Lincoln for President

By Bruce Chadwick, Ph.D.
Sourcebooks, $24.99, 396 pages

Unhappy with the rather popular depiction of Abraham Lincoln being the “lucky underdog” in the 1860 presidential election, author Bruce Chadwick was inspired to write of the enterprising campaign, its backers and prevailing conditions. With muted passion and respect, the writer provides a blow-by-blow account of the campaign, chronicling Lincoln’s keenly honed tactics for winning the vote of the Northern body of free workers, the abolitionists, and disenfranchised former Democrats, as well as a handful of lesser-known parties. In these pages Lincoln appeared startlingly lifelike, being painted as a brilliant campaigner and master speech-maker… a man that voters knew would never lose his well-deserved aura of American commonality.

Chadwick is to be lauded for pointing out that though seen as a moderate by most on the issue of slavery, unlike his more popular Democratic/Whig opponents Lincoln voiced strong anti-slavery opinions and considered it moral hypocrisy for the U.S. to expand the practice, let alone the economic ramifications that might ensue. A book well worthy of further study, it is full of interesting facts; for example, initially, New York audiences though him “rumpled” and “un-statesman-like,” and also, Candidate Lincoln received a mind-boggling amount of letters, many of which he actually responded to.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene