Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume Two

by Michael Burlingame, Sean Pratt (Narrator)

In the first multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published in decades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the life of one of America's greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlier biographers, along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archives and long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforce our current understanding of America's sixteenth president.

Volume 1 covers Lincoln's early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy in Indiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to a term in Congress in the 1840s. In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln's life during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail the crisis over Fort Sumter and Lincoln's own battles with relentless office seekers, hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also offers new interpretations of Lincoln's private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease.

But through it all—his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, a fratricidal war, and tragic personal losses—Lincoln preserved a keen sense of humor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the North's most valuable asset in winning the Civil War.

Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, this landmark publication establishes Burlingame as the most assiduous Lincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive to modern readers as never before.

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

Audible Audio

First published November 6, 2012

About the author

Michael Burlingame is the author of THE INNER WORLD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1994) and the editor of a dozen books of Lincoln primary resource materials. He taught history at Connecticut College in New London for 33 years, retiring in 2001 to devote full time to ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A LIFE. That work is based on extensive research in manuscripts, newspapers, and public records, many of them overlooked or underutilized by previous biographers. He lives in Mystic, Connecticut."

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Returning for the second volume of Michael Burlingame's monstrous biography of Abraham Lincoln, the reader is presented with a much shorter period of time. These presidential years, 1861-65, were perhaps some of the most important of the overall biography, both in Lincoln's history and that of America. This second volume synthesises all the reader learned from the previous tome and moves forward into the most influential decisions that shaped a country in turmoil. Like its predecessor, this volume is chock full of stories and anecdotes, but also offers the patient and attentive reader three themes Burlingame uses to define the 16th President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was an atypical politician, the Great Emancipator, and a hands-off Commander-in-Chief during wartime. Pairing the two volumes, the reader has a thorough and fairly all-encompassing view of the man whose humble upbringing led to one of America's defining political figures. A stellar piece of biographic material that offers a truly educational and entertaining view for those with significant patience and a passion to learn.

Abraham Lincoln's life up to the point of his presidency could not be described as normal or even typical, even for those who lived at the time. That he continued this atypical living is one thing, but that he also extended these oddities while wearing a political hat is even more baffling in an profession where one is always in the proverbial spotlight. Burlingame presents a man who, though a strong believer in the democratic process and allowing the public to lead the country at the ballot box, would not simply pander to majority opinion when making decisions. While some may have felt it a great shock that Lincoln could earn the right to sit in the Oval Office, he used this ascendancy to push forward with his strong views on slavery and the upcoming skirmishes with the secessionists in the South. Lincoln sought not to woo them with grandiose promises or bow to their demands, even if it would have curried favour with leaders and the general public. He looked above and beyond, forcing those who wanted his attention to follow his lead, as if his opinion mattered more than large segments of the populace, which Burlingame elucidates throughout the narrative. As his presidency ran parallel to the Civil War, Lincoln's decisions were primarily made with the conflict in mind. As shall be seen below, while he did not engaged in the military campaign minutiae, he held firm to his views on man's equality and did push presidential edicts to move the country away from racial servitude and towards a levelled field. While this might have been noble, it contradicted what many, even in the North, sought from their political leaders. Lincoln's decision to offer compensated emancipation for the border states raised the ire of many, seen as a means of bribing some state governments to push through controversial legislation and yet spitting in the faces of those who voluntarily chose black emancipation in the past. From there, it was a collection of views, including complete emancipation, that pushed Lincoln into a re-election campaign that saw his strongest supporters seek to dethrone him. How a man who was so well-versed in the political process, as seen extensively in Volume One, could have snubbed the process to woo an electorate or supporters does not appear lost on Burlingame, who offers extensive narratives on this atypical behaviour. Lincoln did not seem to mind, though, as he would shrug and put the decision in the hands of those who wield the power, be they party leaders, state officials, or the electorate. What Burlingame subtly injects into both volumes in the selfless nature of Lincoln, a man who checked his ego at the door, which is perhaps his most atypical characteristic when lumped generally amongst the political masses. Lincoln's atypical behaviour became not only the norm, but the expected behaviour of a man who thrived on leading from his own rule book, but was happy to cede the reins of power if that be the desire of the majority, if only they would take the legal action to assume control.

The moniker "The Great Emancipator" has been given to Lincoln throughout history, though Burlingame exemplifies just how deeply these sentiments ran in Lincoln's presidential years. While some readers will remember from Volume One, Lincoln had a passion for banishing slavery and offered his personal views on this extensively and to anyone who would listen. Some might wonder if it cost him the 1858 senatorial election in Illinois, while others remain baffled as to how this gangly man ever made it as the Republican candidate, let alone tenant of the White House. However, it seems as though Lincoln used his presidency as a soap box to continue the slavery debate and pushed emancipation to the extreme, making it a cornerstone of his impetus to continue the Civil War. While some historians debate whether the War was fought to regain (or obtain) territory over a political stance on freeing slaves throughout America, one thing is clear in Burlingame's biographical piece; Lincoln would not drop the issue of freeing all men. Using Thomas Jefferson's words from the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln pushed ideas of emancipation at every turn, citing the need for all men, ALL MEN, to be equal under the eyes of the law. Dred Scott was incorrectly adjudicated by the US Supreme Court, laws promoting a racial caste system were problematic, and any means by which he could ensure states would pass laws to free slaves proved to be the only solution. As mentioned above, Burlingame shows how Lincoln stirred up trouble within his own party by offering financial incentives to those border states that would pass laws that favoured his sentiments. Lincoln would eventually go so far as to toss down the gauntlet and present the Emancipation Proclamation, ordering all slaves to be free under the federal powers he possessed. Lincoln would not let go of this belief and did jeopardise his chances at re-election in 1864, but felt it more important to hold onto his beliefs than pander to the will of the majority. Going one further, Lincoln orchestrated the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, the first of the Reconstructionist Amendments, to codify emancipation and enshrine it as a core American belief. However, the attentive reader and those with a great understanding of history will remember, his views on emancipation would not immediately remedy the situation, as they permeate the political sphere even today. Lincoln was surely the man who formally opened the emancipation discussion in the American political banter, though his greatness cannot extend to solving it completely.

Of all the wartime presidents with whom I am familiar (some of whom through biographical pieces alone), Lincoln proved to be the most hands-off Commander-in-Chief when it came to military progress or strategy. While he did visit the troops and had a general understanding of movement across the country, he appeared more focussed on emancipation issues than political clashes with the likes of Jefferson Davis or those on the other side of the North-South divide. Burlingame does offer up a few stories of Lincoln engaging in some of the general information gathering meetings with top generals, especially Grant, whom he promoted to Lieutenant-General in an extremely awkward event for both men, but little of substantive strategy planning or extensive battle plotting. Allowing strategies to be handled by military personnel and his Secretary of War, Lincoln focussed his attention on social leadership and let his constitutional military role become more a figurehead position. Lincoln knew what he wanted done and chose to let those in better positions of power bring it to fruition, keeping troop movements and garrison capturing to those in uniform. He did his best to have men ready for the War with conscription decisions, a contentious issue that Burlingame discusses, making parallels to the efforts for both the Revolutionary War and that of 1812. Lincoln did profess a need to keep the number of Union troops high in order to repel the Confederates, though he wanted to keep the blood of the many lost on the battlefield from staining his hands. While at the helm during America's most important military conflict, Lincoln was not a military president, even if historians will label him as one of the 'war' variety.


The review would be remiss without discussing at least a few other aspects of Lincoln's life that did not fit easily into the aforementioned themes. Those readers who have read Volume One or at least perused my review, will remember that Mary Todd Lincoln was one of the oddest individuals of the time, albeit she was married to a man who could never be called 'mainstream'. Burlingame's mention of Mary is sporadic, but concentrated when she does grace the pages of the biography. Both early and later in this volume, Madam Lincoln was involved in a campaign to pad White House expenses to cover her exorbitant personal purchases, which President Lincoln did not condone whatsoever. She also tried to make a name for herself by operating a kickback scheme whereby she would take monies for lobbying her husband to appoint certain men to positions within the purview of presidential decision-making. This scandalous and scoundrel behaviour only goes to exemplify the horrid woman Mary Todd Lincoln may have been. It was only the death of Willie Lincoln that helped personify this woman, whose agony over the loss of her son paralleled that of her husband and could be seen as somewhat in line with what any parent might do. Burlingame does not make mention of her for large portions of the biography, even after laying the groundwork for a wonderful clash within the White House as her family chose to fight for the Confederates. The other item that comes up (and is an extension of the previous volume) is Lincoln's extensive use of parables. Burlingame offers many vignettes in which Lincoln uses these parables to explore events in his life, developing them at the drop of a (stovepipe?) hat and yet always on point. Always succinct and sometimes lewd, Lincoln could offer a 'teachable moment' to anyone who needed it and would always leave his audiences shaking their heads, but better understanding his rationale. Burlingame does a masterful job in highlighting these within the biography and showing just how versatile Lincoln could be.

