A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White Jr. (Random House)
Book Overviews
A. Lincoln
This was my first book on Lincoln; I knew very little of him previously. It was good to make his acquaintance. I am also glad I had Ronald White introduce me to him (although I didn’t like his writing style nearly as much as someone like McCullough). White is something of a Presbyterian minister somewhere in his past and although I have no idea if he has the new birth he does try to share more about Lincoln’s beliefs than others might. He also gives a bit of info on Lincoln’s pastor (while in IL), Gurley which is interesting . . . revealing things like Gurley studied under Charles Hodge at Princeton. He had influence on Lincoln.
I am not going to attempt a painful survey the whole book but just give a few thoughts on what I liked, disliked or thought interesting about Lincoln:
1. Liked – His down to earth demeanor and humble leadership. Lincoln was not a bull-in-the-china-shop or a knock-you-dead-if-you-stand-in-my-way kind of leader (which is interesting seeing what he had to lead the country through). Lincoln did not think too highly of himself or his abilities. When he did not know how to do something he had someone else help that could (even if they were his political opponents).
2. Liked – His work ethic. He worked tirelessly and slept little (while president at least). This is seen also in his self-education and his ability to adjust his career from frontier logger to store owner to surveyor to lawyer to IL politician to president.
3. Liked – His leadership against slavery. No doubt Lincoln was one of the foremost influences for abolishing slavery in his day. He made slavery illegal (emancipation) at a time when some close to him (politically) would strongly oppose the decision. I was a little disappointed in how late he came to a moral position on slavery and some of the views that he had to his death were very racist. However, the times were sordid . . . slavery is a blight on our nation’s history. Lincoln suggested that perhaps the atrocities of years of slavery were the reason God allowed the length of and amazing loss of life in the civil war. “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another, drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still must it be said, that the judgments of the Lord are righteous altogether (pg. 675).”
4. Liked - Some quotes:
• “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend (pg. 79).”
• “I wish to find a church whose clergyman holds himself aloof from politics” of his pastor – “I like Gurley. He don’t preach politics. I get enough of that through the week (pg. 626).”
• “I am almost ready to say this is probably true (pg. 5).”
• In a note to a lady who lost 5 sons in the war: “I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming . . . [I pray] that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom (pg. 652).”
• My favorite quote of Lincoln is his note to himself wrestling with who was right and who was wrong in the civil war. He continually had pastors and religious leaders coming to him from both sides appealing to Scripture and saying they were praying for there side of the contest. Both sides said God was on their side – how is that possible? I like his conclusion. A decent case study in theology: “The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party – and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true – that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have ether saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds (pgs 622-623).”
o Interesting enough - Lincoln would write thoughts like these and store them in his hat. Or, when he became president his thoughts must not have fit in his hat so he stored them in little holes and crevasses in places on his desk at the white house. Those who are often not detailed/organized enough to actually save things in the proper file but instead on our desktop find solace in this practice.
5. Liked – His respect for the Bible. He read it daily and used it extensively in his speeches.
6. Disliked – His death just hours after the Lee surrendered.
7. Thought was interesting – I am not sure about this at all . . . I wondered as I read this book about the interrelatedness of: 1. the rise of the Republican party (and the Liberty Party, pg. 192) and 2. the influences surrounding the rise and the influence of Evangelical Christianity in NYC and 3. the movement to abolish slavery and 4. the awakening of the conscience of folks in the North East during the prayer meeting revival of the 1850s . . . concluding thought - perhaps the revival had an effect on the numbers of ministers and individuals that came out radically against slavery. I am interested in talking with someone who knows more about the times in the mid 1800s to pursue that thought a bit more.
8. Thought was interesting – There are many parallels between Lincoln and Obama.
• He used the press like a logger uses an axe.
• He grew to political prominence in IL.
• He grew to political prominence as a lawyer.
• He relied on public speaking abilities to sway multitudes to his side (although no use of the teleprompter). As an aside it was really interesting to see political debates in the 1800s. Of course there was no mass media other than newspapers that printed the debate the next day . . . so those who came, came in person. Over 10,000 people would show for a political debate. This type of setting paved the way (or was paved previously through Whitefield et al) for large open air religious meetings (revival meetings). It was not uncommon in the day for people to put everything down and come to hear what someone had to say. Now we just sit down on the couch and click the channel to hear what someone has to say.
• He had little political experience, no national experience and very little state experience before becoming President. In fact, Lincoln lost most of his elections before being elected President.
• He did not come from a wealthy family.
• He was for big government: In Lincoln’s defense this was the only note he could sound at the time he came to office. He fought for the Union because he knew the nation would fall or stand on that issue. ‘United we stand.’ However, it seems he would have been pro big government anyway in his intrastate policies while in IL. As a side note – I understand why folks say the civil war was primarily about States rights but . . . States do not have the right to immoral laws. Slavery is a moral issue. I am for a Federal ban on abortion too – trumping States rights.
• After the comparisons . . . one huge note of contrast (other than one being Democrat and another being Republican). Lincoln had no air of superiority about him. His was the opposite – Lincoln had an air of inferiority and that air endeared him to people. Often ill (or ill-fittingly) dressed and using colloquial language – he was not the polished politician but A. Lincoln, just himself.
