Jefferson, Lincoln, and the Unfinished Work of the Nation by Ronald L. Hatzenbuehler (review)

Ronald L. Hatzenbuehler offers a comparison of the political thought of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. In six chapters, he examines how Jefferson's and Lincoln's ideas developed about slavery, political parties, states' rights, religion and the state, executive power, and political economy. As anyone who takes up comparative history must do, Hatzenbuehler offers three justifications for the subjects of this particular comparison: first, that Lincoln himself "drew direct parallels" between his crisis and the Founding; second, that both Lincoln and Jefferson believed that the project of nation making was an unfinished work at the time of the end of their careers; and finally, that the ideas both wrestled with are still essential to the republic (p. 2).

Every chapter offers a general survey of both politicians' views on each topic. Scholars will find little new in these discussions. For example, Jefferson's views on antislavery thought were "conventional rather than exceptional" because he had doubts about equality, but Lincoln, in contrast, thought economic advancement should be available to everyone (p. 29). Jefferson's religious beliefs were an important issue to the public during his election to the presidency, but Lincoln's were not—until the experiences of a horrific war reinforced his beliefs that God's will was unknowable to mankind. Jefferson feared a strengthening of the central government's power; Lincoln, of course, did not. Jefferson hated political parties; Lincoln was a solid party man early on but then cooled toward partisan politics. The examples the author provides in each instance are nicely summarized but will be familiar to scholars of Jefferson and Lincoln.

Still, what Hatzenbuehler reminds us, as we may be heading into a period of crisis in many of these areas, is how both men took measure of all these issues. They mattered to both. I imagine with great anticipation a general reader picking up a copy of this book at the Jefferson or Lincoln Memorial gift shops and seeing how those men wrestled with and considered each problem, took it seriously, consulted the examples of the past, and formulated their opinions around what they believed was in the best interests of the republic as a whole. Some cases, such as the development of Jefferson's thoughts about racial inequality, might not have been a path that we may honor in hindsight, but it was one with the markings of reflection and consideration nevertheless. That reader will profit from Hatzenbuehler's survey of how each leader dealt with these important topics, all of which are vital discussions at the present moment.