The Age of Lincoln

by Orville Vernon Burton

Stunning in its breadth and conclusions, The Age of Lincoln is a fiercely original history of the five decades that pivoted around the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Abolishing slavery, the age’s most extraordinary accomplishment, was not its most profound. The enduring legacy of the age was inscribing personal liberty into the nation’s millennial aspirations.

America has always perceived providence in its progress, but in the 1840s and 1850s a pessimism accompanied a marked extremism. With all sides claiming God’s blessing, irreconcilable freedoms collided; despite historic political compromises the middle ground collapsed. In a remarkable reappraisal of Lincoln, the distinguished historian Orville Vernon Burton shows how the president’s Southernness empowered him to conduct a civil war that redefined freedom as a personal right protected by the rule of law. In the violent decades that followed, the extent of that freedom would be contested by racism and unregulated capitalism, but not its central place in what defined the country.

Presenting a fresh conceptualization of the opening decades of modern America, The Age of Lincoln is narrative history of the highest order.

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

432 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2007

Reviews

[JMM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burton's analysis of 19th-century America was not what I was expecting when I picked up a book entitled The Age of Lincoln. I'd assumed it would be (and looked forward to reading) a new presentation of the Civil War and the years preceding it. It did indeed offer many new insights into that era, but also went well beyond Lincoln's death through Reconstruction and nearly to the twentieth century. I was a little annoyed about that at first, but then found myself reaching a new understanding about how issues and ideas from the antebellum and war years influenced succeeding generations. His picture is big -- covering topics like religion, economics, and labor issues -- and the writing clear but because Burton covers so much ground I wouldn't recommend this as a first book on either the Civil War or Reconstruction eras.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical Analysis of the American Age of Lincoln

There are human beings whose work signals the dawn of a new age for their country, and sometimes for the world. While Lincoln's decisions reflect the changes already taking place around the world in his day; he made giant leaps of social progress that split and then restructured our country. In The Age of Lincoln, Burton presents a picture that focuses on individual aspects of Southern society and law, and zooms out to show the impact of those changes on the big picture. The reader gets a narrative history that is accurate and picturesque, without deep complexity of footnotes or lengthy academic arguments. While there are none of the 'groundbreaking revelations' in this work that cannot be found in other histories, the format makes the subject easily accessible to everyone.

The focus of this book is on the IMPACT of Lincoln's work on America, rather than simply facts and knowledge level material. The reader is given an overview of the five decades around the age of Lincoln, and is able to evaluate the big picture changes in America. This provides an excellent view of the country as a whole, something that is rare to find.

Of course, the book covers Lincoln's humble origins, his evolving political ideas on racial equality, his leadership and his speeches. It gives the details of his assassination and legacy. It also provides a broader understanding of the historical context in which Lincoln lived and the social, political, and economic forces that shaped the era.

Some of the topics covered include:
1. The slavery crisis in the states that preceded Lincoln's election, and the resultant secessions that quickly followed his victory and divided the country
2. The political parties and the social organizations and groups that sprang up in these years of turmoil
3. Important people in all aspects of society
4. The biracial administrations in the South after emancipation and the Freedman's Bureau started
5. The quiet dismantling of the enfranchisement of freed slaves after the disputed election of 1876
6. The beginnings of the waves of lynching and terrorism towards black Americans in the South
7. The foundations of a white supremacy in all areas of society in the South that would lead to Jim Crow laws
And, more.

Though the author concedes that had Lincoln allowed the South to secede and go their own route, slavery would have had to end in the not too distant future simply due to world changes and pressures. As is, we were one of the last bastions of official slavery on earth. But, if he had allowed that to happen naturally, then the white supremacy that followed would have become an integral part of the government of the South on all levels of life with a racial hierarchy. He makes the point that the penning of the document of the Emancipation Proclamation put words on paper that helped create a mindset that all men are truly equal. This carried us forward in other areas of the recognition of human rights; if not always in practice, at least in principle. I especially enjoyed his discussion of the mass self-emancipations that followed the publishing of the document while the war fought on.

This hardback book has book jacket art picturing the stripes of the American flag bleeding/mingling in with the sunset above a possible battlefield skyline. The photo collection is remarkable and includes scenes that are emotional, as well as including a number of individuals in clear photographs. I found this high quality history at 2nd & Charles, a used bookstore chain I visit in Oxford, Alabama. (They have shopping carts and great prices on good books of all kinds.)

