Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration

by Harold Holzer

From acclaimed Abraham Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, a groundbreaking account of Lincoln’s grappling with the politics of immigration against the backdrop of the Civil War.

In the three decades before the Civil War, some ten million foreign-born people settled in the United States, forever altering the nation’s demographics, culture, and—perhaps most significantly—voting patterns. America’s newest residents fueled the national economy, but they also wrought enormous changes in the political landscape and exposed an ugly, at times violent, vein of nativist bigotry.

Abraham Lincoln’s rise ran parallel to this turmoil; even Lincoln himself did not always rise above it. Tensions over immigration would split and ultimately destroy Lincoln’s Whig Party years before the Civil War. Yet the war made clear just how important immigrants were, and how interwoven they had become in American society.

Harold Holzer, winner of the Lincoln Prize, charts Lincoln’s political career through the lens of immigration, from his role as a member of an increasingly nativist political party to his evolution into an immigration champion, a progression that would come at the same time as he refined his views on abolition and Black citizenship. As Holzer writes, “The Civil War could not have been won without Lincoln’s leadership; but it could not have been fought without the immigrant soldiers who served and, by the tens of thousands, died that the ‘nation might live.’” An utterly captivating and illuminating work, Brought Forth on This Continent assesses Lincoln's life and legacy in a wholly original way, unveiling remarkable similarities between the nineteenth century and the twenty-first.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, American History, Biography, Presidents, Politics

463 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 2024

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re an author who specializes in Abraham Lincoln, what are you going to do, write a couple of books and rest on your laurels? Hardly. More likely, you’re going to look for new angles on which to base new Lincoln books.

So I can’t fault Harold Holzer for doing what Lincoln authors do, in thinking up a new angle, by capitalizing on a current hot-button issue for a new Lincoln book. But while it’s well-written and engaging, as all the Holzer books I’ve read have been, Lincoln’s views on immigration policy prove to be too thin a thread on which to hang an entire book.

The narrative here is bookended by Lincoln's 1863 annual message to Congress, in which he devoted a few sentences to encouraging immigration and ensuring that existing immigrants seeking citizenship accepted the associated responsibilities along with the privileges. This was notable, Holzer points out, because it marked "the first federal effort to stimulate foreign settlement in America since the repeal of the Sedition Act at the dawn of the century," and came more than a century before the next major legislative immigration overhaul.

But aside from a line in a pre-inaugural speech, in which Lincoln said of immigrants that he did not desire "to prevent them from coming to the United States," this appears to be about all that he had to say about the issue. So between the bookends that introduce and more fully explore the message to Congress, the rest of the book is more about Lincoln and immigrants than it is about Lincoln and immigration, which are really two different things.

Four broad themes make up this middle portion of the book - Lincoln’s opposition to nativism and Know-Nothingism; his courting of political support from immigrant groups, particularly German-Americans; German and Irish immigrants’ role in fighting for the Union in the Civil War; and finally, random, coincidental or inconsequential encounters Lincoln happened to have with various immigrants in his daily life.

More on that last theme in a bit. But the first theme, of Lincoln’s opposition to nativism, is told somewhat in the context of his opposition to slavery. "How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people?" he once wrote to his friend Joshua Speed. That said, he seemed to limit his concern to white immigrants, while also telling ethnic jokes with as much enthusiasm as he told racist jokes, so his devotion to tolerance only went so far.

This transitions into the second theme, as Lincoln and his Whig party wavered between repudiating and welcoming support from anti-immigrant nativists. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act destroyed the Whig party and gave rise to the Republican party, Lincoln and other Republicans had to build a new coalition among nativist Know-Nothings and the very immigrants they opposed, if those immigrants and anti-immigrants happened to also be opposed to slavery.

Up to this point, this is all interesting enough, though it speaks more to Lincoln’s support for existing immigrants than it does to his support for immigration itself.

By the time we get to the third theme, it starts to feel like it belongs in a different book about immigrants and the Civil War, since this has more to do with them than with Lincoln. Yes, it is interesting that ¼ of all Union soldiers were immigrants, and ⅓ of those were native Germans. But the chapters on this theme often read like a simple roster of foreign-born soldiers - there was this one, and also this one, and here’s another one - without fitting into the stated theme of Lincoln and immigration.

The fourth “theme,” if you can call it that, is where the book feels padded and stretched. In essentially telling Lincoln’s life story through the lens of immigrants and immigration, Holzer sometimes strains to keep the immigration motif going - at one point, he describes how Lincoln himself "emigrated from his father's log cabin" to New Salem, and later "made plans of his own to emigrate… from Springfield to Washington."

