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Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President
A unique "intellectual biography" of America's most celebrated president. Despite tremendous interest in Abraham Lincoln and his place in one of America's most tumultuous historical periods, little has been written about his religious life. This truly fresh look at the nation's sixteenth president relates the outward events of Lincoln's life to his inner spiritual struggles and sets them both against the intellectual backdrop of his age. Allen Guelzo's unique intellectual biography explores the role of ideas in Lincoln's life, treating him as a serious thinker deeply involved in the nineteenth-century debates over politics, religion, and culture. Lincoln emerges here as a creative yet profoundly paradoxical man--a man possessed of deep moral and religious character yet without adherence to organized religion. More than a masterful biography of a great American figure, this volume also provides important insights into the ideas that have shaped the American landscape. Based on new materials recovered from the papers of Lincoln's early biographers, Gu! ! elzo's work sheds light on the intellectual conflicts that once led to civil war--and that still influence today's "culture wars".
516 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1999
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887 people want to read
About the author
Allen C. Guelzo
59 books277 followersAllen Carl Guelzo (born 1953) is the Henry R. Luce III Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, where he serves as Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program.
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February 20, 2026
An Intellectual And Religious Biography Of Lincoln
Biographies of Abraham Lincoln have tended to fall into two broad categories. The first category consists of biographies of the "subjective" Lincoln. These biographies are based largely on the many anecdotes and stories people told about Lincoln's life, typically during the early years in Illinois and concentrate on trying to explore Lincoln as a man (He remains an enigma.)The second category of Lincoln biography is the political. This biography focuses on Lincoln's public actions, typically during or shortly before his Presidency and draws on the lengthy public record available during the Civil War years. This type of biographical approach tends to give short shrift to the personal approach.
In his "Abraham Lincoln, Redeemer President" (2002) Allen Guelzo points out these two approaches to Lincoln studies (p.472) and says that his book is an attempt to combine the personal and public approaches to Lincoln. Professor Guelzo, at the time of the writing of this book Dean of Templeton Honors College and Professor of History at Eastern University, writes a primarily intellectual biography; but he tries to explore the degree to which Lincoln's thought formed his political actions.
Professor Guelzo devotes a great deal of attention to establishing Lincoln's political identity as a Whig -- an admirer of both Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. From his early days in public life, Lincoln was interested in promoting economic opportunity by encouraging the free market. He supported ambitious programs of public works and public education, to develop transportation infrastructure, (canals, roads, and railroads) and to promote the growth of industry and of a middle class. The Whig approach emphasized public virtue, public morality, the value of hard work, and a unified United States. Guelzo effectively contrasts Lincoln's Whiggish beliefs with the agrarian beliefs of the Jefferson-Jacksonian Democrats with their commitment to a nation of agrarian, self-sufficient yeomen and farmers. (Lincoln's father was such a yeoman, and Lincoln wanted none of it for himself.)
Professor Guelzo traces the beginnings of Lincoln's opposition to the expansion of slavery, in the early 1850's. to his desire to promote the development of upwardly mobile capitalist workers. He tended to see agrarianism as slavery slightly disguised. Lincoln never lost his Whig commitments, according to Professor Guelzo, even after the party disbanded and Lincoln became a leader of the Republican party.
Professor Guelzo also studies the nature of Lincoln's religious beliefs and the importance Lincoln gave to religious questions. As is the case with Lincoln's economic rebellion against his father, Professor Guelzo finds the beginnings of Lincoln's religious thought in a youthful rebellion against the Calvinism and predestinarian beliefs of his father. Lincoln found he could not believe in the revealed God of the Bible, although he knew the Bible well. He could not accept the doctrine of predestination, but he came close to it in a secular way. During most of his life, Lincoln was a determinist who believed that people had little independent choice in what they did but acted in response to outside factors which they did not control.
According to Professor Guelzo, Lincoln also tended towards the enlightenment of John Locke and towards the utilitarianism of Mill and Bentham. His politics and presidency, of course, have distinctly pragmatic characters. Throughout his life, Lincoln remained outside the fold of organized religion.
According to Professor Guelzo, Lincoln's thought developed as Lincoln confronted at deepening levels the difficulty of the Civil War. The beginning of this development was the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates where Lincoln vigorously attacked the morality of holding slaves. Lincoln's thoughts on providence, for Professor Guelzo, were instrumental in Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln told his cabinet he had made a promise "to his maker" to issue the Proclamation and that he could not do otherwise. (pp 341-42.) Guelzo continues his treatment of providential themes in Lincoln with his discussion of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address.
There is also a great deal in the book that discusses Lincoln's handling of the War, the border states, his generals, and the Army. Professor Guelzo's intellectual and religious themes sometimes get lost in these discussions, and we are reminded that Lincoln was a pragmatist, a leader and a consummate politician.
The picture of Lincoln's religiosity that emerges from Professor Guelzo's study has a distinctly modern flavor. (Professor Guelzo sees it as high Victorian.) Lincoln was a person who sought religious belief but could not find his way to an organized religion of his day. He was not, in his mid and late life, content simply with materialism and skepticism but rather developed his own religious thought based upon a rather loosely defined notion of providence and redemption. As personal as his thought was, it helped shape our nation. Lincoln's life, as Professor Guelzo presents it, seems to be a paradigm of many people today who reject organized religion in favor of a search for what many call spirituality.
On a political level, Guelzo's account of Lincoln stresses that the United States is and has become a unified Nation and that Americans should see themselves, for all their diversity and differences as part of a unified people. I also see the book as a reminder of the value of hard work and economic effort.
Professor Guelzo has written a thoughtful, provocative study of Lincoln the man, the thinker, and the president.
Robin Friedman
Biographies of Abraham Lincoln have tended to fall into two broad categories. The first category consists of biographies of the "subjective" Lincoln. These biographies are based largely on the many anecdotes and stories people told about Lincoln's life, typically during the early years in Illinois and concentrate on trying to explore Lincoln as a man (He remains an enigma.)The second category of Lincoln biography is the political. This biography focuses on Lincoln's public actions, typically during or shortly before his Presidency and draws on the lengthy public record available during the Civil War years. This type of biographical approach tends to give short shrift to the personal approach.
In his "Abraham Lincoln, Redeemer President" (2002) Allen Guelzo points out these two approaches to Lincoln studies (p.472) and says that his book is an attempt to combine the personal and public approaches to Lincoln. Professor Guelzo, at the time of the writing of this book Dean of Templeton Honors College and Professor of History at Eastern University, writes a primarily intellectual biography; but he tries to explore the degree to which Lincoln's thought formed his political actions.
Professor Guelzo devotes a great deal of attention to establishing Lincoln's political identity as a Whig -- an admirer of both Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. From his early days in public life, Lincoln was interested in promoting economic opportunity by encouraging the free market. He supported ambitious programs of public works and public education, to develop transportation infrastructure, (canals, roads, and railroads) and to promote the growth of industry and of a middle class. The Whig approach emphasized public virtue, public morality, the value of hard work, and a unified United States. Guelzo effectively contrasts Lincoln's Whiggish beliefs with the agrarian beliefs of the Jefferson-Jacksonian Democrats with their commitment to a nation of agrarian, self-sufficient yeomen and farmers. (Lincoln's father was such a yeoman, and Lincoln wanted none of it for himself.)
Professor Guelzo traces the beginnings of Lincoln's opposition to the expansion of slavery, in the early 1850's. to his desire to promote the development of upwardly mobile capitalist workers. He tended to see agrarianism as slavery slightly disguised. Lincoln never lost his Whig commitments, according to Professor Guelzo, even after the party disbanded and Lincoln became a leader of the Republican party.
Professor Guelzo also studies the nature of Lincoln's religious beliefs and the importance Lincoln gave to religious questions. As is the case with Lincoln's economic rebellion against his father, Professor Guelzo finds the beginnings of Lincoln's religious thought in a youthful rebellion against the Calvinism and predestinarian beliefs of his father. Lincoln found he could not believe in the revealed God of the Bible, although he knew the Bible well. He could not accept the doctrine of predestination, but he came close to it in a secular way. During most of his life, Lincoln was a determinist who believed that people had little independent choice in what they did but acted in response to outside factors which they did not control.
According to Professor Guelzo, Lincoln also tended towards the enlightenment of John Locke and towards the utilitarianism of Mill and Bentham. His politics and presidency, of course, have distinctly pragmatic characters. Throughout his life, Lincoln remained outside the fold of organized religion.
According to Professor Guelzo, Lincoln's thought developed as Lincoln confronted at deepening levels the difficulty of the Civil War. The beginning of this development was the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates where Lincoln vigorously attacked the morality of holding slaves. Lincoln's thoughts on providence, for Professor Guelzo, were instrumental in Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln told his cabinet he had made a promise "to his maker" to issue the Proclamation and that he could not do otherwise. (pp 341-42.) Guelzo continues his treatment of providential themes in Lincoln with his discussion of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address.
There is also a great deal in the book that discusses Lincoln's handling of the War, the border states, his generals, and the Army. Professor Guelzo's intellectual and religious themes sometimes get lost in these discussions, and we are reminded that Lincoln was a pragmatist, a leader and a consummate politician.
The picture of Lincoln's religiosity that emerges from Professor Guelzo's study has a distinctly modern flavor. (Professor Guelzo sees it as high Victorian.) Lincoln was a person who sought religious belief but could not find his way to an organized religion of his day. He was not, in his mid and late life, content simply with materialism and skepticism but rather developed his own religious thought based upon a rather loosely defined notion of providence and redemption. As personal as his thought was, it helped shape our nation. Lincoln's life, as Professor Guelzo presents it, seems to be a paradigm of many people today who reject organized religion in favor of a search for what many call spirituality.
On a political level, Guelzo's account of Lincoln stresses that the United States is and has become a unified Nation and that Americans should see themselves, for all their diversity and differences as part of a unified people. I also see the book as a reminder of the value of hard work and economic effort.
