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The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61
"Violence was an American tradition," Allan Nevins reminds us at the beginning of this chronicle of the eve of the Civil War. On 10/16/1859 John Brown & 17 of his followers seized the armory & arsenal at Harper's Ferry. They'd counted on an uprising of the slaves. There was no uprising. On 12/2, Brown was hanged after a fair trail. To certain Northern zealots he was a martyr; to Allan Nevins he was a victim of his own reasoning insanity.
The Union had not long to live. In the following summer Southern hotheads bolted the Democratic convention at Charleston that nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President. When America went to the polls, Douglas faced not only Abraham Lincoln, but also the hotheads' favorite John H. Breckenridge, & John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Unionists. South Carolina's response to Lincoln's election was immediate. On 12/20/1860 the Palmetto state was the first to secede from the Union. With illustrations.
The Union had not long to live. In the following summer Southern hotheads bolted the Democratic convention at Charleston that nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President. When America went to the polls, Douglas faced not only Abraham Lincoln, but also the hotheads' favorite John H. Breckenridge, & John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Unionists. South Carolina's response to Lincoln's election was immediate. On 12/20/1860 the Palmetto state was the first to secede from the Union. With illustrations.
532 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
Allan Nevins
489 books26 followersAllan Nevins was an American historian and journalist, renowned for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as President Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 23, 2025
While 1859 seemed to be an uneasy year, there was hope that the moderates and conservatives in both North and the South had marginalized the radicals in both sections then one man’s fanaticism started the chain reaction in the South which changed the nation’s course. The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume II: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 is the fourth book of Allan Nevin’s Ordeal of the Union series as John Brown’s raid exasperates tensions as advocates for a Southern Confederacy whip up their faux-nationalism while Republicans aimed to nominate a moderate to ensure their victory in 1860 with no on realizing for once the South would actually walk the talk they’ve been saying for over a decade.
Through 489 pages of text and four appendices, Nevins covers the final dramatic movements as the national fabric was torn in two from John Brown’s raid, the breaking up of the Democratic Party in Charleston and Baltimore, the election of Lincoln followed by Buchanan’s month-long dithering before committing to the Union even as secessionists created a Confederacy. Nevins’ research and writing continue to be top notch, but the best part of the book was Nevin’s analysis of what led to the Civil War from page 462 to 471. Nevin’s conclusion on page 468 was simple, “The main root of the conflict (and there were minor roots) was the problem of slavery with its complementary problem of race-adjustment [emphasis Nevins],” the latter part of that quote is something that Nevins had been developing and in concluding this volume set the stage both for the upcoming war that he was to chronicle as well as the reconstruction of the nation that he planned to cover but never did. Being the final volume of Nevins’ chronicle of the lead-up to the American Civil War, the blow-by-blow account of how a nation victorious in a war that increased its size by a third staggered towards breaking apart while showing how various regions of that country changed economically and in viewing itself within the nation.
The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume II: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 culminates Allan Nevins’ excellent relating of the decade plus of American history from the end of the Mexican War to the verge of the Civil War.
Through 489 pages of text and four appendices, Nevins covers the final dramatic movements as the national fabric was torn in two from John Brown’s raid, the breaking up of the Democratic Party in Charleston and Baltimore, the election of Lincoln followed by Buchanan’s month-long dithering before committing to the Union even as secessionists created a Confederacy. Nevins’ research and writing continue to be top notch, but the best part of the book was Nevin’s analysis of what led to the Civil War from page 462 to 471. Nevin’s conclusion on page 468 was simple, “The main root of the conflict (and there were minor roots) was the problem of slavery with its complementary problem of race-adjustment [emphasis Nevins],” the latter part of that quote is something that Nevins had been developing and in concluding this volume set the stage both for the upcoming war that he was to chronicle as well as the reconstruction of the nation that he planned to cover but never did. Being the final volume of Nevins’ chronicle of the lead-up to the American Civil War, the blow-by-blow account of how a nation victorious in a war that increased its size by a third staggered towards breaking apart while showing how various regions of that country changed economically and in viewing itself within the nation.
The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume II: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 culminates Allan Nevins’ excellent relating of the decade plus of American history from the end of the Mexican War to the verge of the Civil War.
September 8, 2022
This book completes Allan Nevins's two-book series The Emergence of Lincoln, and is the fourth of eight volumes in his larger history of the Civil War Era, The Ordeal of the Union.
Nevins brilliantly depicts the constantly increasing tension as the United States moved toward disintegration. Some key events covered are John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the dissolution of the Democratic Party over disagreements on slavery, the election of Lincoln, the secession of the Deep South, and the conflict over Fort Sumter. In each case, I learned much that was new to me. For instance, Nevins's two or three chapters on John Brown included information that I hadn't gotten from Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising (though the reverse is also true). The previous volumes in Nevins's history included chapters on trends in literature, journalism, art, etc. This volume stuck strictly to the political and social developments, and was thus especially exciting.
