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The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures
Redeeming the Great Emancipator (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures) by Allen C. Guelzo
The larger-than-life image Abraham Lincoln projects across the screen of American history owes much to his role as the Great Emancipator during the Civil War. Yet this noble aspect of Lincoln s identity is precisely the dimension that some historians have cast into doubt. In a vigorous defense of America s sixteenth president, " "award-winning historian and Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo refutes accusations of Lincoln s racism and political opportunism, while candidly probing the follies of contemporary cynicism and the constraints of today s unexamined faith in the liberating powers of individual autonomy."Redeeming the Great Emancipator" enumerates Lincoln s anti-slavery credentials, showing that a deeply held belief in the God-given rights of all people steeled the president in his commitment to emancipation and his hope for racial reconciliation. Emancipation did not achieve complete freedom for American slaves, nor was Lincoln entirely above some of the racial prejudices of his time. Nevertheless, his conscience and moral convictions far outweighed political calculations in ultimately securing freedom for black Americans.Guelzo clarifies the historical record concerning what the Emancipation Proclamation did and did not accomplish. As a policy it was imperfect, but it was far from ineffectual, as some accounts of African American self-emancipation imply. To achieve liberation required interdependence across barriers of race and status. If we fail to recognize our debt to the sacrifices and ingenuity of all the brave men and women of the past, Guelzo says, then we deny a precious part of the American and, indeed, the human community."
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First published February 12, 2016
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About the author
Allen C. Guelzo
57 books270 followersAllen Carl Guelzo (born 1953) is the Henry R. Luce III Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, where he serves as Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 9, 2020
Lincoln In A World Come Of Age
Named after a famous African American historian and Harvard professor, the Nathan Huggins lectures bring distinguished scholars to Harvard to deliver a series of three lectures on topics related to African American history. Allen Guelzo's book, "Redeeming the Great Emancipator" (2016) is based on the Huggins Lectures he delivered in 2012 under the title "Abraham Lincoln in 1862: Year of Jubilee". Guelzo, the Henry Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, has written widely on the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln, the Reconstruction Era, and American Religion.
In his Huggins Lectures, Guelzo examines changing views over the years about Lincoln and about the Emancipation Proclamation. The book crosses narrow disciplinary lines and is a work of theology and philosophy as much as history.
Guelzo argues eloquently that Lincoln's reputation as the Great Emancipator has been unfairly diminished particularly during the middle to latter part of the 20th Century. Guelzo finds many reasons for this. Some of these reasons are historical as Guelzo examines how and why the goals of Emancipation largely failed after the Civil War. But the primary reason for deflationary views of Lincoln lies in what Guelzo terms a "world come of age". A world come of age, for Guelzo, looks for simplicity on matters of historical complexity. It is skeptical of explanations and of human motivations and of efforts to rise to heroic stature, preferring a policy of grievance. As Guelzo writes about one version of a coming of age view of Lincoln:
"Coming of age does not necessarily mean maturity; there is a faux-maturation which comes of age in the loosening of trust, the reduction of causality to nothing-but, the confusion of nobility with perfection, the obliteration of American exceptionalism and its replacement with American deceptionaiism."
Guelzo both develops and rejects the coming of age view of Lincoln with an ultimate focus on Lincoln's religious, transcendent vision. In the first chapter "The Unwanting of Abraham Lincoln" Guelzo develops of range of views held on Lincoln during his life and following his assassination ranging from the heroic to the critical. The latter views criticized Lincoln's efforts to free the slaves and to grant rights to the former slaves. As time passed, Lincoln would be criticized as more interested in saving the Union for whites than in freeing the slaves. Lincoln was criticized as a racist and as a politician who did little to advance the cause of African Americans.
The second chapter of the book "The Antislavery World of Abraham Lincoln" has two parts. In the first part, Guelzo examines Lincoln's attitudes towards slavery and towards African Americans. Although brief, Guelzo's account is measured. He finds strong indications in speeches throughout his life that Lincoln had the prejudices against African Americans that were common in the America of his day. Guelzo finds as well that Lincoln hated slavery, always spoke against it, and worked indefatigably within the constraints of his position to abolish it. Lincoln took as his primary source the Declaration of Independence with is "self-evident" truth that "all men are created equal" with inalienable rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ." The Emancipation Proclamation was based on Lincoln's belief that these rights were common to all and were violated by holding human beings in slavery. Guelzo finds that the quest for simplicity rather than complexity in studying Lincoln's views on Emancipation overlooks the nature of his accomplishment, and he gives as an illustration a lengthy discussion of the current movement for reparations for slavery, either through legislation or through the courts. The discussion is excellent in itself but possibly somewhat off-topic. Guelzo ties the discussion in with his subject by showing the great sacrifice in blood and treasure made to bring the Civil War to a successful conclusion and how the determination to stay the course might have eluded lesser men than Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural Address, as Guelzo points out, Lincoln spoke unforgettably about the sacrifices occasioned by the war through the judgment of Providence.
In his final chapter, "Lincoln's God and Emancipation", Guelzo examines the difficult question of Lincoln's religious convictions. Lincoln never joined a church and was not a believer in any religious denomination. Still, Guelzo finds, that Lincoln as a strong belief in providence, in a Creator, and in a natural law separate from the enactments of human governments. Lincoln said, and Guelzo accepts his explanation, that at the time of the Proclamation he had made a promise to God to end slavery and its evils and offenses against divine law. Guelzo finds that Lincoln's reliance on Transcendence is difficult to accept for a world come of age as both the political left and right search for alternative explanations for Lincoln's heroic action. As Guelzo passionately writes:
"For in a world come of age, a world which has become conscious of itself and grown self-confident to the point where we may all get along perfectly well in all questions of importance without fathers and mothers, without communities, without people whom we do not like or do not wish to acknowledge, we balk at the notion that we owe anything to others, or that would become as little children."
In the Preface to the book, Guelzo writes: "Lincoln is a piece of African American history as much as Civil War history; and the fate of African Americans is tied to the fate of all other Americans. .... For ultimately we are indeed all in this together." In these Nathan Huggins lectures, Guelzo works historically and philosophically to restore Lincoln as the Great Emancipator from the vicissitudes of a world come of age. In his melding of history, philosophy and religion and in his transcendent vision. Guelzo, as does Lincoln, has much to teach.
Robin Friedman
Named after a famous African American historian and Harvard professor, the Nathan Huggins lectures bring distinguished scholars to Harvard to deliver a series of three lectures on topics related to African American history. Allen Guelzo's book, "Redeeming the Great Emancipator" (2016) is based on the Huggins Lectures he delivered in 2012 under the title "Abraham Lincoln in 1862: Year of Jubilee". Guelzo, the Henry Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, has written widely on the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln, the Reconstruction Era, and American Religion.
In his Huggins Lectures, Guelzo examines changing views over the years about Lincoln and about the Emancipation Proclamation. The book crosses narrow disciplinary lines and is a work of theology and philosophy as much as history.
Guelzo argues eloquently that Lincoln's reputation as the Great Emancipator has been unfairly diminished particularly during the middle to latter part of the 20th Century. Guelzo finds many reasons for this. Some of these reasons are historical as Guelzo examines how and why the goals of Emancipation largely failed after the Civil War. But the primary reason for deflationary views of Lincoln lies in what Guelzo terms a "world come of age". A world come of age, for Guelzo, looks for simplicity on matters of historical complexity. It is skeptical of explanations and of human motivations and of efforts to rise to heroic stature, preferring a policy of grievance. As Guelzo writes about one version of a coming of age view of Lincoln:
"Coming of age does not necessarily mean maturity; there is a faux-maturation which comes of age in the loosening of trust, the reduction of causality to nothing-but, the confusion of nobility with perfection, the obliteration of American exceptionalism and its replacement with American deceptionaiism."
