PDF Lincoln’s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union by Louis P. Masur in History

Review

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. WHAT A MAN. WHAT A LEADER!By Joseph AlbianiAlways knowing that "Lincoln freed the slaves" really doesn't get the reality How he led the racist; and even worse; indifferent people of the North to fight for freedom for the slaves was a testament to Lincoln's leadership While he was attacked for moving too slowly he neverwavered from his mission While he always hated slavery he didn't see any way he could legally do anything about it where it was and could only fight its expansion. His true feelings were made clear when in the first few months of his presidency he was faced with the trial of a captain of a slave ship captured with almost 900 slaves on board. While there had been many such seizures before and even though it was technically a capital offence nothing was ever done to the owners or captains of such vessels. There were over 100 such slave vessels operating out of New York in 1860 and this was the first while Lincoln was President. The captain was shocked to hear his sentence of death. He was even more shocked when Lincoln refused to pardon or commute his sentence. In affirming the sentence Lincoln said "I believe I am kindly enough in nature and can be moved to pity.and to pardon the perpetrator of almost the worst crime that the mind of man can conceive or the arm of man can execute; but any man; who for paltry gain and stimulated only by avarice; can rob Africa of her children to sell into interminable bondage; I will never pardon; and he may stay and rot in jail before he will ever get any relief from me." The captain; Nathaniel Gordon; was hanged on Feb 21; 1862; the only execution for the slave trade in American history and it was the end of the slave trade from Africa to the US. This shows clearly how Lincoln felt about slavery. The pressure was on Lincoln from all sides to retract the emancipation before it was finalized on January 1st but once he was committed there was no retreat.He was a leader who understood his country and the mind of men and slowly but surely took the United States into a new reality as no other man could have done.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. a tortuous path to ending the disgrace of slaveryBy David H. MacCallumThere are many turning points in American history -- decisions and events that changed the nation's social or political or economic structure. Almost without exception; these pivot points are formed as a response to major national calamities - the New Deal stemming from the Great Depression; the Constitution that was so directly shaped by the men who fought the Revolutionary War; the Marshall Plan that sustained democracies in Europe and insured the continued involvement of America in the wider world after World War II. Perhaps none of these pivot points was as meaningful or as deeply powerful as the Emancipation Proclamation; promulgated by President Lincoln on January 1; 1863; which freed the slaves throughout the rebellious South. Thus; the long march towards racial equality began; ending a national disgrace that began before the Union was formed in 1776.Although Lincoln wrestled with the solution to the slavery issue for many years prior to the Proclamation; his attitude towards the institution itself was as consistent as any of his judgments on public issues. He felt that "if slavery is not wrong then nothing is wrong." The solution to the problem; however; was not at all clear. Only as the tide of the Civil War began to change; with the first half of the war showing the weaknesses of the North and the brilliance of the Southern military but then - beginning with Antietam in September 1862 -- the gradual emergence of the North's fighting machinery; could Lincoln become more forceful in the dismantlement of slavery in the South. His thoughts on the solution to the slavery issue rapidly jelled in the late-summer and fall of 1862. The culmination of these thoughts - which at various times included colonization of remote Caribbean islands and confiscation of only those slaves whose owners were in open rebellion to the Federal government - was the meeting of his cabinet on September 22; 1862; at which he revealed that he had decided to emancipate slaves held in the rebellious territories. This meeting; only five days after Antietam; marked a watershed shift in Lincoln's thinking. It would be followed one hundred days later with the publication of the Proclamation.Louis Masur tells the story of Lincoln's tortuous journey from a stubborn reluctance to interfere with the institution of slavery; odious as it was; to his declaration of freedom for the slaves held in the South. His action was derided by the abolitionists of the North who contended that Lincoln had freed the slaves in war zones where the Union forces had no ability to enforce the new law but had denied freedom to those slaves in the border states and the North where the Union had the power to execute the law. True; but Lincoln was convinced; correctly as it turned out; that the extinction of slavery in precisely the section of the country where it was strongest would cause the end of slavery everywhere. And it did; with the ratification in 1865 of the Thirteenth Ammendment which abolished slavery throughout the nation. Masur tells the story with his lens firmly on the debates that swirled around and within the administration on the timing and scope of the emancipation; the conscription of the freed slaves into the Union army; and the changing politics of the country. After all; the Democrats surged in the mid-term election of 1862; leading Lincoln to conclude that he might well be a one-term president.Masur does a first-class job in telling this story. The mood of the North was rapidly changing and he details these shifting sentiments through copious quotations from the periodicals and news journals of the time. The reader is led through the path; step by step; that Lincoln takes in concluding that emancipation is the correct answer. In order to understand his thinking one must; however; be aware of the many other parts of the Civil War story. These are not discussed in any detail but rather are referred to largely in passing. We must know the importance of Antietam; the slaughter at the first Bull Run; the attitude of the British which leaned towards the South for much of the war; and the strains that faced Lincoln in handling the military aspects of the war.This is a wonderful book told by what I can only conclude is one of the nation's most talented young historians. Masur; who trained under the great James McPherson; has many more books ahead of him. This reader awaits those with great anticipation.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Book in very good used conditionBy RR in FlInteresting; but not written in a flowing style. I was interested in the topic just found it lacking and difficult to read. Book in very good used condition. Pleased with the condition.