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Age of Lincoln is an excellent, though selective, synthesis of recent scholarly work that tells a compelling and ultimately tragic story of America in the decades of the middle and late nineteenth century. Burton sees in Lincoln a "new birth of freedom" where equal rights would be protected by the rule of law. Such a vision came in response to the north-south conflict before the Civil War, slavery, and a religious post-millenial impulse running through Northern society that thought it could rework the world. Lincoln took it into his presidency, where it expanded to include former slaves. A new revolution in freedom was necessary because, as Burton put it, much of what has been said about American freedom is "a great lie." The "Revolutionary America [was] born of commerce, expropriation, war, and slavery. Its premises were grounded in ruthless ideas of inequality, of race, class, and gender." Liberty and equality had only been for the few. (5) Some further talk of American freedom before and after Jackson might have strengthened this argument, but I liked the forcefulness of the quote so included it here.

Burton provides an excellent short portrait of Lincoln, emphasizing his southern roots and care about honor, without offering Lincoln hagiography. He notes the extremes the war brought, the limits to civil rights and violence, but also in the increase of governmental, and even more important, corporate power. Southern revisionists have taken to attacking Lincoln as the source of American big government today (an accusation Burton points out was made even before the Civil War began), but Burton points to the rise of corporations as an even more important result of the war. Freedom came to corporations even more than to workers.

The "weakness of Lincoln's new meaning of freedom was that it had to be vigorously defended." (313) Unfortunately, for African-Americans in the south and for workers in the north this did not happen. Reconstruction gave way to Southern "Redemption" (he notes the blasphemy of using that word) and Jim Crow. He also points to the abuse of freedom by northern capitalists, who ignoring the rule of law, made workers into units of production. I love his offhand comment that men including Rockefeller and Carnegie meshed "corporate leadership, criminal violence, and political corruption." The only freedom left to the worker after his hours of toil was that of leisure time and consumption. "In the passing of the age, Americans gave up old dreams of heavenly perfection and enshrined new hopes of material progress - incremental, tangible, calculable in dollars and dimes, full bellies and fine clothes." (368) How much have things changed today?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly solid narrative-historical synthesis of the 1840s through 1890s, emphasizing the causes and consequences of the radical transformation of American "liberty" forged by Abraham Lincoln. Among the book's highlights is a fascinating (and disheartening) tour of the close of Reconstruction, as the former Southern "planter class" undercut Reconstruction's gains and reinstated institutional segregation within the former Confederate states post-1875.

I have some ambivalence about the book because I'm not sure the author fully proved or articulated his central premise (one that I agree with) about Lincoln's movement toward incorporating concepts like equal opportunity right into the definition of liberty--and away from the purely laissez-faire reading of the term that preceded the Civil War. This book might have benefited from the inclusion, at the end, of a law trial's "summation"--a final section that fully synthesized the many economic, social, cultural, and political threads that Burton so carefully examined throughout the preceding text. As it was, I felt "left hanging" at the end.

Still, this book is a worthwhile read for those looking for a deeper examination of the second half of the 19th Century--particularly if you've already covered the more commonly-read books on the period. And, at the very least, the excellent bibliographical essay that Burton includes in the appendix might be, on its own, worth the price of the book. Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded-up to four.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book argues that an understanding of the age of Lincoln helps explain how the Civil War came to be. Especially, how social trends of the time led to the support for the war.

The author focuses upon the religious minimalism of the 1830s and 1840s and how "The Great Disappointment" was very much a part of the public imagination. Burton's claim is that the anticipation of the world coming to an end and being judged for one's sins created a mindset in which the population was willing to put their lives on the line in order to fight the evil that their society would be judged for.

It is an interesting book describing a piece of the Civil War picture that I have never seen before.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Lincoln is important in his own right for what he did and who he was, the "age of Lincoln" includes how Lincoln's throught included the drawing together of much previous political thought. One can analyze the post-war period as how well it reflected or dissented from Lincoln's thought. In all I thought it was a good book. It was interesting to see the parallels between slavery and the industrialized workers: "wage slaves".

[Gerrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burton’s Age of Lincoln is an enjoyable, readable history not only of the President but the economic & political culture of the time. Reconstruction & the last fifty years of the century are explored with great detail & scholarship. While the discussion saddened, even sickened me, it helps to explain why lynching, murders and the degradation of blacks continued a hundred years after the Civil War.