Burlingame has expended so much time in putting this biography together that it bears mentioning the attention to detail and wonderful narrative that act as pillars for this piece. Both volumes offer such a wonderful portrait and give the reader a better understanding of Lincoln and his life, shorted by an assassin's bullet. Even in death, Lincoln's greatness lives on, so much so that Burlingame posits that the true greatness of the 16th President will not be properly felt for a few centuries more, as time ferments his decisions against the backdrop of the civil and racial unrest that infiltrated the republic. What makes the biography even stronger is how seamlessly the volumes seem to fit together. There is so much information on offer that Burlingame was forced to split the pieces, though the end of one chapter flows so easily into the next, even as the volumes bridge. The narrative is so captivating that the long chapters are not daunting in the least, supported by scores of academic references and peppered with direct quotations from those who interacted with Honest Abe. Burlingame should be praised for his dedication to the significant effort he has put in to developing this stellar political biography. I have not been treated to such a detailed account of a presidential figure, complete with so many minor facts and vignettes, in years. Pairing both volumes will prove to be a feat that only the most dedicated of political biography readers will undertake, if only because of the crippling pain (either in holding the tome, electronically flipping pages, or spending hours with earbuds lodged in the canal) sure to ensue. That said, it is well worth any agony, as its pay-off is an impressive final product. Lincoln's place beside Washington and FDR as one of the three greatest presidents of all-time, at least according to many historians, seems not to be displaced after reading this. Perhaps other readers will have new and insightful ideas to share, which I welcome.

Kudos proves to be too diluted a statement to offer the praise I have for you, Mr. Burlingame. You have taken some of the darkest days of America's history and injected such passion and controversy. It is that which makes a wonderful biography, where contrasting views can flourish.

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[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike some multi-volume works that are written and released years apart, Burlingame’s Lincoln biography is technically one book that just happens to have been printed in two halves (because who wants to carry around a single 2,000-page biography?) That being the case, I can’t give two different ratings to two halves of the same book. I gave five stars to volume one; therefore, I give five stars to volume two.

Each half felt like a tough one to review, though, because typically I would think of a five-star book as being something that I really enjoyed and was delighted by. In this case, neither volume was necessarily an easy, fun, leisurely read. But they are important and informative, incredibly detailed and well-researched, and Burlingame succeeded in writing the definitive modern Lincoln biography. That’s no small task, so it seems pretty deserving of five stars to me.

Like the first volume, one of the major strengths of this volume, which focuses on Lincoln’s presidency, is its thoroughness. Burlingame doesn’t just hit the highlights, moving from one major event to the next. As Lincoln formulates a grand strategy to win the war, preserve the Union and end slavery, Burlingame gives us a great sense of how Lincoln had to put out a thousand little fires along the way, as he tried to keep the border states loyal, keep foreign powers from recognizing the Confederacy, and keep his Cabinet and his party in line. The book also digs into details about often-overlooked subjects like the constitutionality and wisdom of admitting West Virginia as a state, how Lincoln dealt with resistance to the draft, and his early efforts at Reconstruction.

Throughout, there’s an ongoing through line that helps you understand how all of Lincoln’s actions had consequences, leading to reactions that then required more actions on his part. It sounds simple, but shorter books on Lincoln just don’t give you this kind of detail that really takes you through his presidency step by step by step. Not all of Lincoln’s workaday activities, like dealing with office seekers and filling patronage posts, are necessarily fascinating, but the telling is certainly thorough, giving you a solid, well-rounded look at what it was like trying to keep so many plates spinning at the same time.

Burlingame also humanizes Lincoln by showing the full range of his personality, instead of portraying him as a Solomonic caricature - we see his sense of humor, his lifelong habit of telling stories (even at seemingly inopportune times, to the annoyance of some), as well as occasionally losing his temper and snapping at people. Mary Lincoln, in contrast, comes across as a more one-dimensional hellion, as she does in the first volume. It is perhaps more deserved in this volume, since Burlingame has plenty of evidence to offer about her bad (and sometimes borderline criminal) behavior during the White House years. But despite all the attention to detail elsewhere in the book, Lincoln’s family life and personal relationships aren’t really explored very thoroughly, except when Mary pops up doing something else terrible.

Again, as in the first volume, the readability of the book sometimes suffers and it nearly collapses under its own weight at times, when we’re presented with long quotes from seemingly every newspaper and every supporter and every opponent who had something to say about everything that Lincoln said or did. It does help illustrate the full range of opinions, the good and the bad, which proves that Lincoln was not predestined for greatness - he faced plenty of opposition and was not universally thought of in the way we think of him today. But it can get tiresome reading so many opinions and reactions from so many people so often, and can tempt you to skim a paragraph or two or three in order to get back to the main narrative.

Another minor criticism is that Burlingame doesn’t always distinguish in the text between what is known fact, and what are his own informed conclusions. He’s an expert, his work is deeply researched, and he’s more than earned the right to issue his own verdicts. But he can often present these conclusions as undisputed fact without acknowledging other points of view or thoroughly arguing his case - he just declares it to be so. To name one example, he presents his assessment that Lincoln did not actually write the famous “Bixby letter” to a grieving mother during the war. He names Lincoln’s secretary John Hay as the actual author, but never really explains why he believes that to be the case. You're just meant to take his word for it. I’m not saying I agree or disagree with him, but when his conclusions differ from others, I wish he would take some time to explain why.

Throughout the book, you get just enough information about what was happening on the battlefield to be able to appreciate Lincoln’s decisions and dilemmas without getting bogged down in tactics and troop movements. And as the story nears its end, Burlingame provides a very good psychological profile of John Wilkes Booth as he explores all of his possible motives for killing Lincoln.

While the conclusion nearly goes a little overboard in portraying Lincoln as a Christlike figure, Burlingame is astute in his final analysis of Lincoln’s legacy. "He managed to be strong-willed without being willful, righteous without being self-righteous, and moral without being moralistic," he writes. He contrasts those qualities of Lincoln with lesser leaders who "take things personally, try to dominate one another, waste time and energy on feuds and vendettas, project their unacceptable qualities onto others, displace anger and rage, and put the needs of their own clamorous egos above all other considerations." Burlingame wrote these words in 2008, but one is tempted to read them as applying to a successor of Lincoln who served up until a year or so ago. It just goes to show how much Lincoln can still teach us about leadership.

This book is quite the commitment and not for the casual reader. You just need to approach it in the right frame of mind, appreciating it as a marathon that’s rewarding but not easy, so that it doesn’t end up feeling like a slog. If you do, you may decide in the end that it was well worth the effort. I certainly did.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent continuation of this thorough biography!

A few nuggets from Volume 2 include:
- Lincoln believed that the Founders struggled not only for national independence, but for the great promise for all the world that all men are created equal, and he felt that he was “an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty” to perpetuate “the object of that great struggle.” Part 3, ch. 19.
- One of Pres. Lincoln’s secretaries, John Hay, answered a caller to the White House who announced that he was “the Son of God!” Hay quickly responded, “The President will be delighted to see you when you come again, and perhaps you’ll bring along a letter of introduction from your father.” Part 6, ch. 21.
- Upon becoming president, Lincoln took decisive hold of the government. In his first 100 days, he raised and supplied an army and sent them into battle, held the border states in the Union, helped thwart Confederate attempts to win European diplomatic recognition, declared a blockade, asserted leadership over his cabinet, dealt effectively with Congress, averted a potential crisis with Great Britain, and eloquently articulated the nature and purpose of the War. He demonstrated the same “indomitable will” that he ascribed to Henry Clay. In it all, Lincoln proved to be forcible without being autocratic. Part 11, ch. 23.
- Lincoln believed that some of the extraconstitutional measures he took without the authority of law during the Civil War helped to save the government from overthrow. Lincoln believed that his emergency measures would be endorsed by Congress retrospectively and thus made constitutional when the House and Senate again met. He thought that “to save the Constitution and the laws generally, it might be better to do some illegal acts, rather to suffer all to be overthrown.” Part 12, ch. 23.
- Lincoln further explained his rationale for taking extraconstitutional steps thusly: “The whole of the laws that I was sworn to take care that they be faithfully executed were being resisted and failing to be executed in nearly 1/3 of the states. Must I have allowed them to finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear that by the use of the means necessary to their execution some single law made in such extreme tenderness of the citizens’ liberty, that practically, it relieves more the guilty than the innocent should, to a very limited extent be violated?” Part 12, ch. 23.
- SCOTUS determined (~50 years later) that Lincoln had acted constitutionally when he suspended habeas corpus during an insurrection to suppress rebels in the absence of congressional action failing to do so (see Moyer v. Peabody). Part 12, ch. 23.
- Lincoln believed that every means to save the Union should be exhausted before trying to use slavery to save it since there would be so much opposition from some parties. Part 17, ch. 24.
- In the fall of 1861, Pres. Lincoln paid $270 out of his own pocket to reimburse for government expenses incurred (wrongly) by his wife Mary. Throughout the book, the reader gets the sense that Mary was Lincoln’s greatest challenge in life. Part 23, ch. 25. However, she did help distribute small gifts and turkeys among the wounded with Lincoln’s help during the War. Part 39, ch. 30.
- Many held the opinion that politicos didn’t like Lincoln because they couldn’t use him, nor would he be guided by them because he sought to decide for himself on all important topics while in the presidency. Part 24, ch. 26.
- While president, Lincoln’s mail consisted of applications for contracts, requests for pardons and pecuniary aid and advice, for information, for autographs, letters of advice, political dispositions, religious exhortations, rants, abuse and obscenity, slanderous charges against public men, police and war information, military reports, and a large number of threatening letters, which Lincoln ridiculed. Part 24, ch. 26.
- Upon learning of the victory at Fort Henry by Grant and Foote, someone in Lincoln’s circle proposed a drink. The teetotaling president replied, “Alright. Bring in some water.” Part 24, ch. 26.
- Many times during the Civil War, if Lincoln’s generals had heeded his counsel immediately, victory would have likely occurred, and the War may well have been shortened. Part 26, ch. 26.
- Lincoln’s profound magnanimity was one of the highlight characteristics of his life, one which gained him respect, friends out of enemies, and affection. Part 27, ch. 26.
- Lincoln confined to Sumner that the Civil War was a “great movement of God to end slavery,” and that only a fool would stand in the way. Part 29, ch. 27. “Without…slavery… the War could not have an existence.” Lincoln at Part 31, ch. 28.
- Lincoln made a covenant with God that if the Union was victorious at the Battle of Antietam, he would consider it a sign of divine will and he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Part 33, ch. 28.
- Lincoln believed that Congress’ bill to make West Virginia a new state was a political consideration, not a constitutional question. Part 37, ch. 29.
- Lincoln’s letter to the daughter of his friend William McCullough after William’s death in battle gave her moving and practical advice consistent with his experience from the death of his son Willie. He counseled that time would heal her wounds and her father’s memory would be a “sad, sweet feeling in [her] heart,” and that it would be of a “purer, holier sort” than she’d yet known. Part 37, ch. 29.
- By War’s end, approx. 180,000 black soldiers and 20,000 black sailors had served in the Union cause. Part 37, ch. 29.
- Two of Lincoln’s adept traits were his frankness and earnestness. He also appreciated the same in others. Part 37, ch. 29.
- In 1862, the Minnesota Sioux carried out the bloodiest massacre of American civilians before the attacks on September 11, 2001, when a group of them killed hundreds of settlers and drove over 30,000 from their homes. Lincoln carefully reviewed the records of the events and in the end, he pardoned many of the 303 Indians on the list except for those it was clear had committed the murders or rapes, even though it was unpopular among settlers in Minnesota. Part 38, ch. 30.
- Lincoln sought for Indian reforms and gave a significant boost to the system that had been corrupt and harmful to Indians. In 1864, he pardoned 24 of the 264 Sioux who had been incarcerated, and he spared the life of Chief Pocatello, who led a Shoshone band in Utah. Part 38, ch. 30.
- Lincoln’s constantly leaned toward mercy and the desire to save life, not take it. The amount of blood shed during the Civil War truly horrified him. He many times gave clemency to individuals when he believed justice could be done. He was only merciless in cases where meanness or cruelty were shown, and over the course of the War, Lincoln approved 267 death sentences. Part 39, ch. 30.
- In 1864, Joseph Mills, a Wisconsin judge wrote about Lincoln, among other things, that he was “Heaven’s instrument to conduct His people through this Red Sea of blood to a Canaan of peace and freedom.” Many people felt the same way. Part 42, ch. 31.
- Lincoln said, “To condemn a class is…to wrong the good with the bad. I do not like to hear a class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.” He thought that none should be wronged on account of their place of birth or their religious confession. Part 49, ch. 32.
- Lincoln also said, “It has always been a sentiment with me that all mankind should be free. So far as able within my sphere, I have always acted as I believed to be right and just, and I have done all I could for the good of mankind generally.” Part 53, ch. 34.
- Of the Bible Lincoln said, “It is the best gift God has given to man.” “All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.” Part 53, ch. 34.
- In response to someone who called him the best president, Lincoln cited Washington and the other Founders as “all just as good” and who “would have done just as [Lincoln] had done” in emancipating the slaves. Part 53, ch. 34.
- By purposely failing to cash his presidential salary (at the time, draught warrants), Lincoln contributed over $4,000 to the US Treasury during the Civil War. Part 54, ch. 34.
- For Lincoln’s discussion on the word ‘liberty,’ see Part 55, ch. 34.
- The Bixby Letter was written not by Lincoln, but by John Hay. Additionally, Mrs. Bixby was a Confederate sympathizer and only lost two of her boys in the War and tried to claim the others for government benefits. However, Lincoln did compose many touching letters of condolence to families who lost loved ones during the War. Part 57, ch. 35.
- War veterans and wounded soldiers not only reverenced but loved Lincoln, partly because he often took time to visit them in their hospitals and sick beds, one by one. Part 61, ch. 35.
- “Few things contributed to Lincoln’s success as president than his ability to inspire the kind of confidence that children accord a benevolent father.” Part 64, ch. 36.
- One psychologist remarked of Lincoln that he had “more psychological honest than anyone since Christ.” John Hay opined that Lincoln, with all his foibles was “the greatest character since Christ.” Lincoln was able to suppress his own ego for the more important goal of victory in the Civil War. His eloquence inspired confidence and trust. He was a “Christ” in miniature. This was all despite an emotionally malnourished childhood, griding poverty, lack of formal education, despite a series of career failures, despite a miserable marriage, despite a tendency to depression, despite the early deaths of so many of his loved ones, including two of his own children, he became “a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity.” Part 64, ch. 36.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In volume 2 Burlingame continues his utilization of available contemporary source material to render a fully fleshed out portrait of a man and his times. I have read numerous biographies Lincoln , but this one more than any other makes one feel for the man , love the man and know the man. For a public figure Lincoln was truly unique in combining characteristics of strength and humility, good humor and great sadness , a shrewdness in dealing with men but with great compassion. As the author states Lincoln stands as an "inspiration".

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

very long but worthwhile read. while the amount of detail can be cumbersome, it does paint an amazing picture of the Lincoln's life and the times he lived in. I particularly liked the author's focus on Lincoln's pychological issues and strengths. His psychological maturity maps onto the adult development / leadership literature.

[Chuck_Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel almost guilty giving this volume less than five stars given the scope of Burlingame’s undertaking and the immense scholarship he brings to bare in his 2 volume biography of Lincoln. Taken as a whole, Burlingame’s Abraham Lincoln: A Life is a Triumph. It provides a better understanding of the man and his political environment than any book that I have ever read. In this volume, Burlingame is particularly good at giving the reader an understanding of the various constituencies and political forces that Lincoln had to navigate in everything from choosing grand strategy for the war to filling relatively minor administrative vacancies. Burlingame also does a good job showing how his personal magnanimity and decency played an important role in his political success. Not only did it allow him to turn enemies into useful allies (eg Edwin M Stanton), but the public image that such a persona created was pivotal in holding together the various factions within the union cause. And although very admiring, the author does not shy away from Lincoln’s failings, most notably his disastrous policy of continued trade in cotton with the rebel states.

