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82CIVIL WAR HISTORY on both policy and principle, while on the matter of his Mexican War opposition, and admitting its political overtones, he may very well have been right—but for the wrong reasons. One cannot read either Simon's or Riddle's books without realizing that Abraham Lincoln was first and last a politician. His field of action and expression was thereby limited both by the recurring need to be reelected and his own hopes for personal advancement within the oarty. These books agree that Lincoln was not a political innovator. Riddle finds that the efforts of the Sangamon congressman, particularly his "Spot Resolutions," were generally derived from Whig orthodoxy; Simon characterizes Lincoln's legislative experience as "not particularly creative." What success Lincoln enjoyed in the Illinois General Assembly was founded upon hard work, congeniality, and a steady party spirit. Party regulars rarely strike their colleague as being men of destiny. Lincoln was no exception. It was not so much that the young Lincoln was in the role of "prophet without honor" or "unappreciated genius," but rather that the Lincoln of the 1830's and 1840's, viewed objectively, was neither prophet nor genius. The marks of promise, his patience, shrewdness, compassion, and his curiously effective oratory were all present, but not yet in the proportions which speak of greatness. Simon's concluding chapter, "Some Postscripts," in which he traces the lives of a number of Lincoln's prominent associates, men such as Trumbull, Browning, Baker, Snyder, Edwards, McClernand—and many others not so prominent—shows how meanly, even to the end, many valued the future sixteenth president. From reading Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness we can not only understand their judgment, but even why they were wrong. Robert M. Sutton University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Breckinridge: Statesman, Soldier, Symbol. By William C. Davis. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1974. Pp. xxii, 687. $17.50.) Few mid-nineteenth century Southerners were better known or more active in national affairs than John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. State legislator, congressman, Vice President (at age thirty-five), candidate for President, senator, major general, and finally Secretary of War of the Confederacy, Breckinridge was in the center of the political and military arena during the Civil War era. Surprisingly, however, the only previous biography was an inadequate 1936 volume by Lucille Stillwell (Born to be a Statesman). Now William C. Davis, the editor of Civil War Times Illustrated, has written what should be the definitive biography of the distinguished Kentuckian. The grandson of Jefferson's Attorney General, John C. Breckinridge entered politics after serving as a major of volunteers in the Mexican BOOKREVIEWS83 War. During his single term in the state legislature and two terms in Congress, the young Kentuckian impressed contemporaries with his graceful manner, oratory, and personal charm. A supporter and confidant of both Franklin Pierce and Stephen Douglas, Breckinridge did not seek the Vice Presidential nomination on the Buchanan ticket in 1856. Indeed, he attempted unsuccessfully to decline the honor when first nominated. At the time of his inauguration as Vice President, Breckinridge was, according to Davis, "a secret opponent of slavery." Gradually, he shifted his position and in 1860 became the Presidential candidate for southern extremists in an election he knew he could not win. Although most contemporaries considered him the candidate of slave interests, Breckinridge 's strength in the election was greatest in southern counties with a small number of slaves. After the election of Lincoln, Breckinridge served briefly in the United States Senate where he defended southern interests. When he became convinced that neutrality for his beloved Kentucky was impossible he cast his lot with the Confederacy. He was mentioned as a possible successor to Secretary of War Walker but was given a military commission instead. For the next two years he served as a general officer in the Confederate army, first under Braxton Bragg in the West and then as commander of the Trans-Alleghany department. Although untrained "he exhibited an ability to learn and develop, to profit from his mistakes" ( p. 384 ). By the time Bragg began the siege of Chattanooga, Breckinridge stood, in the opinion of the author, "as an all-round general...

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