Lincoln and Race
The full version of Professor Oakes’s essay appears
on p. 109-36 of Our Lincoln.
Every biography of Lincoln touches on his views on slavery,
of course. Here are some monographs that examine the question
in more depth and detail. You may want to begin with Professor
Oakes’s own book:
The Radical And The Republican: Frederick Douglass,
Abraham Lincoln, And The Triumph Of Antislavery Politics
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co., c2007)
And continue with three recent studies by other authors:
Dirck, Brian R., ed. Lincoln Emancipated: The President
And The Politics Of Race (DeKalb: Northern Illinois
University Press, c2007)
Fredrickson, George M., 1934-2008. Big Enough to
be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and
Race (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008)
Striner, Richard. Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless
Struggle To End Slavery (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2006)
Analyzing Lincoln’s views on race inevitably
involves reviewing his remarks in his debates with Stephen
Douglas. These are the most recent studies on the subject:
Good, Timothy S. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and
the Making of a President (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland
& Co., c2007)
Guelzo, Allen C. Lincoln And Douglas: The Debates
That Defined America (New York: Simon & Schuster,
2008)
Morris, Roy. The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln's
Thirty-Year Struggle With Stephen Douglas For The Heart
And Soul Of America (New York: Collins, c2008)
As you and your students examine Professor Oakes’s
“three different levels” of racial regulation,
it may be helpful to look at this book, which examines
the attitudes of the Republican Party in general:
Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The
Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War
( New York: Oxford, 1970. Republished 1995)
The concept of “citizenship” and the rights
it brings is a complicated one. These books can provide
helpful background on antebellum notions of citizenship
in America:
Kettner, James. The Development of American Citizenship
( Univ. of N.C. Press: Chapel Hill, 1978)
Smith, Rogers M. Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions
of Citizenship in the United States (Yale: New
Haven, 1997)
Schneider, Thomas E. Lincoln's Defense Of Politics:
The Public Man And His Opponents In The Crisis Over
Slavery (Columbia: University of Missouri Press,
c2006)
Get this biography of the Missouri statesman if you
can:
Cain, Marvin R. Lincoln's Attorney General: Edward
Bates Of Missouri
(Columbia: University of Missouri Press, c1965)
Internet Resources
Our December 2005 issue has two articles of special
interest:
“The Emancipation Proclamation” by Allen
Guelzo
/historynow/12_2005/historian.php
And resources
/historynow/12_2005/ask2b.php
and “Lincoln and Abolition” by Douglas
Wilson
/historynow/12_2005/historian3.php
and resources:
/historynow/12_2005/ask2f.php
For the Dred Scott decision, look at Richard B. Bernstein’s
“Marshall and Taney Courts” in our April
2008 issue on the Supreme Court:
/historynow/04_2008/historian3.php
My resources there include plenty of online materials
as well as useful books:
/historynow/04_2008/ask2d.php
The NIU Lincoln Website offers this lesson plan on the
Lincoln-Douglas debates:
http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/teachers/lesson1.html
Finally, EDsitement has an exceptionally good section
on Lincoln, slavery, and the election of 1860:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=662
