Lincoln Illuminated and Remembered

In Lincoln Illuminated and Remembered, venerated Lincoln scholar William C. Harris revisits neglected features of the life and presidency of Abraham Lincoln that deserve further attention. In this collection of essays written with his characteristically inviting prose, Harris draws on decades of scholarship on America’s most highly regarded president to provide a fresh and fuller treatment of aspects of Lincoln’s political career and legacy that have not been adequately analyzed by historians or biographers.

Lincoln Illuminated and Remembered offers new perspectives on Lincoln’s leadership, with particular concern for the origins and development of Lincoln’s qualities as a leader. Harris offers up the events of the Mexican-American War, an early and often neglected feature of Lincoln’s political career, as a crucible for his political identity and vision. Another essay provides a detailed account of Lincoln’s support for compensated emancipation, highlighted by his plan to end the war and slavery. Lincoln’s military leadership is also described and analyzed, along with his relationship with George B. McClellan, Ulysses S. Grant, and other Civil War commanders. Harris deftly describes Lincoln’s respect for the law and the Constitution and its effects on his policies regarding southern secession, political opposition in the North, and guerrilla warfare in the West and along the Canadian border. Finally, a biographical account of James Rood Doolittle, Lincoln’s leading supporter in the Senate, is offered within the context of President Lincoln’s relationship with Congress, the rise of the Republican Party, and the turbulent events of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

As Harris argues throughout these essays, Lincoln’s development as commander in chief of the armies and his skills in dealing with Congress proved essential in winning the war, ending slavery, and elevating Lincoln to the rank of America’s greatest president—an honor that was unthinkable at his first inauguration.