Professor Guelzo has written a thoughtful, provocative study of Lincoln the man, the thinker, and the president.
Robin Friedman
January 25, 2023
I read the new second edition of this 1999 book, which is “updated and revised with a new preface.” The updates, Guelzo explains in his preface, are mostly just minor factual corrections in the text. The preface itself is essentially a continuation of the original's note on sources, in which Guelzo reviews, recommends or reproves Lincoln literature that has appeared since his book's initial publishing. It serves as a good overview of Lincoln-related books that have been published over the past two decades, many of which I have already read and some of which I am now tempted to read.
Otherwise, there’s not much new here for anyone who’s already read the original. I had not, though, so it was all new to me.
As an “intellectual biography,” the book aims to examine Lincoln as a man of ideas, from the religious to the political, from the philosophical to the practical, from the moral to the pragmatic. These contrasting themes swirl around each other throughout the book, and are quite good on their own, but it felt to me that they never really seem to intersect.
The book begins with a scholarly treatise on Jeffersonian America, which essentially announces to the reader that this is not going to be a breezy read filled with thrilling action and compelling personalities. It can get dense, but it gets to Lincoln quickly enough, placing him within the context of his times more successfully than other books that purport to be about Lincoln but barely mention him.
The trajectory of Lincoln’s inner and public lives that Guelzo traces here is familiar - his early religious skepticism that develops into a more respectful, if not quite devout, faith; his early distaste for slavery that develops into a more active opposition to the institution; his early devotion to Whig party principles that never really changes at all. All of it familiar, perhaps, but Guelzo digs deeper to examine how Lincoln grew while remaining true to his sense of morality and justice.
Other familiar signposts of Lincoln’s life story that are not relevant to this book’s focus are well and succinctly summarized - many are dispatched within a parenthetical sentence, in order to acknowledge but not dwell on them.
Once Lincoln becomes president, Guelzo thoroughly examines his tactics, motives and decision-making processes, rather than merely reciting what happened and when. At times, Guelzo defends Lincoln - as in his retort to those who claim he recklessly violated the Constitution by, among other things, suspending the writ of habeas corpus: "Lincoln actually would end up exasperating members of his own party for his reluctance to act more aggressively outside the Constitution," Guelzo points out. Other times, he holds Lincoln to account - "Lincoln's obtuseness to the secession threat was probably the greatest political misjudgment of his life," he writes of Lincoln’s refusal to believe the South would actually go through with it.
Throughout the book, Guelzo attempts to trace the evolution of Lincoln’s religious beliefs, as Lincoln begins making more frequent allusions to God, the Bible and Providence. Separately, he also traces the evolution of Lincoln’s political skills, in leading the country and the war effort, and persuading the sometimes skeptical to follow.
He doesn’t, however, really explore whether Lincoln’s allusions to God, references to religion and appeals to morality were themselves politically pragmatic, even though that interpretation is right there in plain sight, in Guelzo’s own writing. Initially, Lincoln is said to have believed more in the agency of man than the predestination of religion, and that people's actions were based on motives and self-interest more than morality. So when the Kansas-Nebraska Act threatened to put the expansion of slavery up to popular votes, Lincoln had to tailor his argument to his audience, playing up the moral argument against slavery because appealing to Southern self-interest simply wouldn’t work. "He needed a morality with which to embarrass popular sovereignty's appeal to selfishness,” Guelzo observes. So had Lincoln seen the moral light in appealing to the better angels of the public’s nature, or was he merely using morality to achieve a political result?
Lincoln also came to revere the Declaration of Independence, which declared that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Was it because he believed that meant God opposed slavery, negating Southern arguments that God supported their side of the slavery debate? Or was his reverence for the Declaration more politically calculated? To Whigs, the equality clause “translated into economic opportunism,” not necessarily social egalitarianism. And Lincoln also liked tweaking Democrats who tried to downplay the Declaration - "it gave Lincoln no end of amusement to twist Democratic tails with the words of their own champion," Guelzo writes of the Jefferson-authored document.
And in Lincoln’s most religious address of all, his Second Inaugural, Guelzo's interpretation suggests that the religious allusions were not a sign of Lincoln’s own religious awakening, but more calculating in trying to dissuade both North and South from believing God was on their side alone, particularly Northern Radicals who might be looking to seek vengeance on the South.
Guelzo simply doesn’t draw a direct line between religion and political pragmatism as I have attempted to do in the examples above - he could have done better to combine these themes he otherwise treats separately, to explain how Lincoln harnessed religion to rally support for the war and prepare the nation for postwar reconciliation, or whether Lincoln’s increasing use of religious appeals was less of a personal religious awakening than it was a more calculated rhetorical device aimed at persuading the public.
Guelzo’s examination of Lincoln’s religious thought concludes that he came to believe in "judgment and expiation... rather than redemption," ultimately sacrificing himself as atonement for all. That interpretation, however, implies that Lincoln knowingly and willingly martyred himself, which seems to be taking his spiritual transformation just a bit too far.
As a whole, the book thoughtfully shows how Lincoln grew, spiritually and politically. I just didn’t think Guelzo fully explored how each informed the other. It doesn’t brand Lincoln a hypocrite to suggest that he used religion to achieve political goals, any more than it does to suggest that he used the political system to achieve moral goals. Much has been written about Lincoln since this book initially came out, and some of these themes have been explored in more detail. So a re-release of a quarter-century-old book may not add anything new to our understanding of Lincoln, but it remains a thought-provoking, if somewhat frustratingly incomplete, read.
Otherwise, there’s not much new here for anyone who’s already read the original. I had not, though, so it was all new to me.
As an “intellectual biography,” the book aims to examine Lincoln as a man of ideas, from the religious to the political, from the philosophical to the practical, from the moral to the pragmatic. These contrasting themes swirl around each other throughout the book, and are quite good on their own, but it felt to me that they never really seem to intersect.
The book begins with a scholarly treatise on Jeffersonian America, which essentially announces to the reader that this is not going to be a breezy read filled with thrilling action and compelling personalities. It can get dense, but it gets to Lincoln quickly enough, placing him within the context of his times more successfully than other books that purport to be about Lincoln but barely mention him.
The trajectory of Lincoln’s inner and public lives that Guelzo traces here is familiar - his early religious skepticism that develops into a more respectful, if not quite devout, faith; his early distaste for slavery that develops into a more active opposition to the institution; his early devotion to Whig party principles that never really changes at all. All of it familiar, perhaps, but Guelzo digs deeper to examine how Lincoln grew while remaining true to his sense of morality and justice.
Other familiar signposts of Lincoln’s life story that are not relevant to this book’s focus are well and succinctly summarized - many are dispatched within a parenthetical sentence, in order to acknowledge but not dwell on them.
Once Lincoln becomes president, Guelzo thoroughly examines his tactics, motives and decision-making processes, rather than merely reciting what happened and when. At times, Guelzo defends Lincoln - as in his retort to those who claim he recklessly violated the Constitution by, among other things, suspending the writ of habeas corpus: "Lincoln actually would end up exasperating members of his own party for his reluctance to act more aggressively outside the Constitution," Guelzo points out. Other times, he holds Lincoln to account - "Lincoln's obtuseness to the secession threat was probably the greatest political misjudgment of his life," he writes of Lincoln’s refusal to believe the South would actually go through with it.
Throughout the book, Guelzo attempts to trace the evolution of Lincoln’s religious beliefs, as Lincoln begins making more frequent allusions to God, the Bible and Providence. Separately, he also traces the evolution of Lincoln’s political skills, in leading the country and the war effort, and persuading the sometimes skeptical to follow.
He doesn’t, however, really explore whether Lincoln’s allusions to God, references to religion and appeals to morality were themselves politically pragmatic, even though that interpretation is right there in plain sight, in Guelzo’s own writing. Initially, Lincoln is said to have believed more in the agency of man than the predestination of religion, and that people's actions were based on motives and self-interest more than morality. So when the Kansas-Nebraska Act threatened to put the expansion of slavery up to popular votes, Lincoln had to tailor his argument to his audience, playing up the moral argument against slavery because appealing to Southern self-interest simply wouldn’t work. "He needed a morality with which to embarrass popular sovereignty's appeal to selfishness,” Guelzo observes. So had Lincoln seen the moral light in appealing to the better angels of the public’s nature, or was he merely using morality to achieve a political result?
Lincoln also came to revere the Declaration of Independence, which declared that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Was it because he believed that meant God opposed slavery, negating Southern arguments that God supported their side of the slavery debate? Or was his reverence for the Declaration more politically calculated? To Whigs, the equality clause “translated into economic opportunism,” not necessarily social egalitarianism. And Lincoln also liked tweaking Democrats who tried to downplay the Declaration - "it gave Lincoln no end of amusement to twist Democratic tails with the words of their own champion," Guelzo writes of the Jefferson-authored document.
And in Lincoln’s most religious address of all, his Second Inaugural, Guelzo's interpretation suggests that the religious allusions were not a sign of Lincoln’s own religious awakening, but more calculating in trying to dissuade both North and South from believing God was on their side alone, particularly Northern Radicals who might be looking to seek vengeance on the South.
Guelzo simply doesn’t draw a direct line between religion and political pragmatism as I have attempted to do in the examples above - he could have done better to combine these themes he otherwise treats separately, to explain how Lincoln harnessed religion to rally support for the war and prepare the nation for postwar reconciliation, or whether Lincoln’s increasing use of religious appeals was less of a personal religious awakening than it was a more calculated rhetorical device aimed at persuading the public.
Guelzo’s examination of Lincoln’s religious thought concludes that he came to believe in "judgment and expiation... rather than redemption," ultimately sacrificing himself as atonement for all. That interpretation, however, implies that Lincoln knowingly and willingly martyred himself, which seems to be taking his spiritual transformation just a bit too far.
