landmark book, Daniel Crofts examines a little-known episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life: his role as the "Great Emancipator." Lincoln always hated slavery, but he also believed it to be legal where it already existed, and he never imagined fighting a war to end it. In 1861, as part of a last-ditch effort to preserve the Union and prevent war, the new president even offered to accept a constitutional amendment that barred Congress from interfering with slavery in the slave states. Lincoln made this key overture in his first inaugural address. Crofts unearths the hidden history and political maneuvering behind the stillborn attempt to enact this amendment, the polar opposite of the actual Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 that ended slavery. This compelling book sheds light on an overlooked element of Lincoln's statecraft and presents a relentlessly honest portrayal of America's most admired president. Crofts rejects the view advanced by some Lincoln scholars that the wartime momentum toward emancipation originated well before the first shots were fired. Lincoln did indeed become the "Great Emancipator," but he had no such intention when he first took office. Only amid the crucible of combat did the war to save the Union become a war for freedom.
Download or read book Stanton written by Walter Stahr and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Of the crucial men close to President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (1814-1869) was the most powerful and controversial. Stanton raised, armed, and supervised the army of a million men who won the Civil War. He organized the war effort. He directed military movements from his telegraph office, where Lincoln literally hung out with him ... Now with this worthy complement to the enduring library of biographical accounts of those who helped Lincoln preserve the Union, Stanton honors the indispensable partner of the sixteenth president"--
Download or read book The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War written by William L. Barney and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gold mine for the historian as well as the Civil War buff, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War offers a concise, comprehensive overview of the major personalities and pivotal events of the war that redefined the American nation. Drawing upon recent research that has moved beyond battles and military campaigns to address the significant roles played by civilians, women, and African Americans, the 250 entries explore the era in all its complexity and unmistakable human drama. Here of course are the major battles and campaigns, ranging from Gettysburg and Shiloh to Sherman's March to the Sea, as well as biographical entries on everyone from Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee to Frederick Douglass, Clara Barton, and Walt Whitman. But the book also features entries on a wealth of other matters--music, photography, religion, economics, foreign affairs, medicine, prisons, legislative landmarks, military terms and weaponry, political events, social reform, women in the war, and much more. In addition, charts, newly commissioned maps, chronologies, and period photographs provide an appealing visual context. Suggestions for further reading at the end of most entries and a guide to more general sources in an appendix introduce the reader to the literature on a specific topic. A list of Civil War museums and historic sites and a representative sampling of Civil War websites also point to resources that can be tailored to individual interests. A quick, convenient, user-friendly guide to all facets of the Civil War, this new updated edition also serves as an invaluable gateway to the rich historical record now available, perfect for virtually anyone who wants to learn more about this tumultuous period in our history.
Download or read book The Constitutional Origins of the American Civil War written by Michael F. Conlin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-18 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Demonstrates the crucial role that the Constitution played in the coming of the Civil War.
Download or read book With Malice Toward Some written by William Alan Blair and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Malice toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era
Download or read book Agriculture and the Confederacy written by R. Douglas Hurt and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive history, R. Douglas Hurt traces the decline and fall of agriculture in the Confederate States of America. The backbone of the southern economy, agriculture was a source of power that southerners believed would ensure their independence. But, season by season and year by year, Hurt convincingly shows how the disintegration of southern agriculture led to the decline of the Confederacy's military, economic, and political power. He examines regional variations in the Eastern and Western Confederacy, linking the fates of individual crops and different modes of farming and planting to the wider story. After a dismal harvest in late 1864, southerners--faced with hunger and privation throughout the region--ransacked farms in the Shenandoah Valley and pillaged plantations in the Carolinas and the Mississippi Delta, they finally realized that their agricultural power, and their government itself, had failed. Hurt shows how this ultimate lost harvest had repercussions that lasted well beyond the end of the Civil War. Assessing agriculture in its economic, political, social, and environmental contexts, Hurt sheds new light on the fate of the Confederacy from the optimism of secession to the reality of collapse.
Download or read book Gettysburg Replies written by Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost five months after the Civil War’s deadliest clash, President Abraham Lincoln and other Union leaders gathered to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The program for the occasion featured music, prayer, orations, and benedictions. In the middle of it all, the president gave a few commemorative remarks, speaking for just two minutes, delivering what we now know as the Gettysburg Address. Challenged to mark the enormity of the battle—which had turned the tide of the war, though neither side realized it yet—Lincoln used 272 words in ten sentences to rededicate the Union to the preservation of freedom. It remains the most important statement of our nation’s commitment to personal liberty since the Revolutionary War and has become one of the most important speeches in American history, a cornerstone of who we are as a country. A century and a half later, we still hold Lincoln’s message in our hearts. For Gettysburg Replies, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum challenged presidents, judges, historians, filmmakers, poets, actors, and others to craft 272 words of their own to celebrate Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, or a related topic that stirs their passions. President Jimmy Carter reveals how the Gettysburg Address helped bring Egypt and Israel closer at the Camp David Peace Accords. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor reflects on Lincoln’s dedication to the importance of civic education. General Colin Powell explains how Martin Luther King Jr. took up Lincoln’s mantle and carried it forward. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg touches on the benefits and perils of hero worship. Poet Laureate Billy Collins explores the dichotomy between the private man who wrote poetry (“My Childhood Home I See Again”) and the president who stood before all. Attorney Alan Dershowitz echoes Lincoln’s words to rally us to the freedom from weapons of mass destruction. Gettysburg Replies features images of important Lincoln documents and artifacts, including the first copy of the address that Lincoln wrote out after delivering it, the program from the cemetery dedication, Lincoln’s presidential seal, and more. Together, these words and images create a lasting tribute not only to Lincoln himself but also the power of his devotion to freedom.
