The Real Lincoln Delorenzo Summary

The Reconstruction period is the name given to the time in between 1863 and 1877. This period’s main goal was to reunite the United States of America after the most substantial event of disunity in American existence: The Civil War. Reconstruction consisted of many proposed plans and attempts to reinstate the Southern states back into the union. In the early stages, there was some promise as to what reconstruction had the ability to accomplish, because some political groups had the right ideas about what was necessary to pick up the fragments of a war-torn nation, in order to reconstruct it into a prospering, free, and equal nation it had the potential to be. This reconstruction had had few successes and ultimately failed in the end—due to

Tensions between the North and South had grown steadily since the anti slavery movement in 1830. Several compromises between the North and South regarding slavery had been passed such as the Nebraska-Kansas and the Missouri act; but this did little to relieve the strain. The election of President Lincoln in 1861 proved to be the boiling point for the South, and secession followed. This eventually sparked the civil war; which was viewed differently by the North and the South. The Northern goal was to keep the Union intact while the Southern goal was to separate from the Union. Southern leaders gave convincing arguments to justify secession. Exploring documents from South Carolina’s secession ordinance and a speech from the Georgia

With the eruption of the Civil War came one of the biggest tribulations and trials that this country has ever faced, but as we understand the motives of one of the greatest Presidents in American History we can see that the Civil War was inevitable. From his original intentions of merely preserving the Union and holding the country together, to permanently abolishing slavery we can observe why prevailing in the struggle of the Civil War is one of Lincoln’s defining legacies. Thus, as the civil war draws to a close, an old tumultuous era has ended, and a new more prosperous era has

Chapter 22: The Ordeal of Reconstruction. (n.d.). AP Studynotes. Retrieved November 17, 2010, from www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/topics/presidential-and-congressional-reconstruction-plans/

On January 27, 1838, more then twenty-five years before his first inaugural address, a 28 year-old Lincoln gave a speech before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield Illinois on the topic of ‘The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions’. This young lawyer who had been elected as a state representative gave a very ambitious speech which not only highlighted the issues facing the political institutions of the time, but drew on issues of national importance, including slavery, mob violence, and the future of the nation itself. Drawing from certain events of the time, Lincoln stresses the need for political reform in order to quell rising dissolutions towards governmental policies, which, if not suppressed will inevitably lead to the collapse

When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he inherited a nation entrenched in chaos. Throughout his presidency he led the Union through a trying period highlighted by the secession, the institution of slavery, and the greatest internal conflict in the history of the United States, the Civil War. Lincoln stuck to his principles during this arduous time and through this was able to re-unite the nation. With no historical precedents to help validate his actions, Lincoln still succeeded in bringing about the reconciliation of the North and South. Based on Lincoln’s decisions as president that led to his triumph, he clearly garners a rating of 9 on a 1-10 scale. Lincoln’s resilient efforts to unify the nation created the basis of the

The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, by Thomas J. DiLorenzo completely shatters the illusion of the 16th President as the liberator of the slaves. DiLorenzo provides convincing evidence for Lincoln’s overt racism as expressed in his documented views on racial supremacy as stated in his desire to colonize all American blacks outside the United States (p. 4); Lincoln’s views were matched by the majority in the North who used such tools as state constitutional amendments to prohibit the emigration of black people into Northern states like Lincoln’s home of Illinois (p. 4); and that the Presidents war which killed 620, 000 Americans and destroyed 40% of the

McPherson’s book on Abraham Lincoln is about his struggle as president to keep the union together. The book explained the different strategies, decisions, and speeches Lincoln used in order to keep the confederacy from seceding from the union. His timing on military strategy and national strategy helped the outcome of the revolution. McPherson also talks about the lives of African Americans after the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect. The most believed reason for the Civil War was Lincoln’s decision to abolish slavery and the emancipation. McPherson discusses how this outraged the south, where slavery was necessary for the everyday functions of their plantations. Lincoln immediately had to defend his decision and himself. “Thus

Although James McPherson presents Lincoln as having numerous qualities that defined him as a brilliant leader, he wastes no time in revealing what he believes to be Lincoln’s greatest strength. In his Introduction, McPherson states regarding Lincoln’s political leadership: “In a civil war whose origins lay in a political conflict over the future of slavery and a political decision by certain states to secede, policy could never be separated from national strategy…. And neither policy nor national strategy could be separated from military strategy” (McPherson, p.6). Lincoln could not approach the war from a purely martial standpoint—instead, he needed to focus on the issues that caused it. For the catalyst of the war was also the tool for its solution; a war started by differing ideologies could only be resolved through the military application of ideology. This non-objective approach to the waging of the war almost resembles the inspired approach McPherson brings to his examination of Lincoln himself.

The Reconstruction time period, 1865 through 1877, was a complex time for America. The southern part of the nation was in need of governmental, economical, and social repair after losing the Civil War. Radical Republicans, Democrats, and newly freed African Americans all were influential in the age of Reconstruction. Historians have struggled to put into words exactly what Reconstruction incorporates and precisely what the motives of the different groups of people were. Renowned American historian, Eric Foner, is a professor at Columbia University. He has written many books concerning the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Eric Foner’s Reconstruction theory

Abraham Lincoln’s presidential career was full of questionable actions. Thomas DiLorenzo author of, The Real Lincoln discusses Lincoln’s actions regarding racism, his refusal to emancipate the slaves, his continual tendency to act independently of Congress, and his radical reconstruction after the Civil War. DiLorenzo attacks each of these topics in his book and proves that Lincoln had his own agenda, and was not the picture perfect president everybody thought that he was.

America and we as Americans have faced many hardships. One of these trying times was the period from 1865 – 1877, the era known as Reconstruction. Several plans for Reconstruction were developed, but for these [then] divided states, adversity and unforeseen circumstances would test the resolve of our government and its constituency. The success and failures of each plan are outlined to reveal how the country struggled to re-united during this violate time. The assertion being Reconstruction was both a success in that it passed legislation for Civil Rights and re-united the Union, but failed to secure those rights and prosperity of former slaves.

A secondary driving force of southern secession was the belief that the southern states and citizens needed to protect themselves, and their way of life, from Abraham Lincoln’s administration and the implications that it

The years post the Civil War left the United States in a vulnerable position of chaos, most, if not all of the South had been penetrated and destroyed by the Union Army. This cause the country’s inevitability for reconstruction, not only political and economic reconstruction, but structural reconstruction as well. In 1865, the most influential event that occured was assassination of President Lincoln, this spurred all Radical Republicans in Congress towards the clear path they needed to implement their plan for Reconstruction.

War is chaos and the devil itself. It represents the cruelty and darkness in the human heart. In 1861, a Civil War broke out between the North and the South. A soldier who served in the Civil War said in a letter to his parents, “Many became ill from exposure and starvation, and were left on the road.” (“Letters and Diaries,” 1862) The war continued for four years and was considered by historians as the most devastating war the United States has witnessed. Nonetheless, the Civil War produced two of the most brilliant minds in American history: Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, served as the main strategist for the North during the Civil War and Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army. Both Lincoln and Forrest came from humble origins and worked their way to success. However, Lincoln gained his position as a President by using his tact and diplomacy although he was not appreciated for his clever decisions and authority while Forrest became a General through aggression and was praised by the South as a great tactician and a war hero. Abraham Lincoln’s endeavor and success in granting equal rights for African-American will remain forever in the heart of later generations.