As a whole, the book thoughtfully shows how Lincoln grew, spiritually and politically. I just didn’t think Guelzo fully explored how each informed the other. It doesn’t brand Lincoln a hypocrite to suggest that he used religion to achieve political goals, any more than it does to suggest that he used the political system to achieve moral goals. Much has been written about Lincoln since this book initially came out, and some of these themes have been explored in more detail. So a re-release of a quarter-century-old book may not add anything new to our understanding of Lincoln, but it remains a thought-provoking, if somewhat frustratingly incomplete, read.
April 25, 2018
Nothing less than a tour-de-force. I'm tempted to say that only a religious person—particularly a Christian—could understand this almost certainly unbelieving politician and thinker. Guelzo finds a theme in Lincoln's theology that he, successfully in my opinion, traces throughout his life, namely a predestinarianism shorn of belief in God's personal goodness to Lincoln himself. This fatalistic theology guided Lincoln into making the most difficult decisions of the war. This is the key insight from the book, in my judgment:
What does Guelzo mean? He explains a little more early on in the book:
Liberalism, as Stanley Fish never tires of observing (and I never tire of observing him observe), has no transcendent norms to appeal to. (And here I'm not taking a potshot at Democrats; Guelzo and Fish and I mean here "classical liberalism," the kind which encompasses nearly all significant American politicians on any side of any aisle.) Liberalism is supposed to maintain procedural neutrality among competing visions of the good. But what that means in the end is that might often makes right. And in 1861, as Lincoln took the helm of a divided nation, mighty interests on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line preferred that the slaves not be freed. Lincoln himself saw clearly that praise and blame could not be apportioned neatly to North and South, respectively. It took an appeal to the Declaration of Independence's Creator—who created all men equal—to free the slaves. Serious voices in 1860 argued that the Declaration was not law, but thankfully it remained a moral polestar.
I have never dug this deep into Lincoln before, encountering him mainly through his most famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, both of which Guelzo analyzes with great insight—and in both of which he easily finds Lincoln's predestinarian deism. One thing that really impressed me was how accidental Lincoln's role as sage and Great Emancipator really was. I mean that as no slight against him; when the time came, he worked with great skill and dedication. But the time was long in coming. He wasn't born with a desire to free the slaves. The conviction came on him slowly, and even very close to the last he was considering various political deals which fell short of full, lasting emancipation. If the war hadn't been so fierce, the slaves may have remained in bondage. But Southern victories forced Lincoln's hand. It was fascinating to watch what I, too, see as the hand behind that hand in freeing America's oppressed legions.
I was also surprised to be taught a fact that I should have known: it was not at all obvious to anyone at the close of the Civil War what the future of the nation would be. We view Lincoln's acts through a prism of national success and even national unity under multiple trials, especially two world wars. But the prospect that legal challenges to emancipation would negate all the blood spilled in the Civil War was all too real as Lincoln lay in a deathbed "fate" chose for him. It speaks to his wisdom that I moved from South Carolina to Washington last year with no trouble.
It was also fascinating to me to hear Guelzo's expert summations of previous Lincoln biographies, going back to the very first. Americans have long molded their view of Lincoln to their liking. No doubt Guelzo has done this in some way, too. But it does appear to take the passing of many decades before party loyalties and political issues fade enough to give historians a fair crack at someone like Lincoln. I'm late to the praise and should have read this years ago, but Guelzo has written a triumph.
Lincoln's own peculiar providentialism, his Calvinized deism, in fact played a controlling role in the outcome of the Civil War. In the most general sense, his appeal to the mysteries of providence in the fall of 1862 gave him permission to ignore the manifest signs on all hands that the Union was playing the war to no better than a draw, and that any resort to emancipation was folly. But in the most specific instance, providence was what allowed him to overrule the moral limitations of liberalism. To do liberalism's greatest deed—the emancipation of the slaves—Lincoln had to step outside liberalism and surrender himself to the direction of an overruling divine providence whose conclusions he had by no means prejudged. (447)
What does Guelzo mean? He explains a little more early on in the book:
[Lincoln] would come at the end ... to see that liberalism could never achieve its highest goal of liberation and mobility without appealing to a set of ethical, even theological, principles that seemed wholly beyond the expectations and allowances of liberalism itself. While he would hold organized religion at arm's length, he would come to see liberalism's preoccupation with rights needing to be confined within some public framework of virtue, a framework he would find in a mystical rehabilitation of his ancestral Calvinism and an understanding of the operations of divine providence. (20-21)
Liberalism, as Stanley Fish never tires of observing (and I never tire of observing him observe), has no transcendent norms to appeal to. (And here I'm not taking a potshot at Democrats; Guelzo and Fish and I mean here "classical liberalism," the kind which encompasses nearly all significant American politicians on any side of any aisle.) Liberalism is supposed to maintain procedural neutrality among competing visions of the good. But what that means in the end is that might often makes right. And in 1861, as Lincoln took the helm of a divided nation, mighty interests on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line preferred that the slaves not be freed. Lincoln himself saw clearly that praise and blame could not be apportioned neatly to North and South, respectively. It took an appeal to the Declaration of Independence's Creator—who created all men equal—to free the slaves. Serious voices in 1860 argued that the Declaration was not law, but thankfully it remained a moral polestar.
I have never dug this deep into Lincoln before, encountering him mainly through his most famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, both of which Guelzo analyzes with great insight—and in both of which he easily finds Lincoln's predestinarian deism. One thing that really impressed me was how accidental Lincoln's role as sage and Great Emancipator really was. I mean that as no slight against him; when the time came, he worked with great skill and dedication. But the time was long in coming. He wasn't born with a desire to free the slaves. The conviction came on him slowly, and even very close to the last he was considering various political deals which fell short of full, lasting emancipation. If the war hadn't been so fierce, the slaves may have remained in bondage. But Southern victories forced Lincoln's hand. It was fascinating to watch what I, too, see as the hand behind that hand in freeing America's oppressed legions.
I was also surprised to be taught a fact that I should have known: it was not at all obvious to anyone at the close of the Civil War what the future of the nation would be. We view Lincoln's acts through a prism of national success and even national unity under multiple trials, especially two world wars. But the prospect that legal challenges to emancipation would negate all the blood spilled in the Civil War was all too real as Lincoln lay in a deathbed "fate" chose for him. It speaks to his wisdom that I moved from South Carolina to Washington last year with no trouble.
It was also fascinating to me to hear Guelzo's expert summations of previous Lincoln biographies, going back to the very first. Americans have long molded their view of Lincoln to their liking. No doubt Guelzo has done this in some way, too. But it does appear to take the passing of many decades before party loyalties and political issues fade enough to give historians a fair crack at someone like Lincoln. I'm late to the praise and should have read this years ago, but Guelzo has written a triumph.
July 10, 2014
Abraham Lincoln is one of my historical heroes – perhaps my favorite historical figure. I would not have thought much new or fresh could be written about Lincoln, but Allen Guelzo proves me wrong. This book is less a biography or a history, and more a narrative Lincoln’s intellectual and spiritual evolution through the course of his life set against a background of his life and career, both antebellum and during the war. It is a subtle and deep examination of Lincoln’s moral, religious, political and philosophical beliefs, and the influences that affected the evolution in his thinking and policies, most especially as regards slavery – the great national issue of his day, and the root cause of the war.
Some (but not all) of Guelzo’s digressions into theology, cultural trends and social conventions, European philosophers and the American manifestations of such trends in spiritual, political and social venues ran farther afield for more pages than my interest could support, but he always brought the narrative back to Lincoln – and when focused on Lincoln this book is impossible to put down. He explains Jeffersonian ideals and contrasts that vision for America with Lincoln’s – explaining the origins of Lincoln’s beliefs and vision for America. He offers extensive new and absorbing detail into Lincoln’s life – his early years, his legal practice, his relationship with George McClellan (that chapter alone is worth the price of the book), his marriage, his private life… and more!
This may not be the one single book you need to read about Lincoln, but it is absolutely one of the three or four you must read if you want to learn about Lincoln.
Some (but not all) of Guelzo’s digressions into theology, cultural trends and social conventions, European philosophers and the American manifestations of such trends in spiritual, political and social venues ran farther afield for more pages than my interest could support, but he always brought the narrative back to Lincoln – and when focused on Lincoln this book is impossible to put down. He explains Jeffersonian ideals and contrasts that vision for America with Lincoln’s – explaining the origins of Lincoln’s beliefs and vision for America. He offers extensive new and absorbing detail into Lincoln’s life – his early years, his legal practice, his relationship with George McClellan (that chapter alone is worth the price of the book), his marriage, his private life… and more!
This may not be the one single book you need to read about Lincoln, but it is absolutely one of the three or four you must read if you want to learn about Lincoln.
January 2, 2024
Allen Guelzo arguably lists as one of the top three contemporary Lincoln scholars, with many Lincoln writings to his credit. It didn’t start that way. His earliest degrees were in biblical studies and church history before turning to more secular history, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War. We are all the better because of it. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President was written in 1999 while he was at Eastern University before his long career at Gettysburg College (and his recent switch to Princeton). A second edition was released in 2023, but it is essentially unchanged.
Those who know Guelzo will see his superb writing and erudition in this book despite its age. He brings his religious expertise into a book that is both an intellectual and religious biography of Lincoln. Redeemer examines Lincoln as a Whig, as well as from a religious, or perhaps spiritual, perspective; and whether those two are compatible. Scholars of Lincoln know that he regularly quoted scriptures, mostly as parable early on, but in what appeared to be a more religious sense as the Civil War proceeded. But did religious belief drive his actions to save the Union and end slavery?
Lincoln was always a Whig, Guelzo makes clear. The book is essentially a straight biography from this perspective. Lincoln consistently believed in internal improvements, a national bank, and protective tariffs. He believed in an active and strong federal government to stimulate inclusive economic growth, the epitome of Hamiltonian/Clay “American System” economics, as opposed to the Jeffersonian/Jacksonian agrarianism and weak federal government that wouldn’t get in the way of the slave-powered aristocratic economy. Guelzo stands on firm footing as he discusses these aspects.