Note that Vernon Burton is a friend of mine. His book is great anyway.

[Jhunger]

Very timely read about the 19th century in US...and how events then set the recent political race in a historic perspective.

[Andy Wiesendanger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good era to study. Realized after having just finished Shirer's book on 1930s Germany, there are a lot of similarities. Like how people professing to be Christians actually really identify as something else (or are really ignorant).

Burton mixed in the effects of the great revivals in 1800s, and how the sense of the coming millennium of God's kingdom shaped America's transformation, and that after the war, people changed and realized the US wasn't/isn't really close to bringing in perfection. Then consumerism came in with a vengeance.

It's hard not to study this era, through Reconstruction, and not get pissed at the South. Makes you think maybe the death penalty is a good idea. Not that the North was a shining example, but the terrorism of the white south just hurt everyone. And most too ignorant to realize it. No wonder southern leaders didn't encourage education.

And Burton spends time on the reason for the Confederacy, to protect slavery. So blatant, but even today people think it represented states' rights. Southern states didn't mind trampling on other states' rights in order to protect slavery (Fugitive Slave Act). History is important.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was not sure what I was getting into with this when I picked it up. History? Sociology? Economics? It is a mix of all. Covers the period from Lincoln's early years, to the Civil War, then the after his premature death, the years he might have lived if aged. Took a while to read as its a bit like a very long, but interesting lecture. Learned a lot. Mostly speaks of slavery up to the war, then reconstruction and later Jim Crow. But the book and the country's attention shift to labor vs capital up to the beginning of the new century. Amazing amount of violence, dissension, and cultural upheaval throughout. There were no good old days. I came away with better understanding of how much of this is still with us, but then again not. Now, if we can just be civil...

[Hafiz Sheriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was a good read. The greatest thing about the book was some good information on the Great Abraham Lincoln, whom I consider as a God and I revere him so much. I think every American should read this book and read about the disgusting ways the blacks were treated. It was repelling to read how some people treat fellow human beings black or white. How can one stoop down to such low levels. There was so much on the lynching of blacks, and all whites should be ashamed of the behavior of their forebearers. But it is heartening to see the black community are back on their feet after all the suffering they went through.

[Raymond Hwang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in the conclusions he reached.

[Commit Purple Prose]

Signed by author to Deb.

[Rebecca Dobrinski]

In The Age of Lincoln, Orville Vernon Burton does something not many historians often do, he provides his readers a compelling story about a subject of which much has been written. Burton takes his readers on a journey that is almost a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the American social and political climate before, during, and after the Civil War. He provides students of history with an interesting journey through the minds of Americans on both sides of the slavery question.

Burton begins with an enticing opening statement in his Prologue: “Rivers of blood flowed as Americans turned against each other to battle.” (3) He sets the scene at Gettysburg and breaks down some of the ideas in Abraham Lincoln’s before taking the reader backwards in history to the founding of the United States. Then, Burton delves into the founding principles of the country, freedom and equality, and the great dilemma of the ages – just how much and who benefits from this declaration of ideals? Freedom and equality eventually become the crux of the war, despite Lincoln’s initial political reasoning of preserving the Union.

The book contains a variety of details both familiar and new. For some readers it may come as a shock that the Star-Spangled Banner, originally a poem, was sung to the tune of a popular drinking song of the times ("To Anacreon in Heav’n"). (15) Another not so well known fact is that Chief Osceola, the Seminole Chief known to harbor runaway slaves, married a fugitive slave. (61)

It is obvious that Burton read and researched extensively to produce The Age of Lincoln. The fruits of his labor will benefit scholars and the historiography of the Civil War. In an extensive bibliographic essay, he describes the process and materials used in developing the narrative. Some of the more traditional readers may balk at the idea of reserving the bibliography as a strictly electronic resource. It takes a liberal amount of understanding to accept that the bibliography is not readily at hand while reading, as most people do not read and access computers simultaneously. However, as one can tell from the bibliographic essay, the sheer volume of resources used is too cumbersome for a traditional bibliography. This may eventually become the future of bibliographic documentation.