A. Lincoln
This was my first book on Lincoln; I knew very little of him previously. It was good to make his acquaintance. I am also glad I had Ronald White introduce me to him (although I didn’t like his writing style nearly as much as someone like McCullough). White is something of a Presbyterian minister somewhere in his past and although I have no idea if he has the new birth he does try to share more about Lincoln’s beliefs than others might. He also gives a bit of info on Lincoln’s pastor (while in IL), Gurley which is interesting . . . revealing things like Gurley studied under Charles Hodge at Princeton. He had influence on Lincoln.
I am not going to attempt a painful survey the whole book but just give a few thoughts on what I liked, disliked or thought interesting about Lincoln:
1. Liked – His down to earth demeanor and humble leadership. Lincoln was not a bull-in-the-china-shop or a knock-you-dead-if-you-stand-in-my-way kind of leader (which is interesting seeing what he had to lead the country through). Lincoln did not think too highly of himself or his abilities. When he did not know how to do something he had someone else help that could (even if they were his political opponents).
2. Liked – His work ethic. He worked tirelessly and slept little (while president at least). This is seen also in his self-education and his ability to adjust his career from frontier logger to store owner to surveyor to lawyer to IL politician to president.
3. Liked – His leadership against slavery. No doubt Lincoln was one of the foremost influences for abolishing slavery in his day. He made slavery illegal (emancipation) at a time when some close to him (politically) would strongly oppose the decision. I was a little disappointed in how late he came to a moral position on slavery and some of the views that he had to his death were very racist. However, the times were sordid . . . slavery is a blight on our nation’s history. Lincoln suggested that perhaps the atrocities of years of slavery were the reason God allowed the length of and amazing loss of life in the civil war. “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another, drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still must it be said, that the judgments of the Lord are righteous altogether (pg. 675).”
4. Liked - Some quotes:
• “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend (pg. 79).”
• “I wish to find a church whose clergyman holds himself aloof from politics” of his pastor – “I like Gurley. He don’t preach politics. I get enough of that through the week (pg. 626).”
• “I am almost ready to say this is probably true (pg. 5).”
• In a note to a lady who lost 5 sons in the war: “I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming . . . [I pray] that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom (pg. 652).”
• My favorite quote of Lincoln is his note to himself wrestling with who was right and who was wrong in the civil war. He continually had pastors and religious leaders coming to him from both sides appealing to Scripture and saying they were praying for there side of the contest. Both sides said God was on their side – how is that possible? I like his conclusion. A decent case study in theology: “The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party – and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true – that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have ether saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds (pgs 622-623).”
o Interesting enough - Lincoln would write thoughts like these and store them in his hat. Or, when he became president his thoughts must not have fit in his hat so he stored them in little holes and crevasses in places on his desk at the white house. Those who are often not detailed/organized enough to actually save things in the proper file but instead on our desktop find solace in this practice.
5. Liked – His respect for the Bible. He read it daily and used it extensively in his speeches.
6. Disliked – His death just hours after the Lee surrendered.
7. Thought was interesting – I am not sure about this at all . . . I wondered as I read this book about the interrelatedness of: 1. the rise of the Republican party (and the Liberty Party, pg. 192) and 2. the influences surrounding the rise and the influence of Evangelical Christianity in NYC and 3. the movement to abolish slavery and 4. the awakening of the conscience of folks in the North East during the prayer meeting revival of the 1850s . . . concluding thought - perhaps the revival had an effect on the numbers of ministers and individuals that came out radically against slavery. I am interested in talking with someone who knows more about the times in the mid 1800s to pursue that thought a bit more.
8. Thought was interesting – There are many parallels between Lincoln and Obama.
• He used the press like a logger uses an axe.
• He grew to political prominence in IL.
• He grew to political prominence as a lawyer.
• He relied on public speaking abilities to sway multitudes to his side (although no use of the teleprompter). As an aside it was really interesting to see political debates in the 1800s. Of course there was no mass media other than newspapers that printed the debate the next day . . . so those who came, came in person. Over 10,000 people would show for a political debate. This type of setting paved the way (or was paved previously through Whitefield et al) for large open air religious meetings (revival meetings). It was not uncommon in the day for people to put everything down and come to hear what someone had to say. Now we just sit down on the couch and click the channel to hear what someone has to say.
• He had little political experience, no national experience and very little state experience before becoming President. In fact, Lincoln lost most of his elections before being elected President.
• He did not come from a wealthy family.
• He was for big government: In Lincoln’s defense this was the only note he could sound at the time he came to office. He fought for the Union because he knew the nation would fall or stand on that issue. ‘United we stand.’ However, it seems he would have been pro big government anyway in his intrastate policies while in IL. As a side note – I understand why folks say the civil war was primarily about States rights but . . . States do not have the right to immoral laws. Slavery is a moral issue. I am for a Federal ban on abortion too – trumping States rights.
• After the comparisons . . . one huge note of contrast (other than one being Democrat and another being Republican). Lincoln had no air of superiority about him. His was the opposite – Lincoln had an air of inferiority and that air endeared him to people. Often ill (or ill-fittingly) dressed and using colloquial language – he was not the polished politician but A. Lincoln, just himself.
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