The second major theme inspired the book’s title, Lincoln as “redeemer” in the biblical sense of savior of the nation and the termination of slavery. By necessity, this is more speculative as Lincoln rarely spoke or wrote about his religious beliefs. Clearly Lincoln seemed more religious as he aged, especially after Willie died in the White House and hundreds of thousands of soldiers died on the battlefield. The overt religious language of his second inaugural address suggests a deep-seated belief, or perhaps a fundamental understanding of how to reach the populace with a message of charity for all. Lincoln spoke of providence more frequently during the war, but was this because he felt as an instrument of providence, or simply pragmatic use of faith-based communication to reach the distraught masses? Guelzo suggests Lincoln was more pragmatic than experiencing a personal religious awakening. Despite Guelzo’s deep and insightful treatment, he acknowledges that the question remains unanswered.
Redeemer President is one of those Lincoln books that everyone must read in their lifetime. It is superbly written and insightful digging into both Lincoln’s Whig political drivers and his spiritual motivations for saving – redeeming – the nation. Guelzo shows us why Lincoln is such a fascinating figure – he, and the times, were complicated – and the author does an excellent job parsing it all out for us to examine.
David J. Kent
President, Lincoln Group of DC
Author, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius
Those who know Guelzo will see his superb writing and erudition in this book despite its age. He brings his religious expertise into a book that is both an intellectual and religious biography of Lincoln. Redeemer examines Lincoln as a Whig, as well as from a religious, or perhaps spiritual, perspective; and whether those two are compatible. Scholars of Lincoln know that he regularly quoted scriptures, mostly as parable early on, but in what appeared to be a more religious sense as the Civil War proceeded. But did religious belief drive his actions to save the Union and end slavery?
Lincoln was always a Whig, Guelzo makes clear. The book is essentially a straight biography from this perspective. Lincoln consistently believed in internal improvements, a national bank, and protective tariffs. He believed in an active and strong federal government to stimulate inclusive economic growth, the epitome of Hamiltonian/Clay “American System” economics, as opposed to the Jeffersonian/Jacksonian agrarianism and weak federal government that wouldn’t get in the way of the slave-powered aristocratic economy. Guelzo stands on firm footing as he discusses these aspects.
The second major theme inspired the book’s title, Lincoln as “redeemer” in the biblical sense of savior of the nation and the termination of slavery. By necessity, this is more speculative as Lincoln rarely spoke or wrote about his religious beliefs. Clearly Lincoln seemed more religious as he aged, especially after Willie died in the White House and hundreds of thousands of soldiers died on the battlefield. The overt religious language of his second inaugural address suggests a deep-seated belief, or perhaps a fundamental understanding of how to reach the populace with a message of charity for all. Lincoln spoke of providence more frequently during the war, but was this because he felt as an instrument of providence, or simply pragmatic use of faith-based communication to reach the distraught masses? Guelzo suggests Lincoln was more pragmatic than experiencing a personal religious awakening. Despite Guelzo’s deep and insightful treatment, he acknowledges that the question remains unanswered.
Redeemer President is one of those Lincoln books that everyone must read in their lifetime. It is superbly written and insightful digging into both Lincoln’s Whig political drivers and his spiritual motivations for saving – redeeming – the nation. Guelzo shows us why Lincoln is such a fascinating figure – he, and the times, were complicated – and the author does an excellent job parsing it all out for us to examine.
David J. Kent
President, Lincoln Group of DC
Author, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius
August 2, 2024
Allen Guelzo has become one of my favorite historians and I thoroughly enjoyed this bio of Lincoln. Guelzo does a great job showing the intellectual development of Lincoln. He traces out the religious and political roots of Lincoln. Lincoln is not portrayed as a secret evangelical nor is he a base scoffer at the end. Lincoln was a very complex man. Yet, I consider him truly a giant in the history of our nation. He, like America, had many flaws who rose above them to do extraordinary things.
June 18, 2014
http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2014/...
“Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President” is Allen Guelzo’s 1999 biography of Abraham Lincoln which was awarded the 2000 Lincoln Prize. Guelzo is a Professor and Director of Civil War Era studies at Gettysburg College. He is the author of over a dozen books, most of which are focused on Abraham Lincoln or other aspects of the Civil War.
Often described as an “intellectual biography” Guelzo’s book is certainly not a traditional review of Lincoln’s life. Rather than colorfully tracing Lincoln’s path from birth to death and examining the forces that shaped his life and character, the author sets a different tone by beginning the book with a lengthy political and philosophical treatise.
Subsequent chapters walk through his life, generally chronologically, but with frequent philosophical side-trips to discuss Lincoln’s worldview (including his religious views, his perspective toward slavery, and his political tenets). Although the timeline is never as clear in “Redeemer President” as in other biographies, Guelzo does a better job providing broad political context for Lincoln’s youth and rise in Illinois (and national) politics.
Unfortunately, the author’s writing style resembles that of a professor and not of a novelist; the text is filled with erudite but arduous passages which must be read twice to be fully understood. While many biographies are both entertaining and informative, Guelzo’s tends heavily toward a dry, academic and taxing style.
Readers who are able to move slowly through the book and drink in sips, not gulps, will find intellectual treasures among its pages. But those determined to move at a steady pace with consistent forward progress will find the book frustrating and often inaccessible. Even the most patient reader will find the flow uneven and demanding.
As might be expected of a biography of this type, there is little focus on Lincoln’s family life or his relationships with his friends or advisers. Guelzo does not tell a dramatic story of Lincoln’s self-education or his improbable political rise as do other authors, nor does he closely follow the arc of the Civil War during Lincoln’s presidency. Instead, Guelzo leaves traditional biographical principles to others and focuses on his investigation and analysis of the intellectual, philosophical and moral underpinnings of Lincoln’s character.
As a result, “Redeemer President” is not helpful in following Lincoln’s day-to-day life, in understanding the fascinating backstory to his presidential nomination, or in following Lincoln’s interactions with his Cabinet. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are very interestingly probed but far too rapidly dispatched. And only two pages are required to bridge the months between Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency and his election.
On the other hand, Guelzo’s epilogue is one of the very best concluding sections of any presidential biography I’ve ever read. In two-dozen beautifully written pages he distills the most valuable essence of the preceding four-hundred pages, organizing his thoughts so articulately and comprehensibly that I decided to read it twice – not for clarity, but out of contentment. If only the entire book had been similarly written.
Overall, Allen Guelzo’s “Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President” is an intellectual biography of Lincoln about which I am unabashedly ambivalent. The author tackles deep philosophical issues worth exploring, but conveys them in a style that is likely to appeal only to an academic audience. Missing from the book is a seamless thread which follows Lincoln’s life from beginning to end in a rich, vibrant and entertaining manner. To be sure, Guelzo offers the tenacious and prepared reader a bounty of wisdom and insight, but “Redeemer President” is unlikely to appeal to a broad audience seeking a traditional biography of Abraham Lincoln.
Overall rating: 3¾ stars
“Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President” is Allen Guelzo’s 1999 biography of Abraham Lincoln which was awarded the 2000 Lincoln Prize. Guelzo is a Professor and Director of Civil War Era studies at Gettysburg College. He is the author of over a dozen books, most of which are focused on Abraham Lincoln or other aspects of the Civil War.
Often described as an “intellectual biography” Guelzo’s book is certainly not a traditional review of Lincoln’s life. Rather than colorfully tracing Lincoln’s path from birth to death and examining the forces that shaped his life and character, the author sets a different tone by beginning the book with a lengthy political and philosophical treatise.
Subsequent chapters walk through his life, generally chronologically, but with frequent philosophical side-trips to discuss Lincoln’s worldview (including his religious views, his perspective toward slavery, and his political tenets). Although the timeline is never as clear in “Redeemer President” as in other biographies, Guelzo does a better job providing broad political context for Lincoln’s youth and rise in Illinois (and national) politics.
Unfortunately, the author’s writing style resembles that of a professor and not of a novelist; the text is filled with erudite but arduous passages which must be read twice to be fully understood. While many biographies are both entertaining and informative, Guelzo’s tends heavily toward a dry, academic and taxing style.
Readers who are able to move slowly through the book and drink in sips, not gulps, will find intellectual treasures among its pages. But those determined to move at a steady pace with consistent forward progress will find the book frustrating and often inaccessible. Even the most patient reader will find the flow uneven and demanding.
As might be expected of a biography of this type, there is little focus on Lincoln’s family life or his relationships with his friends or advisers. Guelzo does not tell a dramatic story of Lincoln’s self-education or his improbable political rise as do other authors, nor does he closely follow the arc of the Civil War during Lincoln’s presidency. Instead, Guelzo leaves traditional biographical principles to others and focuses on his investigation and analysis of the intellectual, philosophical and moral underpinnings of Lincoln’s character.
As a result, “Redeemer President” is not helpful in following Lincoln’s day-to-day life, in understanding the fascinating backstory to his presidential nomination, or in following Lincoln’s interactions with his Cabinet. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are very interestingly probed but far too rapidly dispatched. And only two pages are required to bridge the months between Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency and his election.
On the other hand, Guelzo’s epilogue is one of the very best concluding sections of any presidential biography I’ve ever read. In two-dozen beautifully written pages he distills the most valuable essence of the preceding four-hundred pages, organizing his thoughts so articulately and comprehensibly that I decided to read it twice – not for clarity, but out of contentment. If only the entire book had been similarly written.
Overall, Allen Guelzo’s “Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President” is an intellectual biography of Lincoln about which I am unabashedly ambivalent. The author tackles deep philosophical issues worth exploring, but conveys them in a style that is likely to appeal only to an academic audience. Missing from the book is a seamless thread which follows Lincoln’s life from beginning to end in a rich, vibrant and entertaining manner. To be sure, Guelzo offers the tenacious and prepared reader a bounty of wisdom and insight, but “Redeemer President” is unlikely to appeal to a broad audience seeking a traditional biography of Abraham Lincoln.
