A01=Daniel W. Crofts
Abraham Lincoln
Adams Amendment
Author_Daniel W. Crofts
Category=JBS
Category=JPHC
Category=NHK
Category=NHTS
Category=NHWR
Category=NHWR3
Charles Francis Adams
Charles Sumner
Coming of the Civil War
Corwin Amendment
Elihu Washburne
Emerson Etheridge
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eq_history
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Henry Dawes
Henry Winter Davis
James M. Ashley
John A. Bingham
John A. Gilmer
John Sherman
Joshua Giddings
Robert Hatton
Salmon P. Chase
Secession Crisis
Seward Amendment
Stephen A. Douglas
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Thomas Corwin
Thurlow Weed
William H. Seward
William Jay
William Pitt Fessenden
Product details
- ISBN 9781469663944
- Weight: 333g
- Dimensions: 155 x 233mm
- Publication Date: 28 Feb 2021
- Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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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.
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.
Daniel Crofts is the author of Reluctant Confederates: Upper South Unionists in the Secession Crisis.