Also, did you know that Lincoln employed Irish servants in his Springfield home, was aided by the German-born John Nicolay, and was later served by Irish White House staff in Washington? He was also warned of the Baltimore assassination plot, instigated in part by a Corsican immigrant, by the Scottish-born detective Allan Pinkerton, while he was in Philadelphia, the site of anti-Irish riots in 1844. So Lincoln reportedly disguised himself by wearing a "Scotch cap", guarded by a Pinkerton detective from Erin, New York, a town founded by Irish immigrants.

Oh, but there’s more. The Lincoln assassination is told by noting that one of the Booth conspirators was "Prussian-born," the Petersen House where Lincoln was taken after the shooting was "owned by a German-born immigrant tailor," and among the doctors who tended to him was "a Jewish ophthalmologist born in Russia."

It becomes unclear in these stories what, if anything, Holzer is trying to say exactly, other than just pointing out coincidences that happen to involve immigrants, but have nothing to do with Lincoln’s feelings about immigrants or positions on immigration. It just reads like a litany of trivia, of all the instances where Lincoln happened to cross paths with people who were natives of other countries. It becomes kind of silly and distracts from the story, but also exposes the fact that there just might not be enough story to tell without them.

The first portion of the last chapter finally digs into the details surrounding Lincoln’s call for encouraging immigration in his 1863 message, and the ensuing debates about whether government financing of immigrants' journeys would attract “undesirables,” the suspicions overseas that it was all part of a plot to lure immigrants to America only to enlist them into the armed forces, and the cynicism that immigrants were being brought in as "replacements" for laborers who were killed in the war. This is the basis for the whole book, but there’s not much there that couldn’t have been thoroughly covered in an article without most of what preceded it.

Holzer ends with the soaring conclusion that Lincoln’s rejection of nativism and destruction of slavery "had helped preserve the Union and set the country on a path to an expanded citizenry with expanded rights." This is followed by a weak attempt to connect progress on race with progress on immigration from then to now, by linking Lincoln and Obama (I won’t spoil the ending by quoting the clumsy concluding sentence), which is then followed by a tacked-on epilogue on “whatever happened to” everyone else mentioned in the book.

So aside from the silly coincidental stories, the various immigrant-related themes explored in the book are fine on their own, but they don’t fully come together. The importance of Lincoln supporting increased immigration seems a good starting point, but the facts that Lincoln happened to know a lot of immigrants, courted their support politically, and benefited from their service in the Civil War, don’t support the main thesis so much as they are merely adjacent to it. There’s no evidence cited that any of these adjacent facts informed his decision to call for increased immigration, or that his call for increased immigration helped him politically in any way. Nor is there an attempt made to do what would seem obvious in a book about an issue that’s as relevant now as then, by examining “what we can learn from Lincoln’s immigration policy as we grapple with that very issue today.”

While some often ask “do we really need another book about Lincoln?” I tend to be on the side of “there can never be too many books about Lincoln.” But this may simply have been too narrow a topic to warrant one more.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Dutton for the advance copy of this book, ahead of its February 13th release.

