The Long Pursuit
Abraham Lincoln's Thirty-Year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America
by Roy Morris
ebook
2 of 2 copies available
"This intimate dual portrait of Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas as young men . . . is a delight to read and a revealing journey through a mid-nineteenth-century America careening toward disaster." —Kenneth Ackerman, author Young J. Edgar and Boss Tweed
For the better part of two decades, Stephen Douglas was the most famous and controversial politician in the United States, a veritable "steam engine in britches." Abraham Lincoln was merely Douglas's most persistent rival within their adopted home state of Illinois, known mainly for his droll sense of humor, bad jokes, and slightly nutty wife.
But from the time they first set foot in the Prairie State in the early 1830s, Lincoln and Douglas were fated to be political competitors. The Long Pursuit tells the dramatic story of how these two radically different individuals rose to the top rung of American politics, and how their personal rivalry shaped and altered the future of the nation during its most convulsive era. Indeed, had it not been for Douglas, who served as Lincoln's personal goad, pace horse, and measuring stick, there would have been no Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, no Lincoln presidency in 1860, and perhaps no Civil War six months later. For both men—and for the nation itself—the stakes were that high.
Not merely a detailed political study, The Long Pursuit is also a compelling look at the personal side of politics on the rough-and-tumble western frontier. It shows us a more human Lincoln, a bare-knuckles politician who was not above trading on his wildly inaccurate image as a humble "rail-splitter," when he was, in fact, one of the nation's most successful railroad attorneys. And as the first extensive biographical study of Stephen Douglas in more than three decades, the book presents a long-overdue reassessment of one of the nineteenth century's more compelling and ultimately tragic figures, the one-time "Little Giant" of American politics.
"With deft writing and prudent judgments, Morris captures [Douglas's and Lincoln's] burning ambition, political skills, and deeply held beliefs amid the turbulence of a country's unfolding tragedy." —Jeffry D. Wert, author of The Sword of Lincoln
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
December 15, 2023 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780061844263
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780061844263
- File size: 1124 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
June 15, 2008
Morris (editor, "Military Heritage magazine; The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War") argues that in Illinois Lincoln and Douglas grew up, legally and politically, pitted one against the other. The Democrat Douglas often got the better of the Whig Lincoln at the ballot box, though Lincoln won often in courtand in courting Mary Todd. Morris sees westward expansion and race as coming to define their contests. Douglas advocated majority rule, Lincoln individual rights as the bedrock of a free people. Lincoln proved a formidable foe on the legal circuit because of his skills and friendships and his recognition of the moral dimension of the slavery question. This dual biography helps us understand that the Lincoln-Douglas debates had both personal and political dimensions. Morris gives Douglas his due, but ultimately his book does not move beyond Allen Guelzo's "Lincoln and Douglas", which argues that the debates obliged both men to reckon the meanings of democracy, liberty, and America. Morris does not much change established thinking. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-