From the final bloody battles of the Civil War and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the role of freed slaves and Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Americans faced a remarkable range of critical issues in 1865. In this illumi nating collection, prominent historians of nineteenth-century America offer insightful overviews of the individuals, events, and issues that together made 1865 one of the most momentous years in American history. Following an intro duction by renowned Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, nine new essays explore the end of the Civil War, Lincoln's death, and the start of the tentative peace. Topics include the sending of the Thir teenth Amendment to the states for ratification, General Ulysses S. Grant's crucial last thrusts against Robert E. Lee and Lincoln's management of the over all war effort, Lincoln's meeting with Confederate emissaries who sought to reverse the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln's second inaugural address, and Lincoln's dramatic April 4 walk through Richmond. Turning to Lincoln's assassination, essays examine Booth's organizational efforts leading up to the events of that fateful day and the trial of the assas sination conspirators. Other chapters cover the African American experience in the final year of the war and the use of the visual arts to preserve the life and legacy of the martyred president. With appendixes that include a close look at Lincoln's activities and writings from January 1 through April 14 and other pertinent materials, this thoughtful col lection provides an engaging evaluation of one of the most pivotal years in the evolution of America.

To fully understand and appreciate Abraham Lincoln's legacy, it is important to examine the society that influenced the life, character, and leadership of the man who would become the Great Emancipator. Editors Joseph R. Fornieri and Sara Vaughn Gabbard have done just that in Lincoln's America: 1809-1865, a collection of new and original essays by ten eminent historians that place Lincoln within his nineteenth-century cultural context.

This book explores the life of Abraham Lincoln on the eve of his bicentennial. To fully understand and appreciate Abraham Lincoln's legacy, it is important to examine the society that influenced the life, character, and leadership of the man who would become the Great Emancipator. Editors Joseph R. Fornieri and Sara Vaughn Gabbard have done just that in ""Lincoln's America: 1809-1865"", a collection of new and original essays by ten eminent historians that place Lincoln within his nineteenth-century cultural context.Among the topics explored in ""Lincoln's America"" are religion, education, middle-class family life, the antislavery movement, politics, and law. Of particular interest are the transition of American intellectual and philosophical thought from the Enlightenment to Romanticism and the influence of this evolution on Lincoln's own ideas.By examining aspects of Lincoln's life - his personal piety in comparison with the beliefs of his contemporaries, his success in self-schooling when frontier youths had limited opportunities for a formal education, his marriage and home life in Springfield, and his legal career - in light of broader cultural contexts such as the development of democracy, the growth of visual arts, the question of slaves as property, and French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville's observations on America, the contributors delve into the mythical Lincoln of folklore and discover a developing political mind and a changing nation. As ""Lincoln's America"" shows, the sociopolitical culture of nineteenth-century America was instrumental in shaping Lincoln's character and leadership. The essays in this volume paint a vivid picture of a young nation and its sixteenth president, arguably its greatest leader.