Year of meteors : Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the election that brought on the Civil War

Title:

Author:

Egerton, Douglas R.

ISBN:

9781596916197

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Publication Information:

New York : Bloomsbury Press, 2010.

Physical Description:

399 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Contents:

Chapter 1. A Nation with Its "Hands Full": The Republic on the Eve of 1860 -- Chapter 2. "Douglas or Nobody": The Democrats -- Chapter 3. Principles and the "Duty to Recognize" None: The Constitutional Union and Liberty Parties -- Chapter 4. "Moving Heaven and Earth": The Republicans -- Chapter 5. "Beyond the Power of Surgery": The Democrats, Again -- Chapter 6. "Lincoln Is the Next President. I Will Go South": The Campaigns -- Chapter 7. "The Union Is Dissolved": The Lower South Secedes -- Chapter 8. "Others to Share the Burdern": Two Governments Prepare -- Chapter 9. "All Our Labor Is Lost": Compromise Committees and the Washington Peace Conference.

Personal Subject:

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865-Political and social views.

Douglas, Stephen A. (Stephen Arnold), 1813-1861-Political and social views.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865-Political career before 1861.

Subject Term:

Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1860.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Causes.

Summary:

"In early 1860, pundits and political operatives across America confidently predicted the victory of Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas in the coming presidential election. Douglas, after all, led the Democrats, the only party that bridged North and South. But the Democracy would splinter over the issue of slavery, opening the way for the upstart Republicans, exclusively Northern, to steal the Oval Office. Dark horse Abraham Lincoln, not the first choice even of his own party, won the presidency with a record-low share of the popular vote. Year of Meteors re-creates the cascade of events that confounded political bosses, set North and South on the road to disunion, and put not Stephen Douglas but his lifelong rival in the White House"--Cover, p. 2.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	973.711 EGE	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	973.711 EGE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In early 1860, pundits across America confidently predicted the election of Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas in the coming presidential race. Douglas, after all, led the only party that bridged North and South. But the Democrats would split over the issue ofslavery, leading Southerners in the party to run their own presidential slate. This opened the door for the upstart Republicans, exclusively Northern, to steal the Oval Office. Dark horse Abraham Lincoln, not the first choice even of his own party, won the presidency with a record-low 39.8 percent of the popular vote. Acclaimed scholar Douglas R. Egerton chronicles the contest with a historian's keen insight and a veteran political reporter's eye for detail. Vividly, Egerton re-creates the cascade of unforeseen events that confounded political bosses, set North and South on the road to disunion, and put not Stephen Douglas, but his greatest rival, in the White House. We see Lincoln and his team outmaneuvering more prominent Republicans, like New York's grandiose William Seward, while Democratic conventions collapse in confusion. And we see the gifted, flawed Douglas marking his finest hour in defeat, as he strives, and fails, to save the Union. Year of Meteors delivers a teeming cast of characters, minor and major, and a breakneck narrative of this most momentous year in American history.

Author Notes

Douglas R. Egerton is Professor of History at LeMoyne College. He is the author of five books, including He Shall Go Out Free: The Lives of Denmark Vesey , Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 & 1802 , and Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America .

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The center could not hold amid a flood of passionate intensity recorded in this illuminating study of the 1860 election campaign. Historian Egerton (Death or Liberty) chronicles the year's chaotic political wranglings, from the fractious party conventions that threw up four presidential contenders (two from minor parties) to the search for a congressional compromise to save the Union on the eve of Lincoln's inauguration. An energized antislavery Republican Party supported Lincoln, unwittingly aided by cagey Southern radicals William Yancey and Robert Rhett, who, Egerton argues, conspired to split their own Democratic party in order to guarantee Lincoln's victory and thus obtain a pretext for secession. In the doomed middle are Stephen Douglas and other moderates trying to preserve the nation with proslavery compromises that infuriated the North without appeasing the South. This is politics as high drama, and Egerton does it justice with his lucid, meticulous account of backroom deals, parliamentary brawling, and speeches whose rhetorical vitriol (one Republican convention speaker called Southerners "the whole vassalage of hell") presaged violence. Also fine is Egerton's analysis of the human motivations that tore the country apart. B&w illus. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