There are many other great qualities to Burlingame’s book, but there are in my view two flaws that prevent me from giving it four stars. The first is stylistic. Burlingame tends toward a “tell, dont show” style that prevents his writing from achieving the literary heights of someone like Caro or Chernow (whose scholarship and interpretations I sometimes have issues with but who is a splendid writer). Burlingame moves roughly chronologically, decision by decision, through Lincoln’s presidency. He often tells us that on such and such a day he did X, gives different people’s attestations on why he did X or how they felt about it, comes to an interpretive conclusion, and then moves on to Y. All of which is certainly rigorous scholarship, but as a reader I did find myself missing the little novelistic details that Caro deploys in his Lyndon Johnson series to make you feel that you as a reader are there as dramatic events are happening. It is scholarly to tell us what Lincoln did, but as a reader I want to get a sense of the smell of the cigar smoke filled rooms, the stickiness of the floors near the endless spitoons, the stifling heat of the Washington summer day.

My second, more major issue is regarding substance. It is right and proper that the overwhelming focus of any book on Lincoln’s presidency should be on the conducting of the civil war and the handling of slavery. But, that being said, Lincoln’s presidency also included a number of non-military pieces of legislation that historians like Charles Beard and James McPherson have rightfully deemed revolutionary. These include the Homestead Act, the Legal Tender Act, The National Bank Act and the Pacific Railroad Act, which resulted in the transcontinental railroad and the various other rail lines that became the arterial system of Gilded Age capitalism. These acts, taken as a whole, had a profound impact on shaping the development of the United States economy and society over the last third of the 19th century. The legal tender and banking acts not only played an enormous role on later economic development, but also were crucial in the financing the war. And Burlingame barely even mentions them in his 1000+ page book that devotes multiple non contiguous pages to just how much Mary Todd Lincoln sucked.

I feel like I always have more to say about my criticisms of a book than I do about its strengths and end up coming off as a negative nelly. So just to reiterate, this is a very good book. Despite its flaws, Burlingame’s Lincoln is a must for anyone interested in American history.

[Thomas Rush · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began Burlingame's 2 volumes on Lincoln thinking, “Finally. At last I'll get to plaster a permanent opinion upon Lincoln, to finally get to a point where I will have a solid opinion of him, especially in regards to where he stands upon the issue of slavery.” Despite the multiple opinions I had heard over the years, I had managed to suspend judgment, to forbear, feeling that I did not know enough about him to hold an opinion. But, at last, here was my chance.
But guess what? After having read both volumes of Burlingame's work, from my perspective, I see now that it is nearly impossible to “fix” an opinion upon Lincoln, primarily because he, just about more than any other historical figure that I know, was constantly in a process of on-going growth and change. He was a man who was ever-evolving, so much so, that it is nearly impossible to freeze frame him in time to cement an opinion upon him. To quote Ronald C. White, Jr. from his masterful work “A. Lincoln: A Biography, A. Lincoln continues to fascinate us because he eludes simple definitions and final judgments.” (Pg. 3)
This does not mean that Lincoln did not say, and do, some absolutely egregious things during his lifetime if one freezes certain instances of him in time. The early race-baiting of his opponents and the racial demagoguery he employed in his youthful political career, as well as his Twilight-zone-like insensitivity to a group of Black leaders that he called to a conference at the White House in August of 1862 are not exactly startling visions of his legendary magnanimity. His primary purpose in calling the Black leaders to the White House was to encourage them to rally Black folks to willingly leave the United States upon emancipation because white folks did not want them here. He followed that up by telling them they would be “selfish” if they would not do this.
In addition, if Lincoln was not outright duplicitous, he was certainly borderline with intimations to Louisiana and Texas that they could possibly keep slavery intact, thus avoiding the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, if they came to an agreement with the Federal government to reenter the Union between the window of time between the Proclamation's leaking in roughly August/September 1862, and its actual official announcement date of January 1, 1863. Speaking out of both sides of his mouth is not what Lincoln is famous for, but a close reading of his actions between August, 1862 and January, 1863, which this book provides, certainly opens him up to this criticism.
I do not say all of this as a negative judgment of Burlingame's work because the truth is, Burlingame is being extra careful in giving the reader ALL of the facts so that one gets the full essence of Lincoln in all of his comprehensiveness. This is brilliantly refreshing. It is also refreshing to note that Lincoln's growth eventually took him away from that August 1862 position, ultimately leading him to promote a fuller vision of African-American, first class American citizenship. It's fair to say that no other American President has had to deal with such enormous and complex internal and external issues, as the very existence and perpetuity of the country hung in the balance. It seemed a thousand different people were constantly attacking him, coming at him from a million different directions, with multiple, discordant agendas. It was his job to meander through that complexity to lead the Union Army to victory and Emancipation.
In putting forth an opinion of him, it is my position that many have failed to fully consider the complexity in which he operated. This book stretches the limits of my imagination precisely because I will be surprised if we EVER see a biographer be more comprehensive in his scholarship, research and homework in regards to ANYONE. I cannot fathom a more comprehensive biography of Lincoln appearing for at least another 100 years. As an example, I was simply blown away when I, from a small town in North Carolina, read the words of a local legend, who was a contemporary of Lincoln's, quoted (twice on pgs. 67 & 136) within the second volume as the author was giving a survey of Southern opinion. The attention to detail was mind-blowing.
In giving this review, I knew that there were several quotations surrounding both volumes of this work that would help me to give you a fuller view of my opinion, because they fit in so nicely of what I think about them. These quotations are breathtakingly accurate. Burlingame, in comparing this 2-volume work to a much earlier 2-volume work by Carl Sandburg, says,

“ Sandburg's work is long on elegant touches, but short on research in unpublished sources, As a result, his biography compares to mine as John Constable's full-size sketches of his 6-foot paintings of English country life compares with the finished canvasses. The subjects—people, horses, cottages, rivers, rainbows, churches, and the like—are all visible in Constable's sketches. But, they lack the color, detail, and vividness of the finished works—though both are of the same size. I hope that readers will conclude that this biography, with its fresh information, is more like Constable's finished paintings, offering a portrait of Lincoln in higher resolution and sharper focus, with greater color, texture, and detail.” (Pg. X, volume 1).

“As central themes, this works argues that Lincoln's leadership proved to be the North's secret weapon in winning the Civil War; that Lincoln was an effective leader because he achieved a level of psychological maturity unmatched in the history of American public life; and that such a high level of consciousness was acquired slowly and painfully as he overcame the economic and emotional poverty of his childhood.” (Pg. XII, volume 1)

“Burlingame is a towering figure in Lincoln scholarship, and students of the 16th president have been waiting for this book for years. For all his learning—Burlingame may know more about Lincoln and his era than anyone in the world—his take on his subject is fresh, and he doesn't gloss over Lincoln's less appealing attributes. Abraham Lincoln comes as close to being the definitive biography as anything the world has seen in decades.”--Time (From the back cover of both volumes)

“The author knows more about Lincoln than any other living person.”--James McPherson, New York Review Of Books (From the back cover of both volumes)

Burlingame gave his book the subtitle “A Life.” Although those are only 2 words, they are the most profound that he could have chosen. For, indeed, if anyone ever wants to find the “life” of Abraham Lincoln represented as little, black, printed words on paper, that person will not find a better choice than what is found between the covers of these 2 volumes. This is an exceptional, masterful piece of work and scholarship!

PS—I read Burlingame's work no more than 3 pages at a sitting. This is the only way I could digest this mountain of information, to “eat this elephant-of-a-book-of 834 pages for Vol. II only one spoonful at a time.” It takes Job-like patience to do it this way. This is not the kind of book I could do marathon reading with, breezing through 30 to 50 pages at a sitting. If I had done that, I would have gotten bored and bogged down. I also looked up all words in this book in a dictionary that were unfamiliar to me, and copied them down into a notebook. Though I pride myself on having a very comprehensive reading vocabulary, Michael Burlingame has the most comprehensive vocabulary of any Historian that I've ever read, so I was constantly looking up and writing down vocabulary words from both volumes. I am glad that I read both volumes slowly and to have also looked up all necessary vocabulary words, absorbing much more information doing it this way than any other way. It took me 6 months to read both volumes, but I am profoundly blessed to have done it my way. I can only hope the level of my reading is reflected in this review.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 of Burlingame’s biography is even better than volume one. It covers his years as President and again offers great detail about them.