Overall rating: 3¾ stars
October 31, 2015
Guelzo is a noted Civil War and Lincoln scholar, having won the Lincoln Prize three times. This is not a traditional biography of Lincoln. Instead, it is more of an intellectual and religious biography. Given that, the Civil War, along with most of its major players, is treated perfunctorily except in situations that specifically demanded a review of Lincoln's thought process (example: the firing of General George McClellan after repeated missed opportunities to attack the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, coupled with his insubordinate and disrespectful attitude towards Lincoln).
One of the strengths of the book is the emphasis on Lincoln's political and religious thought formation from birth forward. Guelzo writes at length about Lincoln's devotion to the doomed Whig Party, and how he only reluctantly became a Republican when it was no longer feasible to cling to any hopes of the Whig Party existing. He carries this through to the final chapter, which is really a good summation of how his assassination was viewed throughout the country, culminating in the final pages with a review of Lincoln's political and intellectual growth.
The religious overtones of the book made it somewhat tedious and dry to read. Ultimately, I do not think that anyone can pin Lincoln down on which religion he actually belonged to, or believed in the most. This is because he foreswore formal religious participation in lieu of a spiritual belief that God existed. Guelzo spends way too much time on this for my liking, as it caused the book to take on an even greater academic overtone.
Grade: C+
One of the strengths of the book is the emphasis on Lincoln's political and religious thought formation from birth forward. Guelzo writes at length about Lincoln's devotion to the doomed Whig Party, and how he only reluctantly became a Republican when it was no longer feasible to cling to any hopes of the Whig Party existing. He carries this through to the final chapter, which is really a good summation of how his assassination was viewed throughout the country, culminating in the final pages with a review of Lincoln's political and intellectual growth.
The religious overtones of the book made it somewhat tedious and dry to read. Ultimately, I do not think that anyone can pin Lincoln down on which religion he actually belonged to, or believed in the most. This is because he foreswore formal religious participation in lieu of a spiritual belief that God existed. Guelzo spends way too much time on this for my liking, as it caused the book to take on an even greater academic overtone.
Grade: C+
July 26, 2018
This is an outstanding intellectual biography of Lincoln. Guelzo resurrects Lincoln's Whig origins, identifying the importance of Mill, Bentham, Smith and other liberal, reason and market-oriented thinkers in his world view. Lincoln, like those he read, fashioned his ideology for his times, seeing a vital role for government to create the institutions and conditions for free men to thrive. Slavery was thus, not only a moral wrong, but an economic system which denied opportunity for wage bound workers like himself.
While many religious thinkers have tried to clothe Lincoln in their garb, Guezlo argues that Abraham's growing use of religious metaphors and references to the divine point not to a hidden faith, but rather were the public expressions of his enduring fatalism. Lincoln was both urgently ambitious, yet saw all the world a stage, with forces far beyond our own charting the story. It was this admittedly strange doctrine that Guezlo argues is the reason Lincoln could genuinely have 'malice towards none' in his heart and head.
This is an excellent book, from one of the great historians of the Civil War. The writing is easy, the pace is balanced and the argument compelling. It doesn't quite reach the depths of some intellectual biographies such as Kevin J. Haye's Road to Monticello in that the references and discussions of Lincoln's reading's are short and sparse. And the necessity of the Civil War story somewhat takes over from the life of the mind, but it is a grand achievement none the less.
While many religious thinkers have tried to clothe Lincoln in their garb, Guezlo argues that Abraham's growing use of religious metaphors and references to the divine point not to a hidden faith, but rather were the public expressions of his enduring fatalism. Lincoln was both urgently ambitious, yet saw all the world a stage, with forces far beyond our own charting the story. It was this admittedly strange doctrine that Guezlo argues is the reason Lincoln could genuinely have 'malice towards none' in his heart and head.
This is an excellent book, from one of the great historians of the Civil War. The writing is easy, the pace is balanced and the argument compelling. It doesn't quite reach the depths of some intellectual biographies such as Kevin J. Haye's Road to Monticello in that the references and discussions of Lincoln's reading's are short and sparse. And the necessity of the Civil War story somewhat takes over from the life of the mind, but it is a grand achievement none the less.
October 13, 2008
Guelzo's book is an excellent intellectual biography that firmly sets Lincoln within the context of his times, while not diminishing him to that context. Lincoln's Whig commitments to personal and national development are set against his subsistence farming, Democratic upbringing. His providentialial view of history and historical status (post assassination) as Redeemer President are set against his own inability to either claim faith and redemption for himself or escape the Calvinistic determinism of his upbringing. His hatred of slavery, originating in his own chafing at the severe patriarchal restraints of his childhood, slowly developed amid the political crisis that was the 1850s. Always a politician and aware of the limits that politics might demand of Northern political structures and inherent racism, he moved deliberately (yes, sometimes erratically and slowly by our modern accounts) towards a recognition of black humanity and the moral, political, and military necessity of their emancipation. Without a background in the history (political, social, intellectual and religious) of the time, I suspect this would not be an easy book to read, but I know it is rewarding, both for the background it reveals and the new insights it provides to Lincoln's intellectual life. It also only made me want to read more Lincoln biographies - Donald (again) and Carwardine here I come.
November 9, 2021
Lincoln's inner spiritual side struggles against his the intellectual backdrop of his age. Guelzo presents Lincoln as a serious thinker deeply involved in the problems of nineteenth-century thought, including those of classical liberalism, the Lockean enlightenment, Victorian unbelief, and Calvinist spirituality. Lincoln is shown as a philosophical man who appropriates certain religious values without adhering to any religion, who insists on the pre-eminence of self-interest in spite of becoming the Great Emancipator, and who appeals to natural law and natural theology in politics while remaining a classical nineteenth-century liberal in principle. Guelzo based his book on primary materials from a wide variety of archives and adds delightful touches, heretofore, have never been told: after first year of consulting with others and full inclusion of ideas, Lincoln learned to ask for opinions but held his cards close to the vest.
April 9, 2022
Outstanding. A truly fascinating and eye-opening biography of a great man. Definitely written in a more academic fashion than I'm used to, so it was slow-going, but it was worth it. Very informative - not only regarding Lincoln, but also the political, economic and social landscape of the time, and the forces that led to the Civil War. I hope Lincoln came to a saving faith in Christ before the end, but it seems he tragically never recognized the deity of Christ and the truth of His Gospel.
March 31, 2025
An amazing book, rich with historical insights and details. The writing style is meaty and very mentally engaging. One of America’s premier historians AND writers. And he knows Lincoln thoroughly. Quite rewarding to spend time with this book.
August 26, 2023
Outstanding work. Dr. Guelzo is a brilliant historian. I will be reading more of his works.
December 5, 2024
A good solid biography of Lincoln, but I was disappointed it didn't dive into his intellectual history more deeply. A lot of general historical material was used, but without making the tie to Lincoln's thinking explicit.
February 20, 2023
There have been few truly great American Presidents. Most have been mediocre. A few have risen to the top, and generally, that's because they took office during difficult moments in America's history. We might not always agree with their actions, but they demonstrated leadership that stood out. Of course, George Washington is numbered among the greats for he was the first. Jefferson, Jackson, and the two Roosevelts, are among the few. Between the presidencies of Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt, only one person stood out. That was, of course, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, like Washington, carries almost mythological dimensions to his identity. Truly there have been many hagiographical biographies that offer him up as almost superhuman. He might not be Abraham Lincoln, "Vampire Slayer," but almost. There, of course, biographies that offer up a much more balanced and realistic picture. Not all of these are of the same caliber, but they try to present Lincoln in more balanced terms.
Allen Guelzo's "Redeemer President" is one of the best presentations of Lincoln's life. This particular book under review is the second edition. As I did not read the first edition, this is my first engagement with Guelzo's detailed portrayal of Lincoln the thinker, politician, and war-time leader. This is very much an intellectual biography, something Guelzo makes clear upfront. This biography of Lincoln is Guelzo's contribution to Eerdmans' "Library of Religious Biography." What is interesting about this particular contribution to that series is that religion is not the dominant topic in this biography. Guelzo was reluctant to write about Lincoln for a series focusing on religious biography because most books covering Lincoln and religion were not good and tended to sink the authors of those books "into the quicksand of academic obloquy." He didn't want to fall into that hole. Nevertheless, he finally agreed to write the biography but with the stipulation that it would be an intellectual biography that located "Lincoln on the larger map of American religion and liberal democratic political theory in the nineteenth century" (p. xi). The first edition appeared in 1999. The degree to which he revised is hard for me to discern, so I read it as if it were a brand-new contribution.
As this is an intellectual biography, details about family and other relationships are not front and center. Yes, we learn about his upbringing and his eventual marriage to Mary Todd, as well as some conversation about his children, but the details are still rather spare. What Guelzo brings into the book are details that help us center Lincoln's thinking about various dimensions of American political and religious life. If you're looking for more personal details, you'll want to consult other books.
What we learn from this biography is that Lincoln was always eager to learn. He was a voracious reader of many different genres. Though, as a lawyer, he wasn't all that interested in reading lawbooks, except when necessary. He would rather read Shakespeare or perhaps John Stuart Mill. Politically, he was an old-school Henry Clay Whig, who believed in the superiority of free wage labor and internal improvements, something that the Jeffersonian agrarians were opposed to. It should then not surprise us that as a lawyer he represented railroads and that as President he signed the bill that led to the building of the transcontinental railroad.
Religiously, he was brought up by a father who embraced a hard-edged Calvinist predestinarian belief system. Though he rejected the Calvinist Baptist tradition of his father and became something of a free thinker who appreciated Thomas Paine and John Stuart Mill. Nevertheless, those predestinarian roots continued to influence his general belief in providence, even if that belief was naturalistic, it had dimensions of his roots. This vision would influence his behavior and decision-making as a lawyer, politician, and most of all as a war-time President.
