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A gripping and granular look at how Abraham Lincoln got elected the 16th president of the United States.James McPherson calls the election of 1860 "undeniably the most important--and pivotal--in all of American history." The nation was not merely divided over the issue of slavery; the opposing camps were at each other's throats. The moment John Brown and his men attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in the fall of 1859
the compromises that had stitched the country together for decades unraveled. The presidential election was therefore about more than who the next president would be. It was about how soon war would follow his
inauguration. Using the writings and story of Murat Halstead, the nation's first campaign journalist, as well as previously unused documents from Lincoln's campaign manager, Jonathan Earle captures the full drama of the 1860 election. He shows how Lincoln, a one-time Congressman from Illinois, and a dark horse against the more established Stephen Douglas, the Democratic frontrunner, and William Henry Seward, the presumptive Republican nominee, got the people and votes he
needed to win in a protracted yet furiously disputed election cycle. Earle focuses on the chaotic campaigns themselves, as political bosses, candidates, and their self-appointed
partisans took politicking in directions that at times resembled paramilitary exercises more than campaign events. In the end, Lincoln and his associates ran a brilliant campaign, leveraging Northern anger, growing antislavery sentiment, and divisions within both the Democratic Party and the nation as a whole. His platform was built on his speeches, which projected a vision for how the nation would persevere in the coming crisis. Behind the commanding rhetoric, however, was sophisticated and
very modern political machinery. He Has the People provides an engaging historical narrative and a fresh appraisal of the most consequential of all presidential elections.
Contents
Dramatis Personae
Introduction: Contingency and the Canvass/The 19th Presidentiad
Chapter 1: Impending Crisis in the 36th Congress
Chapter 2: A Longshot Goes to Kansas, and New York
Chapter 3: Democrats in Disarray I: The Charleston Debacle
Chapter 4: Fossils and Mummies: The Constitutional Unionists
Chapter 5: Chicagoland: Republicans Choose a Nominee
Chapter 6: Democrats in Disarray II: Baltimore
Chapter 7: Wide Awakes, Chloroformers, and Bell-Ringers
Chapter 8: Men Work Best With Money in Hand: Contesting the 'Doubtful' States
Chapter 9: Election Day
Epilogue: The First 13th Amendment
Acknowledgments
Bibliographic Essay
Index