In reading Nevins's work, I am coming to understand his point of view regarding slavery. He emphasizes that the true issue was how to rectify the relations between white and Black people, given that slavery already existed. Northern states like Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa were against slavery, but they were also against letting any Black people enter their borders. But it still bothers me that Nevins seems not to consider the enslaved Black people as capable or worthy of determining their own fate.
Even with their flaws, Nevins's histories are the best I've ever read and I am almost sad that I am halfway finished with the series. On to the Civil War!
Nevins brilliantly depicts the constantly increasing tension as the United States moved toward disintegration. Some key events covered are John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the dissolution of the Democratic Party over disagreements on slavery, the election of Lincoln, the secession of the Deep South, and the conflict over Fort Sumter. In each case, I learned much that was new to me. For instance, Nevins's two or three chapters on John Brown included information that I hadn't gotten from Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising (though the reverse is also true). The previous volumes in Nevins's history included chapters on trends in literature, journalism, art, etc. This volume stuck strictly to the political and social developments, and was thus especially exciting.
In reading Nevins's work, I am coming to understand his point of view regarding slavery. He emphasizes that the true issue was how to rectify the relations between white and Black people, given that slavery already existed. Northern states like Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa were against slavery, but they were also against letting any Black people enter their borders. But it still bothers me that Nevins seems not to consider the enslaved Black people as capable or worthy of determining their own fate.
Even with their flaws, Nevins's histories are the best I've ever read and I am almost sad that I am halfway finished with the series. On to the Civil War!
October 4, 2022
Anyone who believes the "Lost Cause" argument about the civil war being about states' rights should read this volume of Nevins' history. Nevins does a great job pointing out the arguments of both sides leading up to the civil war. It is all about slavery. Or you could argue the war is about states having the right to keep slavery as an institution indefinitely. He also points out that, as so many times in history, the radical minorities have the loudest voices and carry the day in spite of the majority (moderates) wanting a different direction and result. I got the feeling that the northern radicals (abolitionists) felt the south was full of ignorant and immoral people while the southern radicals felt the north was full of holier-than-thou elitists. Best of the 8 volumes, so far.
January 18, 2018
Great book for people interested in serious history of the American Civil War. This is the fourth and final book in a series about the United States before the Civil War. Nevins also wrote a second series of four books dealing with the war itself. I'll be starting that series soon, but there are some books on the Southern economy and the Blockade I want to read first.
July 27, 2023
Volume IV of Allan Nevin's Civil War era series is entitled "Prologue to Civil War", and takes us from the midpoint of the James Buchanan administration up to and including Lincoln's inauguration (but *not* Fort Sumter). Where we left off at the end of Volume III, the last vestiges of fruitless attempts throughout the 1850s to end debates over slavery by compromising words and legislation were fading away and the southern fire-eaters were beginning to gain ground amongst their initially skeptical southern brethren.
One of, if not the, biggest worries of Southerners all throughout the 19th century was that of slave revolts - the menacing photo painted both before and after the war of the "dangerous" slaves uprising to attack and murder their owners and wives and children, a threat that was dangerously overstated (as most slaves were better off trying to earn their freedom than try a normally fruitless revolt). But right at the start of this volume we have John Brown, the martyr who put his body on the line to end slavery, knowing precociously that the controversy could not be ended by anything other than violence. Brown showed up earlier in the series when he was part of a controversy in Kansas, and the first third of this book covers him, his co-conspirators, his plans and the failure of his raid on Harpers Ferry in fascinating detail. Brown's raid has been written about an innumerable amount of times but I still found plenty of new detail in here, and of course Nevins' writing is always easy to parse and well-done.
Brown's failed uprising was *the* event that many Southerners had seemingly been waiting for to make their dreams of a Southern republic come true. Hanged for treason, it set off a tense year-plus of political battles leading up to the start of the war. Although earlier volumes dove deep into socioeconomic conditions and American life in the fifties, this volume focuses strictly on the political developments and the major battles within and between the political parties. While those sections in prior volumes were occasionally fascinating, Nevins is at his best writing about politics and the narratives of the Republican compromise to get Lincoln nominated, as well as the split of the Democrats between north and south, is riveting.
Perhaps the best chapter of the entire series to date, though, is a penetrating insight on the future of slavery from the view of the Southerners in the year 1860, and a comparison of American slavery to that of other nations in the western hemisphere (of which only Brazil and Cuba really had major slave populations left by the time of the Civil War). Even though the Republicans were insistent on not interfering with slavery in the states, Southerners knew that slavery would die if it was not allowed to expand, especially southward. But why did slavery fade more easily in South America? One hypothesis that Nevins gives is that the slaves, similar to that of the early Romans, were not subjugated to the same status that black Americans were. In particular, the large number of mixed-race and free black populations in Central America and the Caribbean made "race-adjustment", as Nevins calls it, much easier than it would have been in the US.
