Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America

Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America

by Harold Holzer
Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America

Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America

by Harold Holzer

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Overview

A new book—and companion to the Steven Spielberg film—tracing how Abraham Lincoln came to view slavery . . . and came to end it.

Steven Spielberg focused his movie Lincoln on the sixteenth president's tumultuous final months in office, when he pursued a course of action to end the Civil War, reunite the country, and abolish slavery. Invited by the filmmakers to write a special Lincoln book as a companion to the film, Harold Holzer, the distinguished historian and a consultant on the movie, now gives us a fast-paced, exciting new book on Lincoln's life and times, his evolving beliefs about slavery, and how he maneuvered to end it.

The story starts on January 31, 1865—less than three months before Lincoln's assassination—as the president anxiously awaits word on whether Congress will finally vote to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Although the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier had authorized the army to liberate slaves in Confederate territory, only a Constitutional amendment passed by Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states would end slavery legally everywhere in the country.

Drawing from letters, speeches, memoirs, and documents by Lincoln and others, Holzer goes on to cover Lincoln's boyhood, his moves from Kentucky to Indiana to Illinois, his work as a lawyer and congressman, his unsuccessful candidacies for the U.S. Senate and his victory in two presidential elections, his arduous duties in the Civil War as commander in chief, his actions as president, and his relationships with his family, political rivals, and associates. Holzer provides a fresh view of America in those turbulent times, as well as fascinating insights into the challenges Lincoln faced as he weighed his personal beliefs against his presidential duties in relation to the slavery issue.

The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment would become the crowning achievement of Abraham Lincoln's life and the undisputed testament to his political genius. By viewing his life through this prism, Holzer makes an important passage in American history come alive for readers of all ages.

The book also includes thirty historical photographs, a chronology, a historical cast of characters, texts of selected Lincoln writings, a bibliography, and notes.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780062265128
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 12/15/2023
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 240
Sales rank: 1,014,253
File size: 7 MB

About the Author

Harold Holzer, one of the country's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era, has more than forty books to his credit, including Father Abraham: Lincoln and His Sons and The President Is Shot!. He is a frequent guest on television, acted as a Content Consultant to the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln, and serves as chairman of the Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction viii

Prologue: A "King's Cure" 1

1 The Making of a Liberator 9

2 Romance, Law, and Politics 22

3 The Lincolns Go to Washington 30

4 The Prairies Are on Fire 39

5 Right Makes Might 51

6 The Mystic Chords of Memory 67

7 A People's Conflict 83

8 Fair Warning on Slavery 95

9 The Day of Jubilee 107

10 Fighting for Freedom 118

11 Unfinished Work 133

12 Year of Decision 141

13 A Fitting and Necessary Conclusion 155

14 Death of a Liberator 175

Appendix

Cast of Characters 195

Chronology in Brief 200

Prelinary Emancipation Proclamation 205

Final Emancipation Proclamation 210

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address 213

Notes 217

Bibliography 223

Acknowledgments 225

About the Author 226

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