[Stan Prager · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read an opinion piece in a leading New York newspaper that attributed the calamitous presidential election loss of one party’s nominee to the sinister tactics of the opposing party, which had enlisted vast numbers of the foreign born—many with strange customs and an alien faith—into voting for their candidate. This was primarily achieved, the author asserted, by willfully spreading misinformation and fanning the flames of fear among foreigners to “vote in a body for the side they are told is the Democratic, no matter what it proposes to do or leave undone.” Moreover, it was alleged, there was a suspicion of widespread fraud by noncitizens casting votes illegally that may have tipped the balance.
No, this editorial is not hot off of any press in 2024, but instead saw publication late in 1844! And the author is a no pundit on the right venting in an op-ed, but rather the esteemed Horace Greeley, a reformist who was then-editor of the Whig-friendly New-York Daily Tribune. That Greeley’s grievances strike such familiar chords one hundred eighty years later is illustrative of an unsettling but familiar constant in American history: a nation comprised almost entirely of immigrants has with some consistency frequently demonstrated a hostility towards the next generation of immigrants. This odd streak of nativism dates back to the very dawn of the Republic with the “Alien and Sedition Acts” of 1798, enacted only ten years after the Constitution was ratified and championed by none other than Alexander Hamilton, who himself was born in the West Indies! And long after Greeley was gone, Woodrow Wilson warned in 1903 that “there came multitudes of men of the lowest class . . . as if the countries of the south of Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of their population.” As recently as 1960, Rev. Norman Vincent Peale assailed the candidacy of John F. Kennedy in apocalyptic terms: "Faced with the election of a Catholic, our culture is at stake." In this context, the uncomfortable truth is that when Donald Trump branded Mexicans “rapists” and called for a Muslim ban, he was operating within a reluctantly acknowledged time-honored American tradition, even if he voiced it in a tone more vulgar than customary.
But never in our history did nativism—and the forces aligned against it—have as much outsize consequence for American politics and policy as it did in the antebellum and the Civil War era, as becomes abundantly clear in the splendid new book by acclaimed Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration [2024]. In these pages Holzer, author of more than fifty books and winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize, takes a fresh look at the critical if too often overlooked significance of the Native American “Know-Nothing” Party in antebellum politics as the Whigs came apart and the new Republican Party was born. At the same time, he widens the lens on the familiar “benefit vs. burden” debate over immigration to establish with some conviction that in this particular moment in history immigrant minorities proved not only key cohorts of electoral contests but, upon the onset of secession and war, surprisingly essential to our national survival.
First, Holzer takes us back to a time when the most despised immigrant population was the Irish: desperately poor, largely illiterate, and Roman Catholic—a faith that was an anathema to Protestant America. Their numbers increased exponentially after 1844 with the devastating potato famine that claimed a million dead to starvation and sent millions more fleeing the country. They were largely unwelcome in America, even as their addition to the labor force boosted American business. There was the typical charge against the Irish of putting the native born out of work, but like most immigrants then and now, they flocked to low-paid menial jobs most Americans did not want, and because of an overheated demand, their presence actually generated a degree of upward mobility for those already employed, particularly in places like Boston brutally focused upon wage labor in factories and mills. But, then and now, the perceived threat was all that really mattered.
Politically, that perceived threat spawned an unlikely coalition of the disaffected, including many former Whigs, to form secret societies to resist the influx of immigrants that quickly evolved into the Native American Party, popularly dubbed the “Know-Nothings,” which briefly but mightily shook up the established political order. That the Whigs as a national party eventually imploded over the issue of slavery overlooks nuance in other factors such as the Know-Nothings, which contributed to their slow unraveling. At the same time, the Know-Nothings’ advertised hostility to the Irish sent them into the welcoming arms of the Democratic Party, which happily targeted them as a dependable long-term voting bloc. This was the conundrum Greeley, a steadfast Whig, opined about in the Tribune.
Today’s charged allegations of immigrant votes swaying elections are largely imaginative talking-points broadcast to inflame hyperpartisanship, but in Greeley’s day such anxieties were well-founded. The reality in our times—with so much vitriol directed at millions of the undocumented—is that in order to cast a ballot, an immigrant must first establish legal residence (no small hurdle for those who lack legal status), then wait five years before applying for citizenship and earning the right to vote. But back then, no one could be branded as “illegal”—such a concept did not even exist until the shameful 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act—so five years after stepping off the boat, regardless of national origin, virtually anyone could request and be granted citizenship, and along with it any male of a certain age could obtain voting rights. The push-pull factor of the Know-Nothings’ blatant enmity and the deliberate embrace of the Democrats rattled Whig confidence to no end.
The other significant foreign born demographic was German, Protestant and Catholic, many whom had fled Europe after the failed liberal revolutions of 1848. While wary of Whigs who sometimes danced in the same circles as Know-Nothings, their antislavery principles could not abide a close coupling with Democrats closely allied with southern slave power interests. Germans, for a variety of factors, also seemed to assimilate more rapidly, and their votes remained valuable if up for grabs. All of this occurred against a dramatic backdrop that saw national unity crumbling, Whiggery gradually going extinct, and the creation of the Republican Party.
Enter Lincoln, a longtime Whig unfriendly to nativism, who was also a brilliant politician capable of sensing and seizing opportunities. Armed with reliable antislavery credentials but well-distanced from the radicalism attached to abolitionists, Lincoln privately denounced the Know-Nothings while publicly withholding judgment, and championed “free soil” opportunities in the territories equally attractive to the native and the foreign born. Shrewdly navigating a precarious center that found competing as well as conflicting interests to his left and right, Lincoln recruited all-comers, reconciling nearly all save those that would countenance the further spread of slavery. In the end, Lincoln managed to find wide support among immigrants, especially the Germans, without alienating former Know-Nothings, a notable achievement too often overlooked in the literature. But none of it was by accident: leaders of the German-American community that Lincoln courted worked tirelessly to drive voters to the polls. The breadth of Holzer’s scholarship and his expert analysis are perhaps best showcased in this portion of the narrative as he explores how the subtleties of Lincoln’s character, coupled with his strategic instincts, reinforced his political acumen.
With secession and Civil War, of course, the focus shifted from ballots to bullets, and here immigrants—citizens and non-citizens alike—proved vital to the struggle. The foreign born filled the ranks. With their adopted nation under threat, the Irish, who had voted for Lincoln in far smaller numbers than their German counterparts, nevertheless sent more than 150,000 men to the front. Still, the largest ethnicity belonged to the Germans, who contributed well over 200,000 soldiers—about ten percent of the fighting force! But the new president also put his thumb on the scale: in the scramble for political appointments Lincoln astutely rewarded those with the most clout, including German-Americans who campaigned for him. And this type of favor was even more pronounced as new generals were commissioned, most famously with Franz Sigel, whose ability to inspire enthusiasm in the ranks vastly exceeded his talents on the battlefield. Sadly, he was not alone. In fact, the ineptitude of many of Lincoln’s political generals—both native and foreign born—plagued him throughout the conflict, but yet remained essential to recruitment efforts as the war dragged on.
Immigration was crucial elsewhere, as well. From the time the first shots were fired, the Confederacy was able to field a larger percentage of men with muskets than the United States because they could rely on the enslaved as a massive labor force, both at home and at the front; we now know that thousands of “camp slaves” accompanied rebel armies for the duration of the war. The north had no such luxury. So in addition to their service in uniform, the Union counted on immigrants behind the lines for production of materiel as well as to take the places of those at the front in factories, mills, and beyond. At the same time, acts fostering internal improvements, long blocked by the south, were now making their way through Congress. Lincoln, a man of vision whose prescience often far exceeded that of any of his contemporaries, recognized the urgency in expanding the population to meet accelerating demands for labor, just as the nation confronted an existential threat of extinction. Of course, with no end to the war in sight, more soldiers would be needed too. Thus Lincoln became the first president to sponsor and sign legislation that encouraged immigration.
Many nationalities other than Irish and German deserve their due, and the author touches upon them, but he rightly focuses his attention on the most consequential groups. Yet, he does carve out space to discuss Jews in America, a minority both within and outside of the immigrant community, whom Lincoln generally treated with favor, for personal as well as political reasons. While Lincoln was sometimes given to the telling of ethnic jokes, as Holzer recounts, he genuinely seems to have lacked many—if certainly not all—of the prejudices common to his time.
If I was to find fault, I thought there were far too many pages devoted to chronicling the series of German-American generals who consistently let Lincoln down on the battlefield, the only drag to an otherwise fast-moving narrative. At the same time, I craved a deeper dive into what drove fierce German antislavery sentiments to begin with, something that made them natural allies to the Republican cause. But these are, I suppose, just quibbles. It is, after all, a fine work, and it more than earns a place on your Civil War bookcase.
I came to this book in an unusual fashion. I unexpectedly ran into Harold Holzer in the lobby of an eighteenth century inn in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. We had met before, at the Civil War Institute Summer Conference at Gettysburg College, and at other events. I was on my way to see blues guitarist-vocalist extraordinaire Samantha Fish in Great Barrington; Harold was returning from a presentation of this very book at a local library. We exchanged pleasantries and moved on. The next day, my wife and I stopped in at bookstore in a nearby town and I asked about Holzer’s book. The owner of the bookstore suddenly became quite animated. Did I know Harold, he wanted to know … While I chatted with him, I pretended not to notice my wife surreptitiously purchasing Brought Forth on This Continent, which two weeks later showed up in my Easter Basket. (Yes, we still do Easter Baskets in my house!)
I was most grateful to receive this book because antebellum nativism falls into my zone of interest. Some years ago, I even published a journal article about the weird confluence of events that in 1855 had the Massachusetts legislature controlled by Know-Nothings pass the very first bill mandating school desegregation in American history! I have also spent decades studying Lincoln and the Civil War, so Holzer’s book checked all the boxes. As it turned out, I was not disappointed. This is an outstanding work that succeeds not only in recapturing critical moments in American history, but in restoring the relevance of immigration to the survival and success of the Republic. Given the dynamics of this election year, that comes perhaps not a moment too soon.



Link to Greeley, cited above: New-York Daily Tribune, November 11, 1844

Link to my journal article: Strange Bedfellows: Nativism, Know-Nothings, African-Americans and School Desegregation in Antebellum Massachusetts, by Stan Prager

More on the Know-Nothings: Review of: The Know-Nothing Party in Massachusetts: The Rise and Fall of a People’s Movement, by John R. Mulkern

More on CWI: Civil War Institute at Gettysburg Summer Conference 2024 – Regarp Book Blog


Review of: Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, by Harold Holzer – Regarp Book Blog https://regarp.com/2024/05/16/review-...

[Annie B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bulk of a book. I think it would take me 2.5, maybe 3 read throughs to fully absorb some of the details. Could also be because I listened to this one on audiobook. What I did understand was so interesting (and I'm sure I probably learned some of this already in AP US History, oops).

A good chunk of the first part of the book covered Lincoln's early political years navigating the Whig Party and all of the drama that that involved. What I found particularly fascinating was the long and devoted history of Irish-American involvement with the Democratic Party, which I probably learned in AP US History. Also, the taint of "nativist" and "anti-Catholic" sentiments among Whig party members, leading to the "Know Nothing" movement and party (again, probably already knew this). Abe Lincoln denied involvement in the Know Nothing movement, and was staunchly pro-immigrant. However, Lincoln was somewhat of a comedian and had a bit of a penchant for poking fun at immigrant communities, especially the Irish. However he was never aligned with this part of the party and obviously eventually became the de facto figurehead of the Grand Old Party.

Completely forgot, or maybe never knew, that the Illinois State Legislature voted to elect their U.S. Senator, which is how Stephen A. Douglas won his seat in 1847. Would like to know how many states did this, or was it just Illinois? How times have changed!

Ulysses S Grant General Order 11!! Just that - wow!! I can't believe this happened. It was a controversial Union Army order that has been described as what is essentially an American pogrom, expelling all Jewish people from Grant's district in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. Ultimately, Grant was trying to stop corruption in the Union army and the illicit trade of southern-grown cotton, but this order displaced all Jewish people from this district. Cesar Kaskel, a Jewish resident from Paducah, KY and Union loyalist wrote to President Lincoln to bring his attention to this gross "violation of the Constitution and our rights as good citizens under it." After matters were brought to Lincoln's attention, he revoked the order. Of course there's a lot more detail than that, but I still found it interesting and horrifying that this happened at all in our country.

The replacement theory has its roots in post-Civil War era politics.

The New York City Draft Riots were a culmination of working-class discontents with the impact the war had on New York's economy and the laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the Civil War. The riots devolved into violent race riots against African Americans, largely by Irish rioters. Over 100 people were killed in the riots. This caused a lot of African Americans to leave Manhattan, moving to Brooklyn.

Again, need to reread to reabsorb more of the details, but I did find a lot of the book fascinating, albeit at times quite dry.

[David Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

With over 55 books about Lincoln to his credit, Harold Holzer always seems to find a new facet of our 16th president to explore. Long forgotten by the modern world is that around 13% of the U.S. population in 1860 were foreign born, and those immigrants played outsized roles in the Civil War and the decade leading up to it. The two largest contingents were the Germans (who largely came here for political reasons), and the Irish (mostly for economic reasons because of the potato famine), although there were smaller numbers of immigrants from Sweden, Switzerland, France, Italy, and other nations. Holzer delves into the complex dynamics, including the short-lived rise of the American Party (aka, the Know-Nothings), that influenced the largely Republican-leaning Germans and Democratic-leaning Irish. Threaded throughout the story are key foreign-born leaders with whom Lincoln interacted. In addition, Lincoln was the first president to call for a law to encourage the immigration, at least from Europe (his track record on Asian immigrants and Native Americans is less laudable). Holzer digs into all of this and puts it in a context that remains relevant today. This book is well worth the read.

David J. Kent
President, Lincoln Group of DC
Author, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius

[Earl Ecklund III · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this fascinating and well researched book Harold Holzer looks at Abraham Lincoln's views on immigration and the contribution of immigrants, primarily Americans of German & Irish descent, during the Civil War.

Lincoln did advocate for increased immigration from Europe and 2 laws were passed to this effect in 1864 & 1865 to help increase European immigration to the U.S.

Lincoln interestingly enough was open to the contributions of immigrants even though it was not always the majority viewpoint of the Whig party during Lincoln's early political career.