This plays into a major point that Nevins clarifies later in the volume - that, in his view, slavery alone was not the main cause of the civil war, but rather both slavery and abolition and its corollary - that millions of black Americans would become free without any dedicated effort to "educate" them. While there is some truth to this argument, Nevins, in my view, heavily overplays it to the point of some bias trickling in that he himself may have believed that freedmen would have needed years of training before being able to "assimilate". Had Nevins lived to write about Reconstruction, he may well have pointed to some of its failures to justify his argument. I took issue with his characterization of slavery in Volume I, and it reappears here, although not nearly as crass, and in support of a much stronger overall thesis. Nevins, to his credit, recognizes slavery as the main cause of a very significant and complex group of issues. But his consistent contempt for abolition weakens some of his claims towards race-adjustment.
Overall, though, I found this to be the best volume of the series to date. Ending with a series of chapters on the failure of compromise attempts in Congress, the transition of the Buchanan administration in its lame duck period (in which it faced as much pressure as any lame duck administration ever will), and the fight for space in the Lincoln cabinet reads like a political thriller at points. I also really liked how we end this volume before getting into Sumter itself. It leaves off at a point where Lincoln and the Republicans still have some hope for a peaceful settlement, but reality is quickly settling in. As I read on into the war itself, I'm excited to see the home front profiled in detail, as I'm led to believe Nevins does, as I've never been big into military history.
One of, if not the, biggest worries of Southerners all throughout the 19th century was that of slave revolts - the menacing photo painted both before and after the war of the "dangerous" slaves uprising to attack and murder their owners and wives and children, a threat that was dangerously overstated (as most slaves were better off trying to earn their freedom than try a normally fruitless revolt). But right at the start of this volume we have John Brown, the martyr who put his body on the line to end slavery, knowing precociously that the controversy could not be ended by anything other than violence. Brown showed up earlier in the series when he was part of a controversy in Kansas, and the first third of this book covers him, his co-conspirators, his plans and the failure of his raid on Harpers Ferry in fascinating detail. Brown's raid has been written about an innumerable amount of times but I still found plenty of new detail in here, and of course Nevins' writing is always easy to parse and well-done.
Brown's failed uprising was *the* event that many Southerners had seemingly been waiting for to make their dreams of a Southern republic come true. Hanged for treason, it set off a tense year-plus of political battles leading up to the start of the war. Although earlier volumes dove deep into socioeconomic conditions and American life in the fifties, this volume focuses strictly on the political developments and the major battles within and between the political parties. While those sections in prior volumes were occasionally fascinating, Nevins is at his best writing about politics and the narratives of the Republican compromise to get Lincoln nominated, as well as the split of the Democrats between north and south, is riveting.
Perhaps the best chapter of the entire series to date, though, is a penetrating insight on the future of slavery from the view of the Southerners in the year 1860, and a comparison of American slavery to that of other nations in the western hemisphere (of which only Brazil and Cuba really had major slave populations left by the time of the Civil War). Even though the Republicans were insistent on not interfering with slavery in the states, Southerners knew that slavery would die if it was not allowed to expand, especially southward. But why did slavery fade more easily in South America? One hypothesis that Nevins gives is that the slaves, similar to that of the early Romans, were not subjugated to the same status that black Americans were. In particular, the large number of mixed-race and free black populations in Central America and the Caribbean made "race-adjustment", as Nevins calls it, much easier than it would have been in the US.
This plays into a major point that Nevins clarifies later in the volume - that, in his view, slavery alone was not the main cause of the civil war, but rather both slavery and abolition and its corollary - that millions of black Americans would become free without any dedicated effort to "educate" them. While there is some truth to this argument, Nevins, in my view, heavily overplays it to the point of some bias trickling in that he himself may have believed that freedmen would have needed years of training before being able to "assimilate". Had Nevins lived to write about Reconstruction, he may well have pointed to some of its failures to justify his argument. I took issue with his characterization of slavery in Volume I, and it reappears here, although not nearly as crass, and in support of a much stronger overall thesis. Nevins, to his credit, recognizes slavery as the main cause of a very significant and complex group of issues. But his consistent contempt for abolition weakens some of his claims towards race-adjustment.
Overall, though, I found this to be the best volume of the series to date. Ending with a series of chapters on the failure of compromise attempts in Congress, the transition of the Buchanan administration in its lame duck period (in which it faced as much pressure as any lame duck administration ever will), and the fight for space in the Lincoln cabinet reads like a political thriller at points. I also really liked how we end this volume before getting into Sumter itself. It leaves off at a point where Lincoln and the Republicans still have some hope for a peaceful settlement, but reality is quickly settling in. As I read on into the war itself, I'm excited to see the home front profiled in detail, as I'm led to believe Nevins does, as I've never been big into military history.
December 9, 2020
Covers the last two years of “peace” before the start of the Civil War. Shows how failures in leadership and increasing agitation in the South led to secession.
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March 17, 2010The Emergence of Lincoln Prologue to Civil War 1859 to 1861 by Allan Nevins (1950)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews