Freedom, Union and Power: Lincoln and His Party in the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: An Academic Text that Makes for Fascinating Reading
Review: This text is written for the academic crowd -- no pictures, extensive endnotes, and a bibliography so long (38 pages) that's its divided into six sections. It assumes the reader already knows the main events leading up to the Civil War, the battles that took place, and the leading political and military actors. However, it reads easily (unlike most academic texts) with fascinating quotes from letters, newspapers, and speeches woven around the themes that united the Republicans: Freedom, Union, and Power.

To illustrate the author's style of writing, here's a randomly selected sentence from page 180:

"Ben Wade, the waspish radical center from Ohio, had no use for those to whom the Constitution was 'a stumbling block,' nor did his equally bellicose friend and colleague, Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, cotton to those with 'constitution on the brain.'"

Although primarily intended for university and college libraries, Civil War buffs with $65 to spare will find this book rewarding and entertaining. Quotes, trivia, and political anecdotes are sprinkled liberally throughout the chapters and supplied in such mind-boggling detail that I now know why the author spent several years struggling though the research and writing it required.

Since I don't have a Ph.D. in Civil War history, as the author does, I was irritated by the fact that a chronology of important events was not included. However, I found a nice one at: <www.coax.net/people/lwf/cwchron.htm>

The ten chapters are organized in a loose chronological order:

1. Freedom, Union, and Power: The Civil War Republican Party
2. Free Labor, Freed Labor, and Free Capital
3. The Great Secession Winter and the Politics of Power and Responsibility
4. Lincoln's Warring Cabinet: Many Secretaries, One Ideology
5. The Republicans and Slavery
6. Law and Order: The Republicans, the Supreme Court and the Constitution
7. The Paradox of Power: Republicans and the Military
8. The Republican Party, the Union Party and Lincoln's Reelection
9. Reforming and Remaking the Nation
10. Conclusion: Successes and Failures of Republican Idealogy

In summary, this book gives a detailed, yet entertaining, analysis of the core beliefs of the Republican party during the Civil War and how their ideology shaped political, military, and economic policy during Lincoln's administration. The book also shows how conflicts in these core beliefs, between conservative and radical Republicans, evolved during the Civil War and shaped Republican party practices.

Full disclosure: I first met Mike in a college history class more than 20 years ago, but even though we are now separated by a thousand miles, we are still the best of friends.