A fascinating read on this often overlooked subject.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Holzer's latest book is a must read for any Civil War buff or presidential scholar. The book explores a much overlooked aspect of the Lincoln story, his relationship with immigrants. My favorite thing about the book was the illustrations and photos included in the text. The book is worth reading from this aspect alone, in my opinion. A worthy effort and well worth the time spent.

[Thomas George Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Holzer, a renown Lincoln Scholar, has written the definitive history of Lincoln's Immigration Polices. Contrary to some biased historians, the Republican Party was not opposed to immigration; however, some Republicans did want some caps on Europeans, especially Irish Catholics. Irish Catholics were predominantly Democrats; whereas the Germans were predominantly Republican.

"Brought Forth On This Continent" was thoroughly researched; as Mr. Holzer relied on Lincoln's contemporaries including Lincoln's Chief of Staff, John Nicolay and secretary, John Hay, for his research.

[Robert Sparrenberger · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn’t about immigration but about immigrants who came to America before the civil war. There is a brief part about a bill passed after Lincoln died and that was it. At times it turned into a laundry list of foreign born Americans and what they did during the war.
The author has a firm grasp of Lincoln but this book added nothing to the large volume of books about him and his administration.

[Clifford Luebben · Rating 4 out of 5]

As for the reading experience of the book, it was slow going at first, but the story got more interesting as Lincoln’s political career took off. The role of immigrants in Lincoln’s ascent to the presidency and in the Civil War I found particularly interesting and engaging to read about.

What I learned about Lincolns views on immigration:
While he may have held some mild prejudices towards various ethnic groups (especially the Irish who were frequently the butt of his jokes), at his core he never resented nor opposed the rights of the (ahem, European) foreign born and certainly never saw them as less human or as not belonging in America.
As policy goes he appears to have always been pro-immigration; however, it was clearly a matter he was willing to compromise on for the sake of policies he considered higher priority, most notably ending slavery. A key anti-slavery constituency was the “German element”, but another was the Nativist/“Know-nothing” crowd (such as former president Millard Filmore). In trying to hold the constituencies together he generally tempered his pro-immigrant opinions in his public speeches. In private correspondence, he explicitly told friends, including German immigrants, this was what he was trying to do.
As president he ended up being the first Executive of the country to request legislation promoting immigration to the USA, going so far as to ask for the federal government to cover immigrants travel costs to the States. Part of the reasoning was to help replenish the work force after so many had died in the war.
He got to sign an amended version of his proposals into law in 1864 and further proposals of his were signed into law by President Andrew Johnsons a few months after Lincoln’s death. According to the author the last pro-immigration legislation until 1965.

Other things I learned:
-This was the first I ever read of the draft riots of 1863, and, yikes! Holzer does an effectively chilling retelling of the New York riot.
-German born and Irish born immigrants get the most attention in Holzer's narrative (which as someone of predominantly German, Irish, & Polish ancestry I appreciated on a personal level). German-borns it turns out were overwhelmingly anti-Slavery and thus one of Lincoln’s key constituencies with many of his political allies including his private secretary John Nicolay. The Irish were overwhelmingly loyal to the Democratic Party for their historic support of the foreign born when the Whigs were the party of Nativist sympathies. They were also, unfortunately, broadly pro-slavery, worried freed Blacks would steal their jobs and harbored some racism in general despite being the victims of racism themselves.
-The book also spends a couple chapters highlighting immigrant involvement in the Union army (those in the confederate army deemed generally outside the scope of the book). I already knew many Union officers gained their experience in the Mexican-American War, I did not realize many of them gained their experience in the European Revolutions of 1848. Germans it seemed needed no motivation to enlist; although, their unsuccessful officers proved a political thorn in Lincoln's side. o Even the Irish despite their opposition to Lincoln and emancipation enlisted in droves out of loyalty to the Union and their “adopted country”. Their regiments also seemed to have more success than the German ones. It was even an Irish Union regiment against an Irish Confederate regiment clashing at the climax of the Battle of Gettysburg. The book highlights many of the other immigrants enlisting as well, including Swedish, Polish, Scottish, etc. He even points out Canadians immigrating for the exclusive purpose of joining the Union army, which was fun for me because that includes one of my own ancestors on my mother’s side.

I enjoyed the book. It had an interesting cast of characters. I learned a lot I didn't know about this period and facet of American history. Given it is a narrow topic focus, I suspect potential readers interested in it are also a narrow slice of the population, but for those interested in the topics Holzer engages in, I think they will find it an interesting and enriching read.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

First was thinking 3.5, then thought 3.25. Maybe just 3.0 is right after all. Or, maybe even 2.75.