But once again it was his wife that most surprised me. “As if Lincoln did not have enough trouble dealing with recalcitrant generals, editors, senators, governors, congressmen, office seekers, and cabinet members—not to mention Confederates—the First Lady added immeasurably to his woes. Among other things, she meddled in patronage matters, forcing her husband “to do things which he knew were out of place in order to keep his wife’s fingers out of his hair,” as Herndon put it … Some of Lincoln’s “most unfortunate appointments have been made to please his wife who is anxious to be thought the power behind the throne. … Mary Lincoln thought of herself as a kind of assistant president and as such had tried to influence the initial cabinet selections.” (263)

“One such bribe was extended by Isaac Henderson, an unsavory self-made man who had sent Mary Lincoln diamond jewelry to enlist her aid in his quest for office.” (264)

Welles “overheard Mrs. Lincoln tell her husband that if he did not appoint a man of her choice to an office, she would descend from their carriage and roll about on the sidewalk.' (265)

'Bribes given to Mary Lincoln also helped pave the way for the strange appointment of George Denison as naval agent in the New York customhouse.' (265)

Denison helped his cause by giving Mrs. Lincoln a handsome carriage and establishing a $5,000 line of credit for her in New York, leading Briggs to state: ‘this office was sold.’” (266)

It is hard to know what to make of Lincoln’s statement; perhaps it had something to do with rumors that his wife was committing adultery with Wood. In June 1861, the president received a pseudonymous letter about a “scandal” involving Mary Lincoln and Wood, who went on shopping trips together to New York. The writer warned that if the rumors about that scandal were published, it would “stab you in the most vital part. … called Wood a “libertine” and “a disgrace to the Nation, to Lincoln & to the office.” A friend of French’s, “whose wife he [Wood] undertook to seduce,” termed Wood a “damned infernal villain.” Others deemed Wood “a great scamp.” Mary Lincoln may have been unfaithful with men other than Wood. … She purportedly wrote to her confidant Abram Wakeman, postmaster of New York, saying “I have taken your excellent advice and decided not to leave my husband while he is in the White House. … Senator Richard Yates of Illinois hinted broadly that Mary Lincoln had been unfaithful … Edward McManus, a White House doorkeeper, evidently made a similar allegation to Thurlow Weed. (266-267)

“Lincoln was clearly embarrassed by the extensive patronage given to the Todds. … While Lincoln gave offices to many of his wife’s relatives, he did little for his mother’s family.” (270)

“The First Lady’s sartorial taste also scandalized polite society. She wore her dresses shorter at the top and longer at the train than even fashion demanded. … She had great pride in her elegant neck and bust, and grieved the president greatly by her constant display of her person and her fine clothes. … Mary Lincoln shocked many people at Edward D. Baker’s funeral by appearing in a lilac dress, bonnet, and gloves. …I wonder if the women of Washington expect me to muffle myself up in mourning for every soldier killed in this great war? I intend to wear what I please.’ Oregon Senator James Nesmith said, ‘The weak minded Mrs Lincoln had her bosom on exhibition and a flower pot on her head, … acidly observed, her only ambition seems to be to exhibit her own milking apparatus to the public eye.” (271)

“The New York Herald’s premature publication of excerpts from Lincoln’s 1861 annual message created a scandal. Mary Lincoln, who, according to rumor, “told state secrets” and was thus considered “one of the leaky vessels—from which contraband army news, gets afloat,” embarrassed the president by allowing her close friend and influential “social adviser,” Henry Wikoff, to see an advance copy of the document. (One source even claimed that she received a substantial sum for this favor.)” (273)

“Alexander K. McClure reported that Mary Lincoln “was the easy prey of adventurers,’” … the First Lady “behaves in the most undignified manner possible, associating with Wyckoff and Sickles, with whom no lady would deign to speak; but she seems to be easily flattered. She is not a young woman by any means, but dresses like one. … Friends of the president, suspicious of Wikoff, investigated his background and discovered that he had been hired “by some parties in New York, who were using him as their tool.” (274-275)

The first known example of her padding bills occurred the following month, when she tried to charge a state dinner for Prince Napoleon to the manure fund (paid by Congress), but Watt charged it to his account.208 He billed the Interior Department $900, but the secretary of that department, Caleb B. Smith, rejected the claim. … Both dinners had been catered by the same restaurant, which charged Seward $300. Mrs. Lincoln asked for a $900 reimbursement. Thwarted by Smith’s refusal, the First Lady then instructed Watt to prepare a bill for plants, flowers, pots, and other gardening expenses totaling $900. She vouched for it herself and received the money. … According to Upperman, in mid-September Watt had authorized payments to Alexander McKerichar, a laborer on the White House grounds, for flowers ($700.75) and for 215 loads of manure ($107.50) as well as hire of a horse and cart for twenty-seven days in August to haul it to the Executive Mansion ($47.25). These bills were for goods and services apparently not provided. … In the fall of 1861, Lincoln gave Benjamin Brown French $270 out of his own pocket to reimburse the government for “Accounts erroneously paid. … On March 11, 1862, the president asked the “watchdog of the Treasury Department,” First Comptroller Elisha Whittlesey, to help him stop the padding of bills: ‘I shall be personally and greatly obliged to you if you will carefully scan every account which comes from here; and if in any there shall appear the least semblance wrong, make it known to me directly.’ … Watt threatened to blackmail the First Lady. To keep him quiet, he was given a commission in the army, … Mary Lincoln suggested to a New York merchant that he provide the White House with a $500 chandelier and charge $1,000 for it, thus allowing her to conceal $500 worth of jewelry purchases. … Horace Greeley alleged that in September 1861, the First Lady purchased a $600 carriage and charged it to the contingency fund. … The First Lady also exasperated her husband by overspending the $25,000 earmarked by Congress in 1861 for refurbishing the White House. … “I have sent for you to get me out of trouble,” she pleaded on December 14; “if you will do it, I will never get into such a difficulty again.” She confessed that the contractor’s bill exceeded the original congressional authorization by $6,700. “Mr. Lincoln will not approve it,” she lamented. … The president, “a little excited,” exclaimed: “It never can have my approval - I’ll pay for it out of my own pocket first -”it would stink in the nostrils of the American people to have it said that the President of the United States had approved a bill overrunning an appropriation of $20,000 for flub dubs for this damned old house, when the poor freezing soldiers cannot have blankets! … I would like to know where a carpet worth $2,000 can be put,” he queried. “In the East Room,” French suggested. The president called it “a monstrous extravagance,” adding: “Well I suppose Mrs. Lincoln must bear the blame, let her bear it, I swear I won’t! … It was all wrong to spend one cent at such a time, and I never ought to have had a cent expended … He concluded “by swearing that he never would approve that bill” and that rather than sign such legislation “he would pay it out of his own pocket!” Rumor had it that when Lincoln refused to authorize payment, his wife “was mad & stormed … and would not sleep with him for three nights … In February 1862, Congress passed a supplemental appropriation of $14,000 for White House.’ Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin explained that he and his colleagues “were placed in this fix[:] either the President must pay this money out of his own pocket or we must appropriate it to cover deficiencies. The legislators also thought “it would not be just to compel the President to pay” for the act of his “silly” and “vainglorious” wife.” (277-281)
“It is no wonder that Alexander K. McClure concluded that the First Lady “was a consuming sorrow to Mr. Lincoln.” Yet, McClure recalled, the president “bore it all with unflagging patience. She was sufficiently unbalanced to make any error possible and many probable, but not sufficiently so as to dethrone her as mistress of the White House.” (284)


Moving on from his domestic difficulties, Lincoln’s views on slavery evolved. His greatest concern was to preserve the union. “Queried about his own attitude toward slavery, Lincoln “said he did not pretend to disguise his anti-slavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong, and should continue to think so; but that was not the question we had to deal with now. Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the North as of the South, and in any scheme to get rid of it the North as well as the South was morally bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the institution wrong, and ought never to have existed, but yet he recognized the rights of property which had grown out of it, and would respect those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property; that property can exist and does legally exist. He thought such a law wrong, but the rights of property resulting must be respected; he would get rid of the odious law, not by violating the right, but by encouraging the proposition [made on March 6] and offering inducements to give it up.” (342)


“Whichever way it [the war] ends, I have the impression that I shan’t last long after it’s over. … This war is eating my life out; I have a strong impression that I shall not live to see the end.” (799)


Despite all of Lincoln’s struggles Burlingame clearly concludes by recognizing his greatness: “Lincoln’s personality was the North’s secret weapon in the Civil War, the key variable that spelled the difference between victory and defeat. … He was a model of psychological maturity. He managed to be strong-willed without being willful, righteous without being self-righteous, and moral without being moralistic.” (833)
The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy “admired Lincoln’s “peculiar moral power” and “the greatness of his character.” Lincoln, he said, “was what Beethoven was in music, Dante in poetry, Raphael in painting, and Christ in the philosophy of life. … Of all the great national heroes and statesmen of history Lincoln is the only real giant. Alexander, Frederick the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Gladstone and even Washington stand in greatness of character, in depth of feeling and in a certain moral power far behind Lincoln. Lincoln was a man of whom a nation has a right to be proud; he was a Christ in miniature, a saint of humanity, whose name will live thousands of years in the legends of future generations. We are still too near to his greatness, and so can hardly appreciate his divine power; but after a few centuries more our posterity will find him considerably bigger than we do. His genius is still too strong and too powerful for the common understanding, just as the sun is too hot when its light beams directly on us.” Lincoln ‘lived and died a hero, and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives. May his life long bless humanity!’” (834)

(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my chronological journey through presidential biographies, I have arrived at the first A-lister since the Revolutionary Way: Abraham Lincoln. "Honest Abe." The Rail Splitter. The Great Emancipator.

