Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream [Paperback]

Gabor S. Boritt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dramatically opens up Lincoln's 'political economy'... Almost any realistic view of the greatest of American presidents and the revolution he wrought begins with this book." -- Civil War News. "Comprehensive and enlightening." -- Reviews in American History. "Brilliantly independent... Elegantly written ... the best on Lincoln in many, many years." -- Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Lincoln Lore

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252064453
• ISBN-13: 978-0252064456
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lincoln Everyone Needs to Know, December 26, 2000

By 

Steven S. Berizzi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (Paperback)

The "prime goal" of this marvelous book by Gabor Boritt, Professor of Civil War Studies and director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, "is the examination of [Lincoln's] economic persuasion, of how it broadly manifested itself in his political life, and how it affected American history." For many readers, a book about Lincoln's "economic persuasion" may seem pedantic, if not trivial, but Boritt demonstrates that Lincoln's economic views were central to his political philosophy. Had Lincoln not been an economic nationalist, he almost certainly never would have risen beyond being an unknown, provincial Illinois politician.

As Boritt explains in the preface, Lincoln's "connections with political economy" "may appear to be dreadfully dull to some," but the author cautions that "it is indispensable." Lincoln first came to prominence in rural Illinois in the 1830s as an advocate for "better transportation - `internal improvements,' as Americans called it." As a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Lincoln "supported the creation of many, though not all, private, river, canal, turnpike, and railroad companies." At the end of the first chapter, Boritt writes that Lincoln's "political activity was inspired, beyond the hope of personal or party gain, by a vision of endless material progress," which became the "American dream."

Because Lincoln's origins were humble, he often is portrayed as a champion of the common man, but, as Boritt observes, for Lincoln, "banking was a special interest," and, in 1835, he supported a state bank because, according to Boritt, "the Illinois economy needed banking facilities above all to support internal improvements." By 1837, Lincoln was a member of the [Illinois] House Finance Committee, and, according to Boritt, he "made economics the most substantial part of his campaigning, legislative labors, and private studies outside (and not infrequently inside) his legal work." In an 1837 speech defending the state bank, Boritt writes that Lincoln "was giving voice to the prime element of his developing economic persuasion. The fact was that for the man who would rise, for the nations that would rise, banks were necessary." Boritt's assessment is: "Lincoln's involvement with improvements helped him reach convictions which played a crucial role during his presidency." According to Boritt, "the improvement episode helped make Lincoln a lifelong opponent of the localism and sectionalism that proved so destructive in Illinois."

In the mid-1840s, when Lincoln was hoping to be elected to Congress, his "Whiggery was mainly economic oriented," and his acceptance of broad party principles "meant national economic goals." According to Boritt: "Lincoln's thinking...exuded nationalism." In Washington, he "desired large scale federal improvements, federally directed, at federal expense." "But in Congress Lincoln began to shift his attention from specific questions of economics" as a result of the Mexican War, which Lincoln opposed. In Boritt's view: "Lincoln's lack of enthusiasm about expansion may have been shortsighted in economic terms," but, according to Boritt, Lincoln appears to have believed that "[e]conomic development demanded peace."

In the 1850s, according to Boritt, as Lincoln was "pulled...toward Republicanism," he continued to believe "the economics of prosperity, freedom, and this democracy." In several places, Boritt observes that Lincoln believed in the inevitability of material progress. In contrast: "Slavery was a relic of barbarism." In 1856, according to Boritt, Lincoln noted that the "`central idea' of America was equality." To Lincoln, in Boritt's view, "equality" meant "opportunity to get ahead in life." Boritt explains: "Since the central idea of America was economic, the measure of the nation's success had to be economic, too." In this respect, according to Boritt, Lincoln "institutionalized the American Dream - made it perhaps the most central idea of the nation," and slavery had to be extinguished because it "subverted the Dream." According to Boritt: "Lincoln could perceive America only through nationalist eyes....As Lincoln saw it, the nation was to become either free or slave, one or the other."

During the 1850s, according to Boritt, Lincoln became increasingly absorbed with the slavery issue. Once elected president, according to Boritt, "Lincoln's eyes remained set on one foremost goal: stopping slavery extension in the name of the American Dream." According to Boritt: "Lincoln defended the Union on many occasions and in almost as many ways, but by far his most extensive and determined defense was a largely economic defense." In his annual message in 1862, according to Boritt, Lincoln declared that the "United States could not be broken up...because it formed am indivisible economic unit." In Boritt's view, "Lincoln's first important military act was essentially economic: the proclamation of a blockade of Southern ports....The adaption of economic policy to military strategy, thus began a few days after the fall of Fort Sumter, continued to Appomattox." According to Boritt: "Emancipation by itself ran counter to the President's policy of enticing Southerners back into the Union through economic means." Boritt writes: "Lincoln appreciated the need for an economic base for the former slaves." The employment of former slaves liberated by the circumstances of war, Boritt explains, "transformed the slave into a wage-earning free laborer." Nevertheless, in Boritt's view, Lincoln "failed to come to grips fully with the needs of the masses of blacks." In the final chapter, Boritt writes: "For Lincoln, unobstructed upward mobility was the most important ideal America strove for....Mobility was the ideal and slavery its antipode." For Lincoln, in Boritt's view, "the most `central idea' of the Union war effort was the preservation of man's right to rise.'"

What, ultimately, is the connection between Lincoln's economic and political philosophy? I believe Boritt would say that Lincoln's economic nationalism made him a lifelong opponent of the localism and sectionalism, as well as a strong believer in economic opportunity. In one of this book's key passages, Boritt writes that "slavery was the supreme issue for [Lincoln] because he feared its extension would strangle the American Dream." After reading this book, no reader will doubt that, throughout his public career, Lincoln was a man ahead of his time.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't just know Lincoln, understand him., July 11, 1999

By 

Mr. Nick "ncnmp" (Staten Island, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (Paperback)

I've read many titles on Lincoln and have come to know the man, his words and his deeds. But now I can say that I understand him. American revisionists have lately found it fashionable and all too easy to knock down our heroes and charge them with crimes from the perspective of the Twentieth Century. Yet, Boritt's insights are a wonderful celebration of a true American hero. And better yet, Boritt makes no apologies for it. Perhaps we needed to wait for this foreign born author to remind us what has been really important about the USA all along. Wrap yourself in the red, white and blue and feel patriotic again. Oh, and by the way, don't let the title scare you. The book is quite an easy read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rewarding book -- if you have the time, July 16, 2011

By 

Mark Greenbaum (South Orange, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (Paperback)

This is a unique, utterly fascinating book. It's unlike any other history I've ever read before on Lincoln, or anyone else for that matter. If you're interesting in learning about Lincoln and thinking about Lincoln in ways you never have before, this is the first book you should pick up after you've gotten your hands on the usual suspects. Be forewarned: this is dry, complex, difficult subject matter wrapped in labored sometimes economic-centric prose, and it will take some time to read and fully digest its chapters and broad ideas. As a layman and a plain fan of history, the material was very daunting to me from the outset, but as I was able to slog through the initial chapters and get my footing, I quickly realized how rewarding the book is and how much it was changing my view and understanding of Lincoln, the antebellum period, and the Civil War era. It's really a revolutionary piece of scholarship, at least in my own narrow galaxy.

Boritt is not given to conjecture (though, he is given to hyperbole with his obvious admiration of Lincoln), and carefully builds his theses on a bed of primary evidence, almost solely relying on Lincoln's words, and the words of his contemporaries and those who knew Lincoln and worked with him. He