Lincoln's America, 1809-1865

In this collection of new and original essays, edited by Joseph R. Fornieri and Sarah Vaughn Gabbard, ten eminent historians examine the society that influenced the life, character, and leadership of the man who would become the Great Emancipator. Among the topics explored in Lincoln's America are religion, education, middle-class family life, the anti-slavery movement, politics, and law. Also covered are the transition of American intellectual and philosophical thought from the Enlightenment to Romanticism and the influence of this evolution on Lincoln's own ideas. By examining aspects of Lincoln's life -- his personal piety in comparison with the beliefs of his contemporaries, his success in self-schooling when frontier youths had limited opportunities for a formal education, his marriage and home life in Springfield, and his legal career -- in light of broader cultural contexts, such as the development of democracy, the growth of visual arts, the question of slaves as property, and French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville's observations on America, the contributors delve into the mythical Lincoln of folklore and discover a developing political mind and a changing nation. As Lincoln's America: 1809-1865 shows, the sociopolitical culture of 19th-century America was instrumental in shaping Lincoln's character and leadership. The essays in this volume paint a vivid picture of a young nation and its 16th president, arguably its greatest leader. - Jacket flap.