The story begins, not with Lincoln's birth but with the intellectual milieu in which he lived. As noted he was a Henry Clay Whig, who stood opposed to the southern agrarianism of Jefferson and Jackson. At the same time, he was a great believer in the importance of the Declaration of Independence, which served as the foundation of his argument against the extension of slavery. It's important to remember that Lincoln was not an abolitionist, but he believed that slave labor was inferior to wage labor and that if contained slavery would eventually disappear. Guelzo notes that Lincoln was born three weeks before Jefferson finished his second term in office. While living in Jefferson's shadow throughout much of his life, their value system was very different. Specifically, Lincoln stood opposed to Jefferson's patrician values. Instead of patrician landowners, most of whom were slave owners, Lincoln represented middle-class northern and western merchants and professionals. Born on a farm, he didn't see that life as one to be embraced. In other words, Lincoln was very much the capitalist who embraced middle-class values.
Guelzo takes through Lincoln's life journey that landed him in Springfield, Illinois, where he eventually became an attorney and politician. He served in the Illinois legislature and for one term served in Congress. We learn about the dynamics surrounding his marriage to Mary Todd, whose family he had come to know well in Springfield. We learn about his devoted support to Henry Clay and his support as well of Whig candidates for President including Zachary Taylor. The first half of the book gets us to the eve of his election as President, including his famous debates with Stephen Douglas. We learn that while Lincoln won more popular votes, it was the Democratic-controlled legislature that elected senators. Thus, he did not win. But, his star was rising, and with the Democrats divided north and south over how to deal with slavery in the territories, a concern that was exacerbated by Roger Taney's "Dred Scott" decision, the possibility of secession was quite real. So, by the time the election occurred in 1860, the nation was divided north and south, and since the Democratic part divided along sectional lines, Lincoln was able to win. However, he inherited a divided nation that before too long would be at war.
While Lincoln was a great orator and debater, he wasn't an administrator. He had been a legislator, but not a manager. Thus, when he became President he struggled to manage his administration and deal with the challenges facing him. We've heard much about Lincoln's team of rivals, but what Guelzo reveals is that while there were strong personalities in the Cabinet, who represented different viewpoints, Lincoln largely ignored them. He treated them as department administrators, not as advisors. He largely took his own counsel or that of others he trusted, mostly from Illinois. So much for the team of rivals.
After South Carolina seceded, a militia lay siege to Fort Sumter before finally firing on it before relief could be brought in support of the beleaguered defenders, Lincoln was faced with the reality that war was inevitable. The challenge that faced him was balancing the positions between northern non-slave states and the border states where slavery was still present. This included Maryland, which provided the northern border of the north-south divide. So, we walk through the story of the Civil War, including Lincoln's challenge in finding competent generals willing to fight. As we know from other sources, Lincoln's first priority reuniting the country. Only later did he come to understand that slavery had to go. The South wanted to extend slavery into the territories, and the leadership would fight for that right. Thus, emancipation, at least in recaptured territories became necessary and feasible only after the Union started winning battles, especially in the east. Thus, it was only after Antietam that he could move in that direction.
Much of this story is well known, and since this book has a religious dimension, we learn that Lincoln was never a believer, though in Washington he went to New York Avenue Presbyterian, which was served by an old-school Calvinist (of the Charles Hodge type). Nevertheless, he never became a believer. However, he did affirm the reality of providence and saw himself enveloped by it. In other words, he was a fatalist. While he wasn't a believer, he did believe that religion played a valuable role in public life. The Whigs, unlike the Jeffersonian Democrats, had always embraced religion as an important part of their identity. Thus, Lincoln called for the appointment of chaplains for the army, something the Democrats had always opposed.
Of course, in the end, he was assassinated while going to the theater, a reality that posed a problem for some of his hagiographers and evangelical supporters, nevertheless they found ways of rationalizing the place of his death. His death was in many ways due to his own fatalism. Whether he lived or died was a matter of providence, and so he tended to go out without escort or seek to evade his escort. That night he went to the theater with only two escorts, and thus John Wilkes Booth found easy access to his box.
Guelzo offers us an important portrait of a man who is sometimes more myth than reality that is direct and detailed. This is very much a scholarly biography, even if it does not have footnotes/endnotes. It does carry "A Note On Sources." As an intellectual biography, it is rather dense. There are few light stories in this book. So it will take a bit of diligence to move through it. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile effort. With so much pseudo-history out there (I'm surprised Eric Metaxas hasn't written one of his famous faux bios), this should continue to be a standard biography of one of America's most important political figures.
Allen Guelzo's "Redeemer President" is one of the best presentations of Lincoln's life. This particular book under review is the second edition. As I did not read the first edition, this is my first engagement with Guelzo's detailed portrayal of Lincoln the thinker, politician, and war-time leader. This is very much an intellectual biography, something Guelzo makes clear upfront. This biography of Lincoln is Guelzo's contribution to Eerdmans' "Library of Religious Biography." What is interesting about this particular contribution to that series is that religion is not the dominant topic in this biography. Guelzo was reluctant to write about Lincoln for a series focusing on religious biography because most books covering Lincoln and religion were not good and tended to sink the authors of those books "into the quicksand of academic obloquy." He didn't want to fall into that hole. Nevertheless, he finally agreed to write the biography but with the stipulation that it would be an intellectual biography that located "Lincoln on the larger map of American religion and liberal democratic political theory in the nineteenth century" (p. xi). The first edition appeared in 1999. The degree to which he revised is hard for me to discern, so I read it as if it were a brand-new contribution.
As this is an intellectual biography, details about family and other relationships are not front and center. Yes, we learn about his upbringing and his eventual marriage to Mary Todd, as well as some conversation about his children, but the details are still rather spare. What Guelzo brings into the book are details that help us center Lincoln's thinking about various dimensions of American political and religious life. If you're looking for more personal details, you'll want to consult other books.
What we learn from this biography is that Lincoln was always eager to learn. He was a voracious reader of many different genres. Though, as a lawyer, he wasn't all that interested in reading lawbooks, except when necessary. He would rather read Shakespeare or perhaps John Stuart Mill. Politically, he was an old-school Henry Clay Whig, who believed in the superiority of free wage labor and internal improvements, something that the Jeffersonian agrarians were opposed to. It should then not surprise us that as a lawyer he represented railroads and that as President he signed the bill that led to the building of the transcontinental railroad.
Religiously, he was brought up by a father who embraced a hard-edged Calvinist predestinarian belief system. Though he rejected the Calvinist Baptist tradition of his father and became something of a free thinker who appreciated Thomas Paine and John Stuart Mill. Nevertheless, those predestinarian roots continued to influence his general belief in providence, even if that belief was naturalistic, it had dimensions of his roots. This vision would influence his behavior and decision-making as a lawyer, politician, and most of all as a war-time President.
The story begins, not with Lincoln's birth but with the intellectual milieu in which he lived. As noted he was a Henry Clay Whig, who stood opposed to the southern agrarianism of Jefferson and Jackson. At the same time, he was a great believer in the importance of the Declaration of Independence, which served as the foundation of his argument against the extension of slavery. It's important to remember that Lincoln was not an abolitionist, but he believed that slave labor was inferior to wage labor and that if contained slavery would eventually disappear. Guelzo notes that Lincoln was born three weeks before Jefferson finished his second term in office. While living in Jefferson's shadow throughout much of his life, their value system was very different. Specifically, Lincoln stood opposed to Jefferson's patrician values. Instead of patrician landowners, most of whom were slave owners, Lincoln represented middle-class northern and western merchants and professionals. Born on a farm, he didn't see that life as one to be embraced. In other words, Lincoln was very much the capitalist who embraced middle-class values.
Guelzo takes through Lincoln's life journey that landed him in Springfield, Illinois, where he eventually became an attorney and politician. He served in the Illinois legislature and for one term served in Congress. We learn about the dynamics surrounding his marriage to Mary Todd, whose family he had come to know well in Springfield. We learn about his devoted support to Henry Clay and his support as well of Whig candidates for President including Zachary Taylor. The first half of the book gets us to the eve of his election as President, including his famous debates with Stephen Douglas. We learn that while Lincoln won more popular votes, it was the Democratic-controlled legislature that elected senators. Thus, he did not win. But, his star was rising, and with the Democrats divided north and south over how to deal with slavery in the territories, a concern that was exacerbated by Roger Taney's "Dred Scott" decision, the possibility of secession was quite real. So, by the time the election occurred in 1860, the nation was divided north and south, and since the Democratic part divided along sectional lines, Lincoln was able to win. However, he inherited a divided nation that before too long would be at war.
While Lincoln was a great orator and debater, he wasn't an administrator. He had been a legislator, but not a manager. Thus, when he became President he struggled to manage his administration and deal with the challenges facing him. We've heard much about Lincoln's team of rivals, but what Guelzo reveals is that while there were strong personalities in the Cabinet, who represented different viewpoints, Lincoln largely ignored them. He treated them as department administrators, not as advisors. He largely took his own counsel or that of others he trusted, mostly from Illinois. So much for the team of rivals.
After South Carolina seceded, a militia lay siege to Fort Sumter before finally firing on it before relief could be brought in support of the beleaguered defenders, Lincoln was faced with the reality that war was inevitable. The challenge that faced him was balancing the positions between northern non-slave states and the border states where slavery was still present. This included Maryland, which provided the northern border of the north-south divide. So, we walk through the story of the Civil War, including Lincoln's challenge in finding competent generals willing to fight. As we know from other sources, Lincoln's first priority reuniting the country. Only later did he come to understand that slavery had to go. The South wanted to extend slavery into the territories, and the leadership would fight for that right. Thus, emancipation, at least in recaptured territories became necessary and feasible only after the Union started winning battles, especially in the east. Thus, it was only after Antietam that he could move in that direction.
Much of this story is well known, and since this book has a religious dimension, we learn that Lincoln was never a believer, though in Washington he went to New York Avenue Presbyterian, which was served by an old-school Calvinist (of the Charles Hodge type). Nevertheless, he never became a believer. However, he did affirm the reality of providence and saw himself enveloped by it. In other words, he was a fatalist. While he wasn't a believer, he did believe that religion played a valuable role in public life. The Whigs, unlike the Jeffersonian Democrats, had always embraced religion as an important part of their identity. Thus, Lincoln called for the appointment of chaplains for the army, something the Democrats had always opposed.
