Lincoln, the War President The Gettysburg Lectures

by Boritt, Gabor S.

• ISBN13: 9780195089110
• ISBN10: 0195089111
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-05-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

"Americans interested in history need to make the pilgrimage to Gettysburg," writes Gabor Boritt in the Acknowledgments. In this book seven historians make that journey, five of them Pulitzer laureates, looking for Lincoln. Kenneth Stampp explores the issue of national self-determination, comparing the South's struggle for independence to others in history (including the post-Soviets in eastern Europe). Arthur Schlessinger, Jr. offers a provocative comparison of how Lincoln and our other outstanding war president, FDR, went beyond the limits of the Constitution--and why. David Brion Davis focuses on the moment of emancipation. Boritt traces Lincoln's transition from a strident war opponent as a young man to resolute war leader as president. Carl Degler compares the American attempt at national unification with the unifications of Italy, Germany, and other nations. Robert Bruce contrasts premonitions of civil war with Lincoln's reluctance to accept war as a possibility. And James McPherson establishes once and for all the war president's brilliance as a national strategist. These outstanding essays--all but one published here for the first time--offer a new understanding of a revolutionary epoch in American history, and of the role of the leader who helped transform the nation forever.

Author Biography

Gabor Boritt is Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and Director of the Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College. His books include Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream and Why the Confederacy Lost.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
The Shadow of a Coming War	p. 1
Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender	p. 29
The Emancipation Moment	p. 63
One Among Many: The United States and National Unification	p. 89
One Alone? The United States and National Self-determination	p. 121
War and the Constitution: Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt	p. 145
War Opponent and War President	p. 179
Notes	p. 213
Contributors	p. 241
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.