I've read presidential bios of varying lengths now, but Abraham Lincoln deserved first class treatment, and since I got started down this path of reading presidential volumes with Robert Caro's four-volume magnum opus on Lyndon Johnson, I couldn't justify taking the easy out with some lesser work on Lincoln.

Michael Burlingame is a historian whose life's work is Abraham Lincoln, and after having written several other books about Lincoln, he retired to write this one, which clocks in at 2024 pages in print, 83 hours on audiobook! It's split into two massive volumes, the first covering Lincoln's entire life up to his election as president, the second covering his presidency and the Civil War.

And boy does it cover everything. Most biographies necessarily have to leave out a lot of detail. With over 2000 pages, Burlingame covers every documented year of Lincoln's life, with letters and interviews with childhood friends and family, and deep dives into the fascinating world of 1850s Illinois politics. I think Burlingame tracked down just about everything anyone who knew Lincoln ever said about him. There is coverage of every one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, the maneuvers and political brinksmanship that led up to the Civil War, a thorough examination of Lincoln's attitudes, words, and legislation regarding slavery, how he selected his cabinet, and how all the 19th century political sausage was made.

This isn't a book for someone who wants to speed-run through presidential biographies. It is going to be way too much detail for someone who doesn't care about details. But I wasn't bored. I felt immersed in Lincoln's era and Burlingame goes much deeper than all the things "everyone knows" about Lincoln. He does somewhat fall into the trap most biographers do, which is being so fond of his subject that I sometimes questioned the objectivity of his conclusions. Abraham Lincoln: A Life isn't an extremely opinionated biography (Burlingame doesn't reveal much about his personal politics), but it is opinionated, the author sometimes engages in a bit of speculation ("there is no hard evidence for this, but it seems likely"), and it is definitely favorable to its subject. That said, when the author does speculate, he cites extensive sources to justify it.

The Son of Dirt Farmer

Volume one starts with Lincoln's childhood. A lot of presidents exaggerated their own personal histories, or their histories were exaggerated for them, sometimes posthumously. In Lincoln's case, there was no exaggeration: he was literally born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, the son of a no-account dirt farmer and a decent but uneducated mother. Lincoln's mother was known to be the smarter of the two, but she died when he was nine years old. (Here, Burlingame engages in some of his more dubious speculations about how this impacted Lincoln's psyche and his relations with other women.) His father remarried, and Abraham had a very close and affectionate relationship with his stepmother, who was rather shocked at the rude surroundings in which she found herself and did her best to tidy up and "civilize" the Lincoln family.

Abraham's father, Thomas Lincoln, sneered at young Abraham's "book learning." He became much closer to Abraham's step-brother, who also turned out to be a sort of shiftless no-account like his father. Abraham visited his stepmother regularly right until he left for the White House, but when his father died, he declined to visit him on his deathbed or attend the funeral.

Burlingame's account of Lincoln's early life makes it clear both how rough and violent early frontier society was, and how obviously exceptional Lincoln was. He was recognized at a young age as being unusually smart and good-natured. The man who someday would become president never had more than a few years of formal schooling, and yet he became first a lawyer, then a congressman, then a senator, and then president. But his early life was mostly failures. He started many businesses (shopkeeper, ferry operator, surveyor), most of which failed and left him in debt. Even then, he developed a reputation for honesty, and the moniker "Honest Abe," such as when he ran a general store (which failed because he and his partner didn't have good business sense) and would actually walk to a customer's house when he realized he'd accidentally shortchanged them.

He was also starting to enter local politics. He took time out from his unsuccessful political campaigning and his even less successful business to enlist in the local militia during the Black Hawk War. Lincoln never saw combat, but he did see the grisly aftermath of some combats. He entered as a Captain, and mustered out as a Private, just because of how the militias worked back then.

All of this was actually interesting (it really painted a vivid picture of rural Kentucky society, where people were crude, violent, and low-trust, making it all the more remarkable that it could produce a man like Lincoln), but Burlingame goes into even more detail when he reaches Lincoln's legal career. (This was back in the day when anyone could become a lawyer basically under a sort of informal apprenticeship program; no law school or bar exams required.)

Lincoln the Lawyer

Once, when I was a kid, I read a comic book biography of Abraham Lincoln. I remembered one story in that comic in which Lincoln, like some brilliant 19th century Perry Mason, springs a "gotcha" on a witness who claimed to have seen Lincoln's client kill a man under the full moonlight. Lincoln pulls out a Farmer's Almanac and shows the jury that the moon was barely visible that night. Even as a child, I was sure this was a piece of embellished mythology, like George Washington and the cherry tree.

Turns out, not so! People vs. Armstrong was a real case, Lincoln really did that, and his "gotcha" really did get his client (who probably was guilty) acquitted.

Another notable case Burlingame talks about is in re Bryant, also known as the "Matson slave case." This was a case where Lincoln, despite being anti-slavery, defended the property rights of a slave owner. It's a case that has troubled many Lincoln historians. Burlingame argues, with many citations, that this was consistent with Lincoln's extreme devotion to the law as written and his belief that lawyers were morally obligated to "take clients as they come" and provide legal representation to everyone. It foreshadowed some of his later political positions, where despite being anti-slavery, he would hew to "the law as written" even if he didn't like it.

The book details many mixed reports of Lincoln's actual talents as a lawyer. He was known for being honest and diligent in his duties, and he seemed to win a few notably difficult cases. He was also becoming known for telling stories at trial, with folksy, jocular humor, in a way that won over juries the same way he would win over voters later. There are no accounts of him ever being dishonest or sleazy in his law practice. However, apparently not all his fellow lawyers were impressed by him. Some said he was at best a mediocre legal mind, others called him lazy and more interested in kicking back in the law library to read newspapers than actually do work. Some of the negative accounts of him were almost certainly class prejudice; that he was a backwoods hick from Kentucky would follow him all his life, and on several occasions he was treated very haughtily by big city lawyers, even on his own team. It does seem that Lincoln was a conscientious lawyer, but he didn't exactly hustle for clients or shoot for the big cases, which means had he not entered politics, he probably would have remained a modestly successful if well-regarded small-timer.

Lincoln's Love Life

Lincoln was awkward, gangly, and unhandsome. According to the author, he felt abandoned and mistrustful of women because of his mother's early death. (I am not sure Michael Burlingame, as steeped in Lincoln lore as he may be, is quite qualified to diagnose the man's psycho-sexual issues posthumously.) But he did have several romantic affairs, including Ann Rutledge. Apparently, there is some debate among historians as to whether Ann Rutledge and Abraham Lincoln were ever really sweethearts, let alone engaged, but Burlingame is firmly on Team Ann+Abe, and cites contemporary accounts of both their infatuation for each other, and Lincoln's devastation when she died of typhoid. According to Burlingame, it was one of a couple times in his life when Lincoln fell into a nearly suicidal depression.

He eventually recovered, engaged another woman in a semi-long distance relationship, and then when she got prematurely old and fat, he completely lost all attraction to her. And yet he still proposed to her, because he thought it would have been dishonorable of him not to. He was rather humbled when she turned him down!

And then came Mary Todd Lincoln.

Her Satanic Majesty

In 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd, a woman who was to make his domestic life “a burning, scorching hell,” as “terrible as death and as gloomy as the grave,”
according to one who knew him well.

History has not been kind to Mary Todd Lincoln. Widely regarded now as Lincoln's crazy "hell-cat" wife, there have been some attempts to rehabilitate her reputation, arguing that she suffered a difficult if privileged childhood, and that losing most of her children weighed heavily on her. This is true, but Burlingame documents a lot of the things she actually said and did, in front of witnesses, and, well, Mary may have been a traumatized, grief-stricken mother and later widow, but there was a reason Lincoln's White House staff referred to her as "Her Satanic Majesty."

Mary Todd was ambitious, perpetually dissatisfied with Lincoln's failure to earn to his potential and keep her in the manner she thought she was entitled, and at the same time, she claimed long before he even seriously entered politics that she was going to "make him President."