Of course, in the end, he was assassinated while going to the theater, a reality that posed a problem for some of his hagiographers and evangelical supporters, nevertheless they found ways of rationalizing the place of his death. His death was in many ways due to his own fatalism. Whether he lived or died was a matter of providence, and so he tended to go out without escort or seek to evade his escort. That night he went to the theater with only two escorts, and thus John Wilkes Booth found easy access to his box.
Guelzo offers us an important portrait of a man who is sometimes more myth than reality that is direct and detailed. This is very much a scholarly biography, even if it does not have footnotes/endnotes. It does carry "A Note On Sources." As an intellectual biography, it is rather dense. There are few light stories in this book. So it will take a bit of diligence to move through it. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile effort. With so much pseudo-history out there (I'm surprised Eric Metaxas hasn't written one of his famous faux bios), this should continue to be a standard biography of one of America's most important political figures.
December 4, 2012
I enjoyed Guelzo's biography even more than Donald and Carwardine. In Guelzo's account we find the tension in Lincoln's mind of a war that in governed by the control of God's providential oversight. Yet, this kind of view partly taken from his hard shell Baptist upbringing does not bring much solace for Lincoln. Guelzo does well to bring out the Whig political struggles and the political setbacks that Lincoln faced in a continual basis.
We also get personal insight from Lincoln's friends and public reporters on the background of his marriage to Mar Todd, her mental unhinging and the emotional toll Lincoln felt trying to care for her and their many devastating family experiences.
While Carwardine does a good job on evangelicalism and antebellum politics and Donald goes into details about the political races, the great strength of Guelzo is his insistence on the moral character of Lincoln's views on slavery, his development in understanding providence and seeking to get inside the emotional turmoil inside of Lincoln because of the war and his family life.
Of particular note is his alignment of Lincoln and the Princeton professor Charles Hodge concerning their similar viewpoints, both politically and on theology. (See page 418).
This book was a real gem in studies on Lincoln, but not an easy read.
We also get personal insight from Lincoln's friends and public reporters on the background of his marriage to Mar Todd, her mental unhinging and the emotional toll Lincoln felt trying to care for her and their many devastating family experiences.
While Carwardine does a good job on evangelicalism and antebellum politics and Donald goes into details about the political races, the great strength of Guelzo is his insistence on the moral character of Lincoln's views on slavery, his development in understanding providence and seeking to get inside the emotional turmoil inside of Lincoln because of the war and his family life.
Of particular note is his alignment of Lincoln and the Princeton professor Charles Hodge concerning their similar viewpoints, both politically and on theology. (See page 418).
This book was a real gem in studies on Lincoln, but not an easy read.
February 15, 2015
A very interesting book not only about Abraham Lincoln, but a more holistic approach about the world he lived in, the USA at that time, the political parties, the religious understanding of the time, etc. Mind you that the author's language is more difficult and has an in depth approach. Sometimes I read a section more than once to comprehend the author's mind.
I don't recommend that you start with this book, if you want to understand Abraham Lincoln.
I don't recommend that you start with this book, if you want to understand Abraham Lincoln.
February 19, 2023
While some have called this an "intellectual biography" of Lincoln, it is far more than that.
Written by the eminent Civil War historian Allen Guelzo, it in many respects is quite similar to the more recent book "And There Was Light" by Jon Meachem. Both works are superb, but Meachem's is probably the more readable and accessible for most readers, not because Professor Guelzo is not a superb writer, but because Guelzo's intent is to dig much deeper into Lincoln's political thinking -- and trace its remarkable continuity -- than does Meachem.
Both give a similar revealing treatment of Lincoln's growth from birth to the great Lincoln-Douglas debates that amounted to Lincoln's national "coming out" as a figure to be watched, and both do equal justice to Mary Lincoln and their difficult marriage. And both, of course, cannot help but conclude with Lincoln's tragic and most untimely demise at the hands of the murderer John Wilkes Booth.
Where Guelzo excels is giving readers a much more fulsome look into the politics of the day, especially between the then Democrats and the Whigs. This can be confusing since many Whigs ended up becoming Republicans, a newer party that Lincoln, too, eventually joined. Moreover, it is amazing -- and confusing to modern readers -- how the essential positions on practically everything of the two parties has "flipped" from then to now.
The Democrats were the more populist of the parties, and adhered to Jefferson's admiration for small "yeoman farmers" as the keepers of the revolution's flame and promise, while also being highly suspicious of any expansion of the federal government's role in the Republic, most notably in their resistance to any kind of National Bank and to most internal improvements, such as canals, railroads, and telegraph lines.
The Whigs -- and later the Republicans -- looked more toward the "small, independent manufacturers" and tradesmen as the basis for the future Republic. Because these would benefit from the kind of internal improvements that would not only improve communication but also these "people of the interior" to gain access to more distant markets in order to transmit their goods, the Whigs favored both financial reforms and national support of newer technology in both communication and transportation.
Guelzo shows how it was Lincoln's strong belief in the ability of free men to hire themselves out in order to receive adequate compensation for their labor that caused him to oppose slavery and its threatened expansion into the newer territories acquired through the Louisiana Purchase and the presidentially contrived Mexican-American war. Guelzo, like Meachem, fully portrays Lincoln's slow growth in understanding, appreciating, and championing Blacks and, I think convincingly, argues that his core opposition to slavery was equally occasioned by his fear -- and subsequent political argument -- that slavery's expansion would effectively subject ALL citizens to the real danger of having free-labor employment overrun by slave labor, thereby reducing freemen themselves to a less advantageous state, as well as to his conviction that Black people WERE human beings and, as such, were equally promised the ringing declarations found in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.
Guelzo gives a fascinating overview of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 as they undertook a weeks-long journey through Illinois visiting a community in each county in order to debate -- at length (4-5 hours) -- the major question of the day: the future of the Republic and the role that slavery ought to have in it.
Along with this insightful reporting, Guelzo also gives us detailed observations about both the changing moods of key institutions of the press as well as the views of politicians both North and South. In so doing, he helps us better understand how Lincoln could NOT have advanced the cause of emancipation of Black people any earlier than he did, even had he wanted to. Lincoln, slow to enlarge his commitment to Black people being freed of enslavement to encompassing their full EQUAL rights as human beings, nonetheless was far advanced over most of the press and the voters.
I better appreciated the resultant "slow dance" Lincoln exhibited in raising the nation's conscience -- that of the North, anyway -- along with that of the principal newspapers in moving them towards seeing the necessity of eventual emancipation if the Republic were to survive.
But it is these very intimate portraits -- in many cases quite detailed and extensive -- that while I as a former politician greatly appreciated also believe that for many general readers might make for some tedious reading.
For Lincoln admirers and Civil War buffs, I recommend BOTH Meacham's and Guelzo's works. For the general reader, I think Meacham's has the edge.
Written by the eminent Civil War historian Allen Guelzo, it in many respects is quite similar to the more recent book "And There Was Light" by Jon Meachem. Both works are superb, but Meachem's is probably the more readable and accessible for most readers, not because Professor Guelzo is not a superb writer, but because Guelzo's intent is to dig much deeper into Lincoln's political thinking -- and trace its remarkable continuity -- than does Meachem.
Both give a similar revealing treatment of Lincoln's growth from birth to the great Lincoln-Douglas debates that amounted to Lincoln's national "coming out" as a figure to be watched, and both do equal justice to Mary Lincoln and their difficult marriage. And both, of course, cannot help but conclude with Lincoln's tragic and most untimely demise at the hands of the murderer John Wilkes Booth.
Where Guelzo excels is giving readers a much more fulsome look into the politics of the day, especially between the then Democrats and the Whigs. This can be confusing since many Whigs ended up becoming Republicans, a newer party that Lincoln, too, eventually joined. Moreover, it is amazing -- and confusing to modern readers -- how the essential positions on practically everything of the two parties has "flipped" from then to now.
The Democrats were the more populist of the parties, and adhered to Jefferson's admiration for small "yeoman farmers" as the keepers of the revolution's flame and promise, while also being highly suspicious of any expansion of the federal government's role in the Republic, most notably in their resistance to any kind of National Bank and to most internal improvements, such as canals, railroads, and telegraph lines.
The Whigs -- and later the Republicans -- looked more toward the "small, independent manufacturers" and tradesmen as the basis for the future Republic. Because these would benefit from the kind of internal improvements that would not only improve communication but also these "people of the interior" to gain access to more distant markets in order to transmit their goods, the Whigs favored both financial reforms and national support of newer technology in both communication and transportation.
Guelzo shows how it was Lincoln's strong belief in the ability of free men to hire themselves out in order to receive adequate compensation for their labor that caused him to oppose slavery and its threatened expansion into the newer territories acquired through the Louisiana Purchase and the presidentially contrived Mexican-American war. Guelzo, like Meachem, fully portrays Lincoln's slow growth in understanding, appreciating, and championing Blacks and, I think convincingly, argues that his core opposition to slavery was equally occasioned by his fear -- and subsequent political argument -- that slavery's expansion would effectively subject ALL citizens to the real danger of having free-labor employment overrun by slave labor, thereby reducing freemen themselves to a less advantageous state, as well as to his conviction that Black people WERE human beings and, as such, were equally promised the ringing declarations found in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.
Guelzo gives a fascinating overview of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 as they undertook a weeks-long journey through Illinois visiting a community in each county in order to debate -- at length (4-5 hours) -- the major question of the day: the future of the Republic and the role that slavery ought to have in it.
Along with this insightful reporting, Guelzo also gives us detailed observations about both the changing moods of key institutions of the press as well as the views of politicians both North and South. In so doing, he helps us better understand how Lincoln could NOT have advanced the cause of emancipation of Black people any earlier than he did, even had he wanted to. Lincoln, slow to enlarge his commitment to Black people being freed of enslavement to encompassing their full EQUAL rights as human beings, nonetheless was far advanced over most of the press and the voters.
