Book Review: The Crooked Path to Abolition by James Oates

During the Civil War, politicians claimed the conflict was about issues other than slavery. Jefferson Davis adamantly denied that slavery caused the war, arguing that the dispute was about states’ rights. However, as Lincoln noted in his First Inaugural Address, the only state right truly in question was slavery. Not that Yankee politicians were more forthright. In the early years of the war, Lincoln said he was fighting solely to restore the Union. Since then, most books by participants and historians have downplayed slavery as the primary cause of the conflict.

During and after the Constitutional Convention, slaveholding states threatened to secede if they did not get their way. With a few interludes, slaveholders or slave tolerant politicians controlled the national government from its inception. The slave states had grown accustomed to their dominance, but a new party emerged that threatened their “peculiar institution.” With the election of the first Republican President, the slaveholding class made good on their decades-old threat to dismantle the Union.

The Crooked Path to Abolition is a well-written and timely book. Historians are always looking for a niche perspective on Abraham Lincoln. James Oates has picked a rare one. He doesn’t come up with a unique thesis and then selectively cobble together evidence to support it. For the most part, he presents the evidence impassively, allowing the reader to make up their mind.

Lincoln certainly took a complicated path toward abolition. Was this path intentional or simply the result of an uncertain politician? Read the book and decide for yourself.

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