Guelzo both develops and rejects the coming of age view of Lincoln with an ultimate focus on Lincoln's religious, transcendent vision. In the first chapter "The Unwanting of Abraham Lincoln" Guelzo develops of range of views held on Lincoln during his life and following his assassination ranging from the heroic to the critical. The latter views criticized Lincoln's efforts to free the slaves and to grant rights to the former slaves. As time passed, Lincoln would be criticized as more interested in saving the Union for whites than in freeing the slaves. Lincoln was criticized as a racist and as a politician who did little to advance the cause of African Americans.
The second chapter of the book "The Antislavery World of Abraham Lincoln" has two parts. In the first part, Guelzo examines Lincoln's attitudes towards slavery and towards African Americans. Although brief, Guelzo's account is measured. He finds strong indications in speeches throughout his life that Lincoln had the prejudices against African Americans that were common in the America of his day. Guelzo finds as well that Lincoln hated slavery, always spoke against it, and worked indefatigably within the constraints of his position to abolish it. Lincoln took as his primary source the Declaration of Independence with is "self-evident" truth that "all men are created equal" with inalienable rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ." The Emancipation Proclamation was based on Lincoln's belief that these rights were common to all and were violated by holding human beings in slavery. Guelzo finds that the quest for simplicity rather than complexity in studying Lincoln's views on Emancipation overlooks the nature of his accomplishment, and he gives as an illustration a lengthy discussion of the current movement for reparations for slavery, either through legislation or through the courts. The discussion is excellent in itself but possibly somewhat off-topic. Guelzo ties the discussion in with his subject by showing the great sacrifice in blood and treasure made to bring the Civil War to a successful conclusion and how the determination to stay the course might have eluded lesser men than Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural Address, as Guelzo points out, Lincoln spoke unforgettably about the sacrifices occasioned by the war through the judgment of Providence.
In his final chapter, "Lincoln's God and Emancipation", Guelzo examines the difficult question of Lincoln's religious convictions. Lincoln never joined a church and was not a believer in any religious denomination. Still, Guelzo finds, that Lincoln as a strong belief in providence, in a Creator, and in a natural law separate from the enactments of human governments. Lincoln said, and Guelzo accepts his explanation, that at the time of the Proclamation he had made a promise to God to end slavery and its evils and offenses against divine law. Guelzo finds that Lincoln's reliance on Transcendence is difficult to accept for a world come of age as both the political left and right search for alternative explanations for Lincoln's heroic action. As Guelzo passionately writes:
"For in a world come of age, a world which has become conscious of itself and grown self-confident to the point where we may all get along perfectly well in all questions of importance without fathers and mothers, without communities, without people whom we do not like or do not wish to acknowledge, we balk at the notion that we owe anything to others, or that would become as little children."
In the Preface to the book, Guelzo writes: "Lincoln is a piece of African American history as much as Civil War history; and the fate of African Americans is tied to the fate of all other Americans. .... For ultimately we are indeed all in this together." In these Nathan Huggins lectures, Guelzo works historically and philosophically to restore Lincoln as the Great Emancipator from the vicissitudes of a world come of age. In his melding of history, philosophy and religion and in his transcendent vision. Guelzo, as does Lincoln, has much to teach.
