Abraham Lincoln by Ronald C. White Jr.

I dove headlong into the civil war with this wonderful biography on Abraham Lincoln by Ronald C. White Jr.  Besides the obvious importance of Lincoln’s life on American history, I knew little of the details of his life, his politics or his philosophy.  Not surprisingly, I was impressed with what I learned.

Most notably I was deeply impressed with his strategic vision for the country.  Lincoln was a man that understood the big picture and wasn’t afraid to endure short-term consequences that arose from his strategic vision.  His belief in the inviolable nature of the Constitution became a political liability in the early stages of the Civil War.  Even though he personally detested slavery, he believed to his core that the war was being fought explicitly to save the Union.  States cannot secede, period.  To allow them to do so would mean the end of the Union, and saving the United States intact was his sole objective.  The end of slavery would have to wait.

But equally as important as his strategic vision that saving the union was paramount, he was slow to realize that unleashing the power of the slaves against the Confederacy was a means to accomplishing his objective.  In rare instances you have to alter your strategy, and Lincoln did so by legally ending slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation.  Many (most?) thought that slaves could not fight, that they would become a military liability. 

Lincoln knew they were wrong.  He realized that he could accomplish his topmost objective by activating the secondary objective of freeing the slaves.

In addition to strategic vision, Lincoln knew that he would have to pay close attention to military details.  Early in his presidency he began educating himself on military strategy and tactics and the book indicated he spent more time directing the details of military arrangements than any other president.  Lincoln rode out to meet with his generals on several occasions, and spent countless days at the War Office reading telegrams as they came in and played a direct role in affairs.

Lincoln was shockingly slow to replace his slow-moving generals during the first half of the war.  Perhaps his relative lack of military experience caused him to defer too often to their cautious inaction.  But eventually his self-teaching in military matters increased his own confidence, finally enabling him to promote other generals (i.e. Grant and Sherman) that would ultimately win the war.

One thing I definitely appreciated in White’s approach to biography was his tendency to skip over irrelevant details of battles and war.  Too often biographers stray from their subject – the person under review – and drift into the world in which that person lived.  The Civil War, though central to Lincoln’s presidency – does not need to be transmitted with every fine detail in a biography on Abraham Lincoln.  White walked the tightrope between the man and the war quite well for my tastes.

I’m gaining a fuller picture of the 19th century than ever before.  With a deeper understanding of Lincoln, I now feel that I’m on the back half of my exploration of this century.  Perhaps I will make it to the 20th century (egads!) within the next year.