This first history of Lincoln's border-state policies in more than eighty years offers a fresh and comprehensive perspective on how he negotiated, sometimes falteringly, the complex politics attached to such divisive issues as emancipation and suspension of habeas corpus. It provides new insights into the president's leadership and the daunting problems he faced, as well as a window into federal-state relations, military-civil affairs, and the ongoing struggle for the Union.
A native Kentuckian whose wife's family included slaveholders in Kentucky, Lincoln identified with the upper South and understood how its people often had torn loyalties. But Harris shows how few problems proved more troublesome for Lincoln than political disputes in the border states involving military interference in civil affairs, and nothing exceeded the difficulties he faced there over his antislavery policies and the enlistment of blacks in the army.
Harris argues that Lincoln's patient and judicious management of border-state affairs, despite occasional missteps, proved crucial in keeping the border states in the Union, gaining their support for the war effort, and ultimately securing the end of slavery. Describing presidential relations with governors, congressmen, and regional military commanders and his handling of factionalism among Unionists, Harris shows how Lincoln's careful attention to the border states paved the way for emancipation, an aspect generally overlooked by historians.
In the end, says Harris, it was mainly due to Lincoln's skillful leadership that the border states were saved for the Union and slavery was abolished in America. His well-researched book treats in rich detail Lincoln's triumphs and tragedies in dealing with the border region, providing the definitive account of the crucial part these states played in America's bloodiest war.