There's not much really new here, especially people with a solid knowledge of the US Civil War. The incompetence of German-American generals has been documented all over the place. That said, someone possibly German-American with the last name of Holzer looks "problematic" when making fun of a German surname like Schimmelpfennig. Details of the 1864 immigration promotion act were new to me, as were attempts, eventually successful, to tweak it a year later. Less known to me, and arguably of more importance, were details of 1864 strikebusting by Lincoln. Holzer doesn't dive into detail on that one.

Holzer appears to halfway give Lincoln a pass on some other issues, too. Had Lincoln lived a second term, would he have been proactive on supporting Chinese immigration, and beyond the need for railroad workers? I doubt it. Re the "first immigrants," would Lincoln have become more enlightened in his second term on American Indian issues? I doubt it.

Finally, anybody who knows the truth of Lincoln's April 1865 meeting with Spoons Butler knows he had not at all abandoned efforts to colonize African Americans. I have thoroughly refuted David S. Reynolds and James Oakes on this issue. Holzer pushes this less but is also wrong.

The pre-Civil War era? I knew the basics of Lincoln's nuancing of his stance, that is, nuancing of his public comments, on the issue of immigration in general and, politically, the Native American party and broader "Know Nothing" movement in general, in the first two-thirds of the 1850s, and, bits of it before then. This, including some of Lincoln's boundless files of ethnic humor, was the better half of the book. But, pre-1858 stuff only makes up 90 pages, and stuff from then through his inauguration only another 60.

Side note re another 3-star reviewer and a 2-star? It comes close to "gotcha" to focus on the subtitle and say the book was mainly about immigrants, not immigration.

[Adam Carman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In December of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his annual address to Congress. In addition to an overview of the raging Civil War, the President delivered the first call for the federal government to take control of the immigration process. He suggested that Congress openly recruit European workers to immigrate to the United States, even suggesting they be exempted from the draft for a period of time.

Holzer chronicles Lincoln's evolution on the subject of immigration. He had long been a proponent of sending freed enslaved people to Africa or the Caribbean and was wishy washy on Indigenous Peoples' rights as well as on immigration from Ireland. But he had been a staunch opponent of Know Nothings (a nativist political party in the 1850s) and had embraced German immigration and protections for Jews and Catholics in the uber-Protestant United States of the 19th century. As time passed, however, he began to recognize the value of the foreign born, or "adopted citizens" as he called them and became the first President (and last until LBJ in 1965) to publicly endorse citizenship.

The book is engaging and well written, much like Holzer's other work. He also avoids the common temptation to bill a book as a study on Lincoln's views of immigration and then simply turn it into a birth to death biography. The middle chapters do stray a bit from Lincoln on immigration and focus on retelling the role of immigrants in the war. But a worthy contribution to the vast field of Lincoln scholarship!

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

You would have thought that Lincoln had enough on his plate in rising from obscurity to the presidency and then confronting a bloody rebellion that threatened the very existence of the American Union. But, perhaps less well known than his triumph in restoring the Union and abolishing slavery, Holzer shows us Lincoln's dexterity in managing the ambitions, grievances, opposition and betrayals of "Know-Nothing" nativists as well as an array of foreign-born leaders of ethnic voting blocs (mainly German and Irish) who were essential both to his political success as well as the war against the Confederacy. Yet, despite his troubles with both nativists and the foreign-born, Lincoln proved to be a strong advocate for (European) immigration to the U.S. Unlike many of today's politicians, he understood that new citizens were indispensable to grow the strength of America's industry and democracy and to secure its place as the beacon of the New World. The more I learn about Lincoln, his political skills and his vision for America, the greater my admiration grows.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and well-researched book, Holzer's examination of Lincoln's interactions with national debates about immigration against the backdrop of his political ascendancy, unsuccessful and successful campaigns for office, and presidential administration during the Civil War lends a fascinating perspective on Lincoln's times as well as our own. Holzer's presentation of the crucial and complicated role that immigrants as individuals and as a whole played in the mid-nineteenth century United States bears striking resemblance to current debates about immigration, economics, and national identity. Lincoln is aptly portrayed as a leader with faults – inconsistent approaches to the rights of various groups, shrewd yet potentially compromising partnerships for political expediency – yet who regularly finds his way to taking actions that ultimately strove to preserve the Union, advance the cause of freedom, and establish prudent immigration policy. A fine examination of an aspect of Lincoln's life and leadership whose historical importance and relevance is ably highlighted here.

[Immigration Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parallels are eerie. The distance across time is an affront to human dignity.

Lincoln and JFK, Presidents of the U.S. serving in office a century apart, both advocated for policies to increase U.S. Immigration levels by encouraging those suffering from discrimination, or those disrespected, disillusioned, disenfranchised, or disheartened, to leave their home counties and emigrate en masse to the United States.

Both Presidents were assassinated before their policies could become law. Both were succeeded by Vice Presidents named Johnson. Both Presidents Johnson (in 1865 and in 1965) pushed through Congress, and signed into law, the foundation of an American immigration policy that was (for its time) expansive in nature and generously offering an open arms welcome to those willing to work hard, bring skills, start families, move West, test new ideas, and implement new innovations.

During the 100 years in between, American immigration policy regressed -- it was amended to exclude, expel, and discourage immigrants deemed "undesirable" due to race: particularly The Chinese Exclusion Act of the late 1800s, and the Calvin Coolidge 1924 "quota system" designed to keep the door open for "desirable" Northern European immigrants, but slam the door shut for the multitudes of the devious, the dim-witted, and the great unwashed "undesirable" people from Southern Europe, Asia, and the Jews of Eastern Europe.

And, coming full circle, we (in 2025), 60 years on from the reforms of Lyndon Johnson, again are experiencing a backlash, an egregious regression in the immigration system that was the modern day version of Abe Lincoln's ideals.

We never learn from the past. So, we are doomed to repeat it.

4 Stars.

[Mark Mears · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln & American Immigration

By Harold Holzer

This was an interesting read. Holzer never disappoints.

There are few of the events covered in the book that I was not already familiar with, best example being the New York riots involving draft of immigrants.

I only point that out to say Holzer’s description of a unique point of view, all events seen as they relate specifically to immigration and its impact on the nation, is fascinating.

I was wary of this book being an apologist tome related to modern immigration issues. I was relieved to find, at least for me, it was not. Any parallels are left for the reader to determine, as they should be.

I enjoyed the book.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are as many books on Lincoln as there are people in the world, so tapping something new about him is a challenge. Harold Holzer was more than up to the task in his book, “Brought Forth on This Continent.” He explores Lincoln’s take on immigration and its ramifications that are felt today. Holzer’s research is impeccable as his ability to enrich the reader with solid writing and enthralling detail. There are lessons for our country today to be learned but sadly, given these fraught times, they will go unheeded.

[Diego Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, unique perspective on a period and person that's kinda been done to death. Timely as well. Obviously the debates around immigration in the 1800s were very different than they are now, but there are some surprising (or perhaps not so surprising) similarities. Anyway it is never not hilarious to see white Europeans call themselves "Native Americans" and be really sincere about it. Your peepaw got here a hundred years before my grandpappy but who really cares? Let's start calling them "Know Nothings" again.

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covering immigration, a topic that I have not seen much about in terms of Lincoln, and the issues that led to Lincoln's decision to open up the United States to immigrants. I assumed when starting the book that it would focus on getting troops to fight the Civil War, and there is some of that in the book, but through letters and other sources Holzer also attempts to build out Lincoln's thoughts and feeling about immigrants as a whole.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holzer's book provides a summary of Lincoln's political interactions with immigrant communities and those who worked with those communities. The book seemed mostly focused on the German-Americans with a lesser focus on the Irish-Americans who were more aligned with the Democractic Party. Lots of tough vocabulary in the text.

[Michel D.]

Another Lincoln Book? Well, an facet not covered anywhere else that I know of and about as timely as possible. In short, Lincoln recognized the need to replenish the male population being lost to the war.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never tire of reading about Abraham Lincoln. There is always something new to learn about our greatest president.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harold Holzer's knowledge of Lincoln and his times is so extensive, and his ability to bring us into those times is unsurpassed. Congratulations on another splendid work!

[Melissa Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed reading this book! Highly recommend!

[Mary Tarro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some things never change… different villains, different victims. Interesting narrative.

[79tbear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched; good historical perspective on how leaders are a product of their times.

[Mary Tharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

have great respect for President Lincoln. Thorougly enjoyed reading this one.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Dan Moulton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of words to say very little. Some interesting anecdotes but there isn’t enough substantive evidence to write such a book. Would have been much better at <1/3 the length.

[Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

mui interesante