I better appreciated the resultant "slow dance" Lincoln exhibited in raising the nation's conscience -- that of the North, anyway -- along with that of the principal newspapers in moving them towards seeing the necessity of eventual emancipation if the Republic were to survive.
But it is these very intimate portraits -- in many cases quite detailed and extensive -- that while I as a former politician greatly appreciated also believe that for many general readers might make for some tedious reading.
For Lincoln admirers and Civil War buffs, I recommend BOTH Meacham's and Guelzo's works. For the general reader, I think Meacham's has the edge.
April 12, 2019
I have always been intrigued by Abraham Lincoln and read a few works about him. What differs this book from the others is that it is a thorough analysis of his intellectual and spiritual progress. It affirms Lincoln was a great thinker and, though he may be a man of faith, was most definitely not a Christian.
Lincoln was a complex man and did his job the best he could during a tumultuous time in US history. He was troubled, surely brought on by the burden of keeping the country intact while trying to uphold his anti-slavery stance. His view on slaves was influenced by his (hyper) Calvinistic upbringing. He agonized over his convictions and how they could be implemented during America’s severest political crisis.
He opposed Jefferson’s agrarian agenda that was wholly dependent on slaves to flourish. He advocated for “progress, middle-class individualism, and the opportunities for economic self-improvement” as long as it “is for the good of the greatest number.” He didn’t believe in a personal God, but viewed Providence as “nothing more than the ‘necessity’ imposed by cause and effect, just as the will responded automatically to motives and the call of self-interest.”
Though lacking in historical philosophical traditions, America during the antebellum years was actually a hotspot for intellectual and cultural progress. Modern thinkers ignore that those years were a “cornucopia of ideologies” and thus, never thought of Lincoln, who rose to prominence during that time, as a great thinker.
I believe this passage sums up what our current society needs to hear about Lincoln:
“While he would hold organized religion at arm's length, he would come to see liberalism's preoccupation with rights needing to be confined within some public framework of virtue, a framework he would find in a mystical rehabilitation of his ancestral Calvinism and an understanding of the operations of divine Providence.”
He saw the rights of the slaves to live their own lives as the more virtuous right above the slaveowners’ who depended on them, despite their plantations’ providing economic benefits. We could very well learn from this conviction and apply it to the horrific practice of state-sanctioned abortion, which is shamelessly cloaked as a women’s right trumping everything else, including human life.
Lincoln was a complex man and did his job the best he could during a tumultuous time in US history. He was troubled, surely brought on by the burden of keeping the country intact while trying to uphold his anti-slavery stance. His view on slaves was influenced by his (hyper) Calvinistic upbringing. He agonized over his convictions and how they could be implemented during America’s severest political crisis.
He opposed Jefferson’s agrarian agenda that was wholly dependent on slaves to flourish. He advocated for “progress, middle-class individualism, and the opportunities for economic self-improvement” as long as it “is for the good of the greatest number.” He didn’t believe in a personal God, but viewed Providence as “nothing more than the ‘necessity’ imposed by cause and effect, just as the will responded automatically to motives and the call of self-interest.”
Though lacking in historical philosophical traditions, America during the antebellum years was actually a hotspot for intellectual and cultural progress. Modern thinkers ignore that those years were a “cornucopia of ideologies” and thus, never thought of Lincoln, who rose to prominence during that time, as a great thinker.
I believe this passage sums up what our current society needs to hear about Lincoln:
“While he would hold organized religion at arm's length, he would come to see liberalism's preoccupation with rights needing to be confined within some public framework of virtue, a framework he would find in a mystical rehabilitation of his ancestral Calvinism and an understanding of the operations of divine Providence.”
He saw the rights of the slaves to live their own lives as the more virtuous right above the slaveowners’ who depended on them, despite their plantations’ providing economic benefits. We could very well learn from this conviction and apply it to the horrific practice of state-sanctioned abortion, which is shamelessly cloaked as a women’s right trumping everything else, including human life.
June 28, 2022
Guelzo starts from the beginning laying out his purpose of using his pages on Lincoln as an "intellectual history" of the man. Throughout the book, he definitely fulfills this aim. Much time is given to the early development of the philosophy of Lincoln in his early entrance into politics and how his old school "Whig-ism" stuck with him throughout his life. Also, there are large swaths given to Lincoln's view of religion and Providence and how those views he held squared with the "orthodoxy" of his day. Overall, Guelzo's biography is thought provoking about how men come to be who they are and what causes men to act the way they do as a situation develops. I found the book interesting and helpful into better understanding Lincoln's actions. At times, the timeline is less linear than some other biographies, but tracks the intellectual nature of Lincoln. Though a bit outside of biographical normalcy, it is neither distracting nor difficult on the reader to stay with the thought lines Guelzo develops throughout the book. For a first time reader, the introduction and epilogue should probably both be read before and after starting the book.
September 25, 2019
This is an excellent biography. Guelzo brings his expertise in the history of ideas, especially those affecting the religious landscape of antebellum America, to bring to light a different side of President Lincoln: Lincoln as a man of ideas. Guelzo argues Lincoln was a Whig by conviction and temperament, adhering to that party's philosophy of free labor and economic development in contrast to Jefferson's vision of an agrarian society. Even more interesting, Guelzo explores how Lincoln was shaped by, and in opposition to, his Calvinist heritage. The challenge in a biography of this sort would be to pigeon-hole one's subject into a static representative of a particular viewpoint. Guelzo avoids this, instead tracing a nuanced portrait of a man whose intellectual world was not static but dynamic, developing in response to the personal and national tragedies Lincoln experienced in office.
March 13, 2025
Though this author did a thorough job of describing the life and public service of the former president Abraham Lincoln, the book could have been cut in half, if not more. The writing was extremely boring, not bring the character and person of Lincoln to life in any significant or interesting means. I certainly cannot say that I didn’t learn anything. In fact, I learned a lot! Particularly about how the American image of Lincoln is greatly distorted. However, as far as biography’s go, this is one of the most boring I’ve read by far. For future readers, I would recommend picking up another book about Lincoln.
May 4, 2025
The book is an examination of Lincoln as a Whig and as a man struggling with belief in the Almighty. The author does an amazing job at digging into Lincoln's early life, and addressing these issues which are normally passed over in other biographies. Where he fails miserably is the MASSIVE oversimplification he gives to events during the War Between the States to which they alter the events to the point of even falsehood. He will also make points which are common knowledge for history buffs, but which had not been brought up in his writings before that point and leads to a great deal of confusion for the reader. There's a lot that I liked in this book, but there's more that I didn't like.
November 18, 2020
I never could decide if this was written more for a lay audience or an academic audience. Getting into Lincolns head was quite an experience. The amount of research that would have to be done, to have looked at so many things that Lincoln read and said and get to some of his underlying philosophies is quite an undertaking. It’s all here and it’s a bit of a long ride partly because there is so much detail and some of that is just historical context. Mostly you can see why the context is there but at other times it is not clear.
December 23, 2023
I apparently knew nothing of Lincoln. Dr. Guelzo, like most good historians, showed me I had a lot to learn about and from Lincoln. He was odd, maybe ugly. Irreligious, except when he wasn't. Honest, but conniving. Tall, but fast. And most of all, an American.
His childhood saddened me.
His midlife saddened me. Depression was apparently a thing, even back then.
His death was also saddening.
I learned a lot about the party of the Whigs.
And, of course lawyering, and politicking.
And one more face checked off Mt. Rushmore.
Teddy is coming up next.
B. Grizenko
His childhood saddened me.
His midlife saddened me. Depression was apparently a thing, even back then.
His death was also saddening.
I learned a lot about the party of the Whigs.
And, of course lawyering, and politicking.
And one more face checked off Mt. Rushmore.
Teddy is coming up next.
B. Grizenko
February 8, 2025
Excellent. Guelzo's biography delves into the theological, philosophical, and political ideas that shaped Lincoln's thinking throughout his life. His picture of Lincoln is complex, and it's easy to see why there are so many strikingly-different views of Lincoln that exist today (e.g., Lincoln the evangelical, Lincoln the secularist, Lincoln the savior of democracy, Lincoln the promoter of big government). Guelzo is also a great writer and storyteller, making the journey through Lincoln's life a fascinating and enjoyable one.
August 12, 2018
I expected this to be better than I found it. Perhaps if I get around to reading it I'll appreciate it more.
Probably part of the problem was having just listened to Burlingame's biography.
(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})
Probably part of the problem was having just listened to Burlingame's biography.
(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})
December 15, 2018
Superb
What can one say? Well-written, deeply researched, and thoughtfully reasoned. Guelzo’s work is fascinating. He delves into Lincoln’s struggle with a Calvinistic God, his “out-of-step” Whiggish convictions and deeply-convinced Enlightenment worldview. Guelzo reveals Lincoln’s deep internal struggles over Christianity, not the current New Atheist doubts, but the pain of a man burdened with his own shortcomings. Guelzo’s book is a must read for Lincoln lovers.
What can one say? Well-written, deeply researched, and thoughtfully reasoned. Guelzo’s work is fascinating. He delves into Lincoln’s struggle with a Calvinistic God, his “out-of-step” Whiggish convictions and deeply-convinced Enlightenment worldview. Guelzo reveals Lincoln’s deep internal struggles over Christianity, not the current New Atheist doubts, but the pain of a man burdened with his own shortcomings. Guelzo’s book is a must read for Lincoln lovers.
January 31, 2026
The book is quite long, but it is very excellent. It described a lot of Lincoln's life, but also gave a lot of context for the time period leading up to the Civil War, which taught a lot of history. Even when the biography seems to go on tangents to explain other people or events, it does feed back into the context and the main point of the book. And I also like the attempt to try and wrestle with the ideology of Lincoln, to understand it better, rather than simply recounting his life.
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