Robin Friedman
April 8, 2016
“Redeeming the Great Emancipator,” by Allen C. Guelzo (Harvard, 2016). This is a set of three lectures Guelzo gave at Harvard, the 2012 Nathan I. Huggins Lectures sponsored by the W. E. B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research. I read them as an outsider to a fierce, polite debate about who Abraham Lincoln really was: an emancipator, a racist, a hypocrite, someone who did not really accomplish very much, or in fact one of the great figures of American history. They are called: “The Unwanting of Abraham Lincoln,” “The Antislavery World of Abraham Lincoln,” “Lincoln’s God and Emancipation.” They are responses to modern scholarship which diminishes Lincoln’s importance, to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ argument and others demanding reparations to black Americans for slavery, and scholarship which tries to show that the Emancipation Proclamation was no big deal. Much of what Guelzo was saying went over my head: it was like listening to one side of a very sophisticated debate. His writing drips with irony and sarcasm, attacking contemporary thinking that we have reached a sort of end of history---damn, I can’t really explain it. But he is very unhappy with the current state of scholarship which denigrates Lincoln and what he accomplished. Lincoln, he says, was in fact a foe of slavery all his life, not just when it was politically expedient. The Emancipation Proclamation was in fact a historic moment and a great accomplishment, and the slaves would not have been freed except for Lincoln. As for reparations: who would get them, since African Americans by now have at least 25% European ancestry? How could you determine how much they would be? Where would they come from? And why, anyway? I know this is a very skimpy, uncomprehending report, but brief as it was this little book requires me to read it again.
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.ph...
April 19, 2021
This book wasn't quite what I was expecting. Even though it is short, it is not a concise defense of Abraham Lincoln and his stances on slavery, and his reasonings for the Emancipation Proclamation. Guelzo, instead, gets lost sometimes in roundabout arguments over issues of race past and present. The last chapter is by far the most succinct as an explanation and defense of Lincoln's motives in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, but as a whole, the book is hampered by those distracting side trips away from Lincoln.
May 28, 2025
A published lecture, it reads like a great speech. And it is a great speech.
Wanting to improve my own public speaking, I read much of this book out loud to improve my sight reading and pronunciation.
I thoroughly enjoyed it for content and the exercise.
Wanting to improve my own public speaking, I read much of this book out loud to improve my sight reading and pronunciation.
I thoroughly enjoyed it for content and the exercise.
October 16, 2016
An eloquent, academic, and even-handed deliberation on Lincoln's role in the Civil War. Every page offered up valuable insights. The third-to-last page, referring to Lincoln's steadfast and strategic perusal of right, reminded me of what President Obama has endured: "Those who 'are devoutly praying that President Lincoln may have faith to move mountains' were reminded by Lois Bryan Adams of 'the little hills that beset and block up his way to the mountains' or of 'the miserable dripping, drizzling rains that pelt and blind and chill his every step he takes.' That is the backdrop which our overfamiliarity with the fact of emancipation causes us to miss."
April 16, 2017
I picked up this short book because I was familiar with Dr. Guelzo as one of the professors who teaches classes offered by The Great Courses (check them out - great classes!) This book is a gem. Dr. Guelzo does an excellent job of resituating Lincoln in his own time, (partially through the inclusion of many contemporary quotes) and successfully arguing the case that, contrary to what is often alleged today, Lincoln did indeed wish to free the slaves, and did free the slaves intentionally and with a deep belief in the rightness of that action, rather than (he argues against the idea of) it being merely a means to another more important end - winning the war, a war whose purpose was solely to save the union rather than to end slavery. Dr, Guelzo demonstrates, for example, the widely accepted belief at the time that the war was about slavery, and that the North fought to end slavery. This book is an important corrective to those who dismiss Lincoln as bigoted and not serious about helping slaves.
Another value of the book for me was its demonstration of the way we interpret and reshape history over time. We (or at least I, often) imagine history to be settled, factual, but in fact we are always interpreting and reinterpreting it, choosing our facts, directing our attention to some things over others, and coloring it all by our own prejudices, our own picture of the world and what it all means.
Another value of the book for me was its demonstration of the way we interpret and reshape history over time. We (or at least I, often) imagine history to be settled, factual, but in fact we are always interpreting and reinterpreting it, choosing our facts, directing our attention to some things over others, and coloring it all by our own prejudices, our own picture of the world and what it all means.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews