More Lincoln Books: Contributions or Merely Additions?

Both of these books pass the justification litmus test, "why another book on Lincoln?" Ronald White's A. Lincoln: A Biography is readable, thorough, and thoughtful. In Lincoln and His Admirals, Symonds has made a particularly useful contribution to Lincoln literature; in fact, his book is outstanding.

The standard by which all Lincoln biographies should be evaluated is David Donald's 1995 Lincoln, beautifully written, insightful, and wonderfully researched.¹ By that standard, the White biography is excellent but not good enough to dethrone Donald's biography as the best ever. In several instances, White provides more detail than Donald. Like Donald, he writes well. In analysis and interpretation of Lincoln, he is not as strong as Donald, but his additional personal material makes Lincoln more human. Producing a volume almost eighty pages longer than Donald's, White provides over eighty pages of notes and sources. Unlike Donald, who intentionally did not consult other Lincoln biographies, White clearly consulted Donald's work.

In a particularly insightful way, White describes Lincoln's development into a mature man, a successful politician and superior lawyer. He handles Lincoln's religious development particularly well. An early freethinker, Lincoln never joined a church but became increasingly religious. Even as a young man he appeared to be uninterested in joining the fundamentalist Baptist group of his parents, but he was certainly influenced by the Calvinistic determinism of his parents' faith. Later, when he became acquainted with well-educated and intellectual pastors, his interest in metaphysical matters grew and matured. In the same evolutionary way that his political and personal strengths developed, his religious views became stronger, partly because of his intellectual development and partly in response to the despair and anguish he experienced from the 1862 death of his son Willie and the hundreds of thousands of war casualties.

As a 23-year-old in New Salem, Lincoln embarked upon a political path. With no money or accomplishments, he ran a respectable but losing race for the Illinois legislature. Two years later he ran and won. Three more terms followed. He could have remained in the state legislature indefinitely—he was that popular and effective—but he had ambitions for higher office. Elected to Congress in 1846, he drew the most attention for his "Spot Resolutions" condemning the war with Mexico. His strong statements against the Mexican War hurt him badly in Illinois, even among his Whig friends. He did not seek re-election.

Lincoln went back to work as a lawyer and, by 1854, had become the most successful lawyer in the region. He handled a large volume of cases, spending months each year on the circuit. White claims that the time after leaving Congress was also one of reading and introspection. He writes: "Lincoln's reading offered him the opportunity to go deeper into his own spirit and broader into the land of imagination" (p. 168). The author attaches significance to the introspection because it helped "forge his moral character" as he "attempted to clarify his ethical identity even as he prepared to speak with new clarity about the moral issues facing the nation" (p. 195).

White is right to credit the 1854 passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with its potential for the extension of slavery into the Western states, for Lincoln's return to active politics. While never entirely out of politics, he now leaped in with a vengeance. His fame grew with his House-Divided speech, his debates against Stephen A. Douglas, and his highly acclaimed Cooper Union speech.

After his election as president, Lincoln was immediately confronted with the secession crisis. White examines the troubling fact that, in the four months between his election and the inauguration, with the Union disintegrating, Lincoln did almost nothing to prepare for the possibility of war. While Lincoln might be forgiven for refraining...