Abraham Lincoln: The Enigmatic President

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 slav...

  In my book, Maelstrom , I included a scene in which Lincoln sends an address to Congress after a recess. At that time, it was customary for a clerk to read the address aloud. Not much had happened during the recess: eleven states had seceded from the Union, Fort Sumter had been bombarded and surrendered, the Union occupied a small area of Virginia, Lincoln had exceeded his executive powers by spending unauthorized money, building an army, arresting insurgents, and suspending habeas corpus, among many other actions. He desperately needed Congress to backfill behind him. Lincoln’s first formal communication with Congress was crucial—not just for him but for the country as well. Although this address is not one of his most famous speeches, the clarity and simplicity with which he explained his actions were impressive.   Lincoln stated that the struggle was to maintain a form of government: “whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weigh...

A gush of air ruffled my hair. Was that a bullet whistling past my head? Where am I? What the heck is happening? My eardrums throbbed with piercing pops and massive explosions. The stench of rotten eggs and burning charcoal seared my nostrils. Soldiers yelled orders, screamed in pain, or shouted insults at the opposition. Beyond clear-cut fields, I saw countless flashes made dim by smoke and distance. I wondered what the flashes represented until I heard sharp thuds and saw wood splintering. They were gunshots coming toward me at a frantic pace. The entire encounter was unreal. Standing on a sturdy parapet eight feet above the ground, I overlooked a raging gun battle. The relentless noise dazed me. To my left and right, soldiers returned fire, and deafening blasts of cannon fire made it nearly impossible to think clearly. I should have felt a desperate urge to escape, yet I sensed no such need. I was not afraid. Something told me that I was not a participant in this drama. As I glanced...