A specialist in African-American history examines the tumultuous 1860 presidential election, perhaps the most consequential in American history.In the immediate wake of his election, even the shrewd Lincoln didn't quite believe the South meant its drive for secession, maybe even war. His longtime adversary Stephen A. Douglas knew better. Douglas emerged from the long campaign with his Democratic Party broken by the machinations of fire-eaters like Alabama's William Lowndes Yancey and South Carolina's Robert Rhett, who were deeply committed to slaveholding interests. They had already prompted a walkout of Southern delegates to the Democratic Convention in Charleston, S.C. and masterminded the nomination of John C. Breckinridge, effectively extinguishing Douglas's electoral chances. With the Democrats divided, border states coalescing around the third-party candidacy of Tennessee's John Bell and militant abolitionists supporting reformer and philanthropist Gerrit Smith's Liberty Party, the path was clear for the Republicans, who declined to nominate their controversial frontrunner William Seward, to win the White House. Making liberal use of contemporary accounts by intrepid Cincinnati journalist Murat Halstead, Egerton (History/Le Moyne College;Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America, 2009, etc.) captures the dynamics of the caucuses and conventionsincluding the later Confederate gathering in Montgomery that nominated Jefferson Davis and the D.C. peace conference prior to Lincoln's inaugurationneatly summarizes the distinctions among the parties, shrewdly assesses the various candidates' assets and liabilities and demonstrates that the year's political fireworks centered on "the accursed institution," specifically slavery in the territories, the single issue no longer susceptible to compromise. From the outset, the fire-eaters intended to disrupt the Union, dismissing the Republicans as a merely "sectional party." They sought to establish a separate, slaveholding republic they believed the north too greedy and cowardly to recapture.A lively, expertly rendered narrative of politics as a prelude to war.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Perhaps, as Willliam Seward asserted in 1858, differences between the North and South were leading to an irrepressible conflict. But the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 was not inevitable. Egerton credibly asserts that the reason strains evolved into full-scale hostilities was the result of actions by a relatively few men. Egerton views the election of Lincoln, which seemed inconceivable at the beginning of 1860, as the trigger for secession. He suggests that to some extent the election was the result of what amounted to a conspiracy on the part of Southern radicals. Northerners, including Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, played their parts. Douglas is seen as a particularly tragic character. The little giant was brilliant, a devoted Union man, but indifferent to the evils of slavery; his efforts to dance around the issue pleased neither Northerners nor Southerners. But it was hard-line Southerners who determined to split the Democratic Party while painting Lincoln as an abolitionist, furthering their goal of secession and establishment of a slaveholding republic. Provocative and well argued.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist

Choice Review

The contentious events that marked the outbreak of the Civil War, especially the bombardment of Fort Sumter, fill most of the pages of histories of the war's early months. Cast into the background is the political instigation of the war and the emergence of Abraham Lincoln in the run-up to the election and during the lame duck period of James Buchanan. Egerton (Le Moyne College) reveals the many nuances of the 1860 presidential election by focusing on the roles of Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and those most affected by the election's outcome. The author captures the personalities and egos that drove the political contest in the midst of a growing sectional rivalry, and demonstrates the importance of personal initiative and desires in determining the future of the entire nation. He also effectively explains complex relationships in a manner that is highly entertaining, making what could be a dry political discourse into stimulating reading. The coverage of Buchanan's lame duck period is particularly interesting, demonstrating the waning power of one president and the emerging power of another. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. S. J. Ramold Eastern Michigan University

Library Journal Review

Egerton reveals how chance and contingency, as much as design, set the political course in the critical 1860 election. He challenges Doris Kearns Goodwin's argument (see p. 47) that Lincoln selected his cabinet to balance rivals, arguing instead that geography mattered most. (LJ 9/15/10) (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Prologue: "Let Us Press On": April-June, 1861	p. 1
Chapter 1 A Nation with Its "Hands Full": The Republic on the Eve of 1860	p. 18
Chapter 2 "Douglas or Nobody": The Democrats	p. 51
Chapter 3 Principles and the "Duty to Recognize" None: The Constitutional Union and Liberty Parties	p. 83
Chapter 4 "Moving Heaven and Earth": The Republicans	p. 110
Chapter 5 "Beyond the Power of Surgery": The Democrats, Again	p. 149
Chapter 6 "Lincoln Is the Next President. I Will Go South": The Campaigns	p. 176
Chapter 7 "The Union Is Dissolved": The Lower South Secedes	p. 215
Chapter 8 "Others to Share the Burden": Two Governments Prepare	p. 248
Chapter 9 "All Our Labor Is Lost": Compromise Committees and the Washington Peace Conference	p. 285
Epilogue: "To act the Part of a Patriot": March-April, 1861	p. 317
Appendix: 1860 Election Scenarios and Possible Outcomes	p. 335
Acknowledgments	p. 339
Notes	p. 343
Index	p. 387

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Choice Review

Library Journal Review

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