Abraham Lincoln is a man about whom it can truly be said that the last word will never be written. Here is a proof: a book that uses Lincoln's body, called ugly and hideous in his lifetime, as a metaphor to present a cultural history of the man. And doubt it not. This is a portrait of the good Lincoln.
"Richard Wightman Fox has ingeniously portrayed the physical body of Abraham Lincoln, living and dead, in his own time and in memory, as a vehicle for evaluating Lincoln's continuing impact on American culture." James M. McPherson (inside cover)
The book borders on hagiography. Lincoln the Renaissance Man. Lincoln the President who could have led the country thru Reconstruction and the industrial age that followed the war. Lincoln the man who could do no wrong.
Lincoln died from the bullet of John Wilkes Booth after speaking of granting limited suffrage to "qualified" blacks in Louisiana. Therefore, the "open-minded" A. Lincoln was moving in a liberal direction toward Reconstruction at the time of he death. Had he lived, he and the Radical Republicans would have done great things to push political freedom forward in the country. Well, maybe. P. 23
The author seems to say that the Radical Republicans were glad that Lincoln had died. This is surprising to me.
The author describes the chaos that followed the assassination. Did Bates really say "now he belongs to the ages?"
The Lincoln Cult from the 1860's to the 1960's. P. 97
Holland's biography published in 1866 fueled the Lincoln cult. P. 98
The story of the funeral train with its 1,700 trek from DC to Springfield is a full story in itself.
Stanton micromanaged events after the assassination. P. 103
Whitman's two poems about Lincoln were popular from the beginning. P. 127
George Bancroft was a states rights Democrat. P. 130
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