He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860 (Jonathan Earle)

In He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860, author Jonathan Earle retells the story of one of the most consequential elections in American history. The book centers on Abraham Lincoln’s rise from relative obscurity to national prominence, emphasizing his political skill, moral clarity, and ability to connect with ordinary voters. Earle presents Lincoln not as an inevitable hero, but as a shrewd strategist navigating a fractured political landscape marked by deep sectional and partisan tensions.

Earle’s account begins prior to 1860, with various events such as John Brown’s raid, Bleeding Kansas, and the rise of sectionalism. The 1860 presidential election featured four political candidates, each representing a different faction of the electorate. The year’s political proceedings were marked by infighting in conventions, attempts at compromise and fusion candidates that failed, and the grasping attempts of one long standing political leader to outwit his key intrastate rival as they contended for the Presidency.

Earle also carefully traces the collapse of both the Whigs and Know-Nothing movement, and the subsequent emergence of the Republican coalition, showing how Lincoln managed to unify diverse factions. This counters the division within Democratic circles around slavery and popular sovereignty, leading to a schism within the party. The narrative also highlights the roles of lesser known figures, giving readers a broader understanding of the political environment that shaped the election.

The prose is engaging and well paced, making the book suitable for both general readers and students of history. Overall, He Has the People succeeds as an informative and compelling study of leadership and democracy at a pivotal moment. It reminds readers that Lincoln’s victory was not predetermined, but earned through strategy, perceived moderation, and having rallied the coalition of northern Republicans to his side. 

MY RATING: 4.5

Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America (Scott Ellsworth)

In Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America, author Scott Ellsworth provides a dramatic retelling of the events of 1864 and early 1865. With page-turning narrative energy, Ellsworth brings the final stretch of the Civil War to life. This period includes the rise of Ulysses S. Grant’s fame as head of the Union army, Sherman’s march through Georgia, and the eventual assasination of Abraham Lincoln.

This period of time was arguably one of the most pivotal in our country’s history. The Civil War was wearing down morale in the North and mounting casualties made Lincoln’s reelection odds in 1864 seem slim. However, Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in September 1864 provided a turning point that, combined with strong support among voting Union soldiers, helped Lincoln win a hard-fought election that Fall.

In addition to major leaders and headliners of the time, the author includes overlooked voices such as runaway slaves, a female war correspondent named Lois Adams, and other lesser-known participants who provide added context and insight to the events of this timeframe. Ellsworth also provides added insight into the shifting methods of how war was conducted by the South, changing from mostly conventional field battle into more rogue and guerrilla tactics in an attempt to prolong the war. Those rogue tactics gradually wrap in a headlining actor of the day, who becomes a part of the plot to take down Lincoln.

Midnight on the Potomac is a very solid and exciting historical book that highlights the relatively precarious state of the Union effort in 1864 and how a few key events changed the course of the war and American history. It’s a captivating read that will keep you glued to its pages.

MY RATING: 4.5

Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War (Roger Lowenstein)

Much has been written about the economic differences between the North and South during the Civil War and how the North’s advantage in population, industry, and commerce were factors in their eventual win. The financial management of the North and South is a topic that is less known about. Roger Lowenstein’s Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War addresses how the two parts of the country attempted to finance and govern their war efforts.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, the government had no authority to raise taxes, no federal bank, and no official currency. The South’s secession and the subsequent war required both the Union and the secessionists to finance their war efforts. Each camp took vastly different approaches. Salmon Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, developed a taxation strategy and financed bonds while battling to keep inflation in check. The South embargoed its main cash crop, cotton, and watched while inflation and poor fiscal decision-making drove runaway inflation and gradual starvation of the Confederacy.

Lowenstein also devotes a part of Ways and Means to the change in the federal government’s involvement in the lives of Americans. Pre-Civil War America was a state-driven enterprise, with the federal government a weaker federation having less direct control and influence in policy. The Republicans of the Civil War era were modernizers, permitting the construction of the transcontinental railroad, the formation of land grant universities, and increased government involvement in agriculture and eventually immigration policy. These reforms helped sustain and push the country along after the Civil War’s conclusion. Lowenstein smartly points out that much of those reforms and efforts helped push the North and West while the South lagged for decades to come. The country’s internal economic disparity remained significant between North and South until cities such as Houston, Atlanta, and Dallas began to attract large numbers of residents and immigrants, helping the South to shed its agrarian way of life and leave the Jim Crow era behind.

Ways and Means is a great account of how fiscal policy can guide a country in tough times and how Chase’s creativity and resourcefulness helped in large part to save the Union.

MY RATING - 4.5

Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America (Jay Parini)

A family member recently received a Kindle as a gift and was eager to show it to me. He was confused when I ran kicking and screaming from the room (I exaggerate only a little). Is nothing sacred? Does everything on this beautiful place we call Earth have to be completely technological? Is the closing of libraries and bookstores right around the corner?

Books have been around forever, not the "download this bestseller for $7.99 kind", but the good, old-fashioned, "turn-the-page" kind. Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America is not your average "Best Books Ever" list. There is no The Fountainhead in sight. What Parini does do is come up with a very interesting list of books that, when introduced to popular culture, changed life as we know it. When Harriet Beecher Stowe met Abraham Lincoln after the release of Uncle Tom's Cabin, he is famously quoted as saying "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!" In addition, who can argue that Dr. Benjamin Spock changed child rearing as we know it when he published his The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care?

This is the kind of book you can pick up in March and finish in June. It will not appeal to everybody (I can't see the average American going into Barnes & Noble and picking up a copy of The Federalist Papers), but it is fine reading for those who love literary history.

MY RATING - 4

This review can also be found at http://www.bookloons.com.