Overall, The Age of Lincoln should become a standard text for both undergraduate and graduate history students. The book provides an excellent foundation for studying how the atmosphere surrounding the Civil War contributed to steering the multitude of events leading up to the war and through the end of the nineteenth century. It sets the scene and puts the reader in the mindset of Southern slaveholders and Northern abolitionists, as well as the moderates and the marginalized on both sides. Even for courses that focus on specific aspects of the century (Civil War, Reconstruction, Antebellum South), reading certain chapters leads to a better understanding of the times.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historian of American southern history, Orville Vernon Burton’s 2007 book, The Age of Lincoln is in words of historian James M. McPherson on the back of the book is a “bold synthesis of the Civil War era.” Burton writes in The Age of Lincoln “the history of the United States during the nineteenth century concentrates on sectional conflict, civil war, and Reconstruction. As the meaning and expansion of freedom and of citizenship rights galvanized the age.” For Burton, the central character of American nineteenth-century history is Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s presidency and Lincoln himself, Burton believed created a new way of viewing the meaning of liberty and freedom. Burton believes that the United States become “a new nation” during the Civil War under the leadership of Lincoln. Burton also traces the changing interpretation of the meaning of Civil War until the writing of The Wizard of Oz by the journalist Frank Baum in 1900 and Burton believes Lincoln’s ideas on the meaning of Civil War was lost. The Age of Lincoln is not a biography of Lincoln. The Age of Lincoln is more similar to Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland than David Herbert Donald’s Lincoln. The Age of Lincoln, I find to be a very compelling book. I believe The Age of Lincoln is worth reading if one is interested in the history of the United States in the nineteenth century.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up in college when he came to our school in 2010 or 11. I thought it looked good and used some of it my thesis paper. However, I recently picked it up and started reading more of it. I got a little ways, but for now I'm gonna have to table it.

Frankly, it's a terrible read. Granted, the guy is an encyclopedia of information but you might as well read the encyclopedia - at least that would be more organized. And the content is nice and gives you a good insight into our national identity. And I do appreciate the effort and the learning experience but with the volume I have to read, this book just reads too slow. Burton just kind of regurgitates his knowledge on the page. He knows a lot but he's a terrible writer. A paragraph won't end anywhere near where it started, and the next paragraph isn't even in the same ballpark.

Sure, viewed as a whole it's a great work, but to get the whole you've got to make through some pretty grueling, unorganized parts. If you're patient, go for it, otherwise pass this up.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting an explanation or assertion by the author as to why the antebellum and post-Civil War era was named "The Age of Lincoln." Like maybe how or why Lincoln's policies, politics, pragmatism, worldview, or simply his presence contributed to the evolution of the country's political, social, and economic status.
Nope. It was a well-written and researched history of the time period to be sure. But very little Lincoln in "The Age of Lincoln." I mean, Queen Victoria gets an "era" and Elizabeth gets an "age" and we read and explore rich histories about how their actions and reactions shaped the world and came to define entire epochs. Given the title of this book I was expecting nothing less. Alas, it was not to be. So, three stars for what I feel is a mistitled book.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again an excellent book. It is interesting to see the societal issues and forces at play during Lincoln's life. It just goes to show that (1) some things don't change and (2) the importance from learning from history so that we don't repeat the same mistakes.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was excellent. I learned a lot about an era of US history that I wasn't very strong, and the writing style, coherence of the narrative, and pace made it a pleasure to read. Don't start the chapters on the Civil War right before trying to go to bed!

[Samuel Lubell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic treatment of Lincoln and his times including a lot on Reconstruction after Lincoln's death. I listened to the audio version in my car so didn't really focus closely. Still it seemed like a standard treatment without much new.

[Lisa Budzynski · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...#

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

sweeping history of the stuff AROUND the Civil War. gives a very interesting, & more complete, picture of the period.

[Mike]

Finally getting to this one... out of the 18th century for a while, back into the slightly less familiar territory of the 19th. It's good to be well-rounded.

[Carol Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I use for reference whenever I want to understand the background for the stories I write about Civil War Montana. Very useful, informative, and fascinating to read.

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have rated this higher if I had wanted a book on slavery or if it had had 50% on Lincoln. As it was, he was hardly mentioned.

[Thomas Mackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good work to study the progressive legacy Lincoln's administration and that of the old Whig party.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of Lincoln's time in this world; sometimes too dry

[Rob Norr · Rating 5 out of 5]

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