The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln’s Thirty-Year Struggle With Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America
by Roy Morris Jr., Smithsonian Books, 254 pp., $24.95
When Abraham Lincoln squared off with Stephen Douglas in a series of seven debates in 1858, the two were vying for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. Lincoln lost the election, but his eloquent denunciation of slavery in the debates drew nationwide attention. This dual biography extends beyond the legendary debates and offers fresh insights into how Lincoln’s long-term rivalry with Douglas helped propel him to prominence and ultimately the presidency. Author Roy Morris chronicles Lincoln’s political alignment with Henry Clay and the Republican concept of an enlightened federal government that put him in direct opposition to Douglas, who authored the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which embodied the concept of “popular sovereignty” and allowed settlers to decide for themselves whether or not to have slavery in the new territories. Morris contends that Douglas viewed the “peculiar institution” of slavery as a purely political topic and used it to maintain the Union in the face of sectional bitterness, as well as to further his own presidential ambitions within the Democratic Party. He also provides a nuanced view of how Lincoln’s belief in the immorality of slavery was tempered by his contention that the races were inherently unequal—a distinction that is all too often overlooked in historical accounts that lionize Honest Abe.
Originally published in the August 2008 issue of American History. To subscribe, click here.