There are multiple accounts of her screaming at him, physically assaulting him, even throwing hot coffee in his face right in front of guests. In one incident, she literally chased him around their yard with a knife! Lincoln grabbed her (and the knife) and dragged her inside only when he saw that the neighbors were watching.

Burlingame speculates that Mary Todd may have suffered from BPD, among other things, but it's clear that she was, by all accounts, an unpleasant woman who constantly embarrassed her husband, caused a great deal of trouble once they were in the White House, and probably was narcissistic and mentally ill.

(Burlingame goes on to detail the entire Todd family - it turns out that many of them were horrible and/or crazy, and most ended up joining the Confederacy. That the author took time to drag Lincoln's in-laws so thoroughly says something both about his attention to detail and where his sympathies lay.)

Lincoln said, during their engagement, "It would just kill me to marry Mary Todd," and it seems pretty clear that while she was infatuated with him, he probably never loved her and knew he wasn't going to be happy with her. Which leads to the obvious question: why did he marry her? The answer appears to be that like his earlier engagement, having led her to believe that he would propose, he felt obligated to actually do it. It rather reminded me of Pierre marrying Helene in War and Peace - he's just so agreeable that he has a hard time resisting where he's being pushed. Lincoln just went along with what appeared to be his fate. When asked where he was going on his wedding day, he said, "To hell, I suppose."

They did not have a happy marriage, and one of Burlingame's more interesting observations is that, if they had, Lincoln would probably never have become president. By nature, he was a homebody and if he'd had a pleasant home to return to, he'd have been content doing an ordinary day's work and then coming home to sit by the fire with his family. Instead, he actively avoided returning home to Mary Todd, and became a workaholic, even traveling frequently and staying at friends' houses overnight (who apparently figured out that he was avoiding going home to his wife), and this played a large part in his rising professionally and then politically.

Mary, of course, would take credit for this later.

In the White House, her behavior was equally bad. She was haughty, imperious, needed to be the center of attention, and flew into rages if another woman (literally) so much as looked at her husband. There is also a great deal of evidence that she took bribes, embezzled public funds, and was involved in more than one scheme with shady White House employees and DC politicians to peddle influence and favors. Lincoln, when he became aware of some of his wife's misbehavior, would quietly settle any debts and fire any staff who'd conspired with her, but he probably (willfully or not) was never aware of the full extent of her venality.

That Time Lincoln Almost Fought a Duel

Lincoln's entrance into politics was fairly unremarkable. Burlingame argues that it was Lincoln's aversion to his rough upbringing as a farmer, and his disgust at his early exposures to slavery, that caused him to reject the Democrats (at that time, the pro-slavery and agriculturalist party) and join the Whig party. Lincoln was an early supporter of Henry Clay, and he entered the Illinois state legislature as a Whig.

As a state legislator, he gained a reputation for witty and scathing takedowns of his opponents, using both the same folksy, funny stories and dad-jokes he used at trial, and much less jocular, satirical, often mean-spirited attacks on political opponents. Like many public figures did back then, he sometimes wrote letters to the papers published under a pseudonym. When he attacked a prominent Democratic rival named James Shields, Shields demanded to know who the "anonymous" letter writer was, and obtained Lincoln's name. He then hunted Lincoln down and demanded an apology or a duel.

What followed was a sort of comedy of manners, with a grim undertone. Lincoln was morally opposed to dueling, but he was no coward, and more importantly, he knew he could not be seen as a coward. When he and Shields were unable to agree on terms (they went back and forth on who would apologize for what first), Lincoln finally accepted the duel - and as the challengee, chose cavalry broadswords for weapons. Given that he was almost a foot taller than Shields and had much longer arms, this would clearly give him an advantage. Shields's party objected that swords were "barbaric" (the usual weapon was pistols), to which Lincoln replied that duels were barbaric, and anyway, Shields was the one who issued the challenge.

They went out to the dueling grounds (in neighboring Missouri, where dueling was still legal), where the two parties finally came to a satisfactory face-saving agreement and the duel was withdrawn.



One Term Congressman



In 1846, Lincoln was elected to Congress. It wasn't his first attempt at the House, but he served an unremarkable term as Illinois's 7th District representative. During this time, he was most notable for attacking President James Polk over the Mexican War, which Lincoln opposed. This would come back to bite him later; much like the later Iraq War, America's intervention on foreign soil would come to be seen as a manufactured, unnecessary war by some partisans, and a patriotic litmus test by others, and Lincoln would later be accused of having attacked American veterans and disparaged their sacrifice in the war. (Lincoln himself would regret the tone with which he attacked Polk, if not the substance.)

A long-time supporter of Henry Clay, Lincoln didn't think Clay could win the presidency in 1848, so he supported Zachary Taylor instead. This would also be used against him later, when he was accused of "betraying" Henry Clay. (The fact was that Clay tried many, many times to win the presidency, and by 1848, his time had come and gone, he just wouldn't accept it.) Lincoln was not rewarded with the post he wanted (Commissioner of the Land Office), which led to some bitterness. He was offered the governorship of the brand new Oregon Territory, which he might have accepted if not for his wife, who refused to go out to the far western frontier in the middle of nowhere. Mary Todd Lincoln would later take credit for "saving" him from dead-ending his political career.

(continued in comments)

[James Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a magnificent book. I feel that I said most of what I have to say in my review of Volume 1 (see here), but can I say a few more words about this Volume? Surely I can. Volume 2 covered Lincoln's presidential years, for the most part, which also coincided with that great and bloody fraternal conflict, the American Civil War. A terrible thing, war. And while this biography revealed how much Lincoln loathed war and its resulting sufferings and agonies, it also revealed Lincoln's steely resolve to hold the Union together. He was determined that the Union would not fail. This biography is not a Civil War history (although as Lincoln was President, we do get a lot of insight into how the war was prosecuted), but I much appreciated understanding in greater detail how Lincoln worked to save this country. Again, this biography is exceptionally detailed and I have almost no complaints whatsoever about the sheer volume of words spilled about this man, as Lincoln's life is intensely fascinating. The only chapter that I did bog down in a bit was the one about patronage, all the jobs Lincoln handled out after ascending to office. This was a bit of dry reading and really not that interesting, but that may be my fault. Nonetheless, this book as a whole was magnificent. I now have a far greater understanding of Lincoln than I did when I started. This book does a fair job of not assuming Lincoln's motivations or feelings, but simply showing what he said and did (backed up by primary sources). This is an incredibly well researched book and I have confidence in the author's work as being an accurate portrayal of Lincoln and the surrounding times. It was fascinating at the end, reading some of the author's notes on some of the sources he used being records of oral reminisces that people shared about Lincoln years and years later. While the author acknowledged that such are not always entirely trustworthy, he also shared that modern scholarship is more confident in oral histories than people in the past have possibly been - and I feel confident that this author did a good job of separating the wheat from the chaff when he did use such sources. For a man that lived one hundred and sixty years ago, it is remarkable what records remain and what can be reconstructed. This book is a monument to research and scholarship and I am most grateful for people like the author who perform such a service to mankind in chronicling history. A few more words before I end. Lincoln is known as being the American Savior, and while he did indeed hold the Union together (almost by sheer force of will at times!), Lincoln himself was often uncomfortable with the adulation he received. He definitely didn't feel he deserved all the credit and we should not idolize a man who was just that, a man. Reading this biography was wonderful because it revealed so much of who Lincoln was, a man that had warts and flaws as we all do, but also a man of passion and moral integrity. A man who longed to do what was right, even when it was difficult and aged him greatly before his time. A man of high ideals and noble character, although still yet just a man. Reading his Second Inaugural Address as I was nearing the end of this book last night, tears sprang to my eyes at the sentiments contained therein. This speech is surely one of the finest speeces in American history. In it Lincoln admitted culpability for the whole Nation for that great sin of Slavery and also acknowledged that as terrible as the war was, God was yet sovereign - indeed, "the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." I would urge you all to read this address that Lincoln gave. It is stunningly powerful and beautiful. I almost want to quote it here, but I shall refrain. But Lincoln powerfully declares the cause of the war...actually whatever. I'm going to quote a few sections of it here:

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other."

Wow, what words. This is why we must read history and biographies, to understand what has come before so we may live in the present with humble hearts and enlightened minds, not seeking to judge others but attempting to live with each other in peace and harmony as we look back and understand the follies of the past. And...what else did Lincoln say? Well, as he acknowledged the horrors of war, he also acknowledges it as being perhaps a judgement from the Lord for the sins of the nation:

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.""

And how then shall we live? Let me end by quoting this piece that we all should think on...words that have their foundation in the Word of God:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

What beautiful words. Please read the whole address.

I do so love reading history and reading about Lincoln this past year has been a most worthwhile and profitable endeavour. It is good to understand what came before. It is good to consider the horrors of the past as we even now live in a current age that is so wracked with ungodly passions and wicked animosities. May we repent of our sins toward our fellow man. May we seek to love our neighbor as ourself. May we turn to God for forgiveness for our own great sins against each other and against Him. Knowing that this current age is so fraught with hatred and sorrow, may we long for that Kingdom that is to come.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now the go-to biography for Lincoln. It is incredibly detailed, yet the narrative flows beautifully. I thought I knew a lot about the man, but I found that there was something new to learn and think about on almost every page. It is also, by default, a portrait of the social and political conditions of America in the mid-19th century, and the reading of these two volumes has been like a trip back in time, which is the highest praise I can give a history book. Simply superb.

[Ross Cohen]

Burlingame's two-part biography of Lincoln is the best I've encountered. Better than any other biographer, he ably reconstructs Lincoln's world, and maintains his vantage point of the Civil War from Lincoln's perspective, whereas many other biographies I'd read lapse into military history. Fantastic.

[Jdb · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This is my 4th Lincoln bio and the best imo.

Like Volume I, Burligame has infused it with much detail on key issues and events affecting Lincoln( 161 pages of footnotes with average of 35 per page). This is both the beauty and the curse of his writing, for too often his supporting information is redundant: thus the 4.5 star rating instead of 5.

4 things stand out for me: (1) the amount of pressure and criticism Lincoln suffered was unbelievable. It came from all directions (including his wife who Burligame harshly pillories) & no matter if he took action or refrained, Lincoln was severely censored. I am amazed he didn’t lose his mind.
(2) Lincoln’s humor and wit was off the charts. Burligame has included dozens of stories and anecdotes of Lincoln, each one a master class in managing people. Apparently, his ability to recall these stories was a way to keep his sanity.
(3) Lincoln’s letters and speeches are masterpieces. In the words of novelist turned civil war military historian, Shelby Foote, “ Lincoln was a literary genius”. ( BTW, this bio contains only a minuscule amount of actual war history. For that I recommend Foote’s 3 volume work).
(4) It is clear that ending slavery was a much more complex issue than we tend to think of it today. Again, Burligame does an outstanding job of describing how Lincoln evolved from “ Leave slavery alone where it exists but forbid its expansion into the territories “ to “If I can save Union and free no slaves I would do that” to compensation for freed slaves to the Emancipation Proclamation freeing only slaves in Union army occupied Confederate territory to the 13th amendment and finally to black suffrage”

If you want to understand Lincoln as well as a modern reader can, then these 2 volumes on his life are for you. Be warned, however, they total 1600 pages and require a substantial time investment. But the reward is worth it.

Did the 30 years of radical abolitionist uncompromising efforts back the south into a corner where war that took 600,000 lives was the only alternative, and then supported a retribution policy rather than Lincoln’s conciliatory approach, subsequently launching decades of Jim Crow ?

Did the radical anti war uncompromising efforts to end the Vietnam war give the North Vietnamese a reason to stall peace negotiations that caused thousands more American lives?

Will today’s radical climate extremist uncompromising efforts to completely shut down the petroleum industry plunge the U.S. & the world into a catastrophic economic decline?

“History does not repeat, but it rhymes.”
Mark Twain

[Andrew Pratley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading two long volumes on Abraham Lincoln is not something everyone will want to do. It is worth it, though. Lincoln was a remarkable man. He also was an extraordinary President. Arguably the greatest ever to occupy that office. As a man it is hard not conclude that if your looking for a personal role model then Abraham Lincoln is about as good as it gets. As a politician having to navigate the jungle that is American politics successfully whilst retaining his principles & keeping his eyes on the prize of leaving the country a better place then again you should no further.

Lincoln operated as a centrist on many issues which often meant he was assailed by all sides at one time or other. This is the cross centrists have to bear.

His critics thought he too honest, too kind, dumb, uncouth, unsophisticated &was often too slow to act. Well if that is worse they say then...

He was sometimes called a tyrant but that charge never really stuck. In the end he was too clever, too steadfast & just too plain right, ensuring he saw them off.

Highly recommended.

Michael Burlingame is regarded as the world's leading living authority on Lincoln. So you are in good hands.

[Pedro Degiovanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout the two volumes of this biography, Burlingame does an excellent job at presenting who Lincoln was as a man: you learn about his favorite songs, the poems that he liked the most, the jokes he enjoyed, who his friends were, and what he thought about the problems of his time. The biography fails, however, when presenting what he did. The author could pull it off when Lincoln was an obscure state legislator in Illinois, but when the presidency begins it just gets out of his hands. There are too many things going on, and his approach, not quite chronological, not quite by topic, makes the book a sequence of disjointed segments.

The way he chose to present the topics doesn't help either: for most of this volume, Burlingame tells you in a few short sentences a policy that Lincoln implemented and follows it with page after page of comments of people at the time: editorials, letters that Senators sent to each other, sermons preached that Sunday in church, etc. The book felt similar to reading the frontpage of realclearpolitics: a bunch of half-thought overreactions, that lose their charm really quick.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of the volume of the Lincoln biography I have read but I will review the entire work in this review. It was an interesting work but I have a hard time being enthusiastic in my praise of it. The book is a recounting of the episodes of Lincoln's life in incredible detail, from his early years to his assassination. The facts about his early life, and his personal life are very interesting but while told in incredible detail and volume, the author kind of leaves it as an exercise for the reader to try to figure out the man himself. This is an OK style but I would have preferred a stronger view of the inner life of Lincoln. I suppose this is difficult to do as such a remove and with such a voluble yet intensely private man such as Lincoln. Still, I had the sense that the book to some extent misses the forest for the trees. Still, the trees are numerous and beautiful in their own way. Still, having finished 2008 pages on Lincoln, I kind of wish I had a better sense of the man, rather than a detailed knowledge of his deeds.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started volume one on February 12, 2023, Lincoln's birthday, and finished volume two today. I am almost angry that I finished it. I am angry that he died and angry that America has never had another like him - a president, anyway. Tolstoy compared him to Christ. Gore Vidal said that he was our American Caeser. It seems he was a man that almost anything could be said of, depending on where you are from and what your political persuasions might be. I think our country is a better country for having had him as a leader when we desperately needed him. I think I am a better person for having read a few hundred pages about him.

[David Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second of a two volume set that is the ultimate in Abraham Lincoln resource. Burlingame is known for his ability to find the most obscure sources of information derived from his many hundreds of hours scrounging through libraries across the country. The amount of detail is extraordinary. And yet the writing style is eminently readable. The two volume set is a commitment - around 2000 pages - but it is a must read for anyone intending to do Lincoln research or wants a deeper understanding of the man's life.

[Kian.ting · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is a Giant of a man. Honest Abe they called him. He is also a man of iron will. Never gave up inspite of family tragedy and harsh public opinion. He is a man with clarity of thought and it shows it in all his actions. I am very fortunate to be able to study his life as part of my annual leadership studies.

[Alex Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

February 1861 to April 1865, covered with all the same strengths that volume 1 had and without focusing so much on military strategy that it loses focus. Lincoln is the centerpiece, as he should be, and those wanting a truly convincing look at the man's life without any concessions or condensing need to pick this up.

[Darryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know Lincoln a lot better after reading this. Gives a very personal portrait. My only complaint is the amount of quotes of what different people thought of Lincoln's speeches or acts. It added significantly to the bulk of the book.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the most definitive comprehensive biography on Abraham Lincoln. I took this on every possible aspect in the most minute detail and in told in such an engaging way. If a person wishes to just read one book on the man this is the book to read.

[Cindy Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half was a little tedious but the second half was very interesting - a bit scandalous and sad.

[Penelope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed, well laid out, lots of details and original source material. Great set.

[Kenneth Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite biographies. Lincoln’s presidency is worth the meticulous detail this book offers.

[Mike Huhndorf]

Lengthy and deep, covering a part of his life highlighted by numerous newspapers of the day. I love the way Burlingame shows the regional disparities and rabid politacal views

[Joshua Welbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read. Not much has changed in the world since Lincoln's day.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lincoln was one of the greatest men to ever live, and this is a good description of his life, so it's a good book

[Keith West · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books that I ever read. Left me feeling like I understand who Lincoln was at a personal level.

[mwr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best book on leadership I’ve ever read (yes—this statement requires qualification).