the best is often incomplete and he has to be satisfied with a rough average rather than with his ideal. Lincoln, one of the few supreme statesmen of the last three centuries, was no exception to this rule. He was misunderstood and underrated in his lifetime, and even has hardly come to his own. For his place is among yet the great men of the earth. To them he belongs by right of his immense power of hard work, his unfaltering pursuit of what seemed to him right, and above all by that childlike directness and simplicity of vision which none but the greatest carry beyond their earliest years. It is fit that the first considered attempt by an Englishman to give a picture of Lincoln, the great hero of America's struggle for the noblest cause, should come at a time when we in England are passing through as fiery a trial. for a cause we feel to be as noble. It is a time when we may learn much from Lincoln's failures and success, from his patience, his modesty, his serene optimism and his eloquence, so simple and so magnificent. BASIL WILLIAMS. BISCOT CAMP, LUTON, March, 1916. nd he has to be satisfied an with his ideal. eme statesmen of the last on to this rule. He was in his lifetime, and even For his place is among To them he belongs by ard work, his unfaltering right, and above all by mplicity of vision which ond their earliest years. tempt by an Englishman great hero of America's should come at a time through as fiery a trial e. It is a time when we ilures and success, from rene optimism and his ificent. ASIL WILLIAMS. CONTENTS GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE. CHAP. I. BOYHOOD OF LINCOLN II. THE GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NATION 1. The Formation of a National Government 2. Territorial Expansion 3. The Growth of the Practice and Traditions of the Union Government . 4. The Missouri Compromise 5. Leaders, Parties, and Tendencies in Lincoln's Youth 1. Lincoln's Return to Public Life 2. The Principles and the Oratory of Lincoln 3. Lincoln against Douglas 4. John Brown 5. The Election of Lincoln as President PAGE iii I 116 116 122 137 150 . 155 77 90 90 96 IOI 109 ५ 1. The Case of the South against the Union 2. The Progress of Secession. A INDEX MAP. X. EMANCIPATION XI. THE APPROACH OF VICTORY. IX. THE DISASTERS OF THE NORTH 1. Military Policy of the North. 2. The War in the West up to May, 1862 VIII. THE OPENING OF THE WAR AND LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION 1. Preliminary Stages of the War . XII. THE END BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 3. Lincoln's Administration Generally 5. The Great Questions of Domestic Policy 1. The War to the End of 1863. 2. Conscription and the Politics of 1863 3. The War in 1864 4. The Second Election of Lincoln: 1864 PAGE 170 170 184 201 207 214 228 228 245 250 256 265 273 273 279 284 313 338 338 363 387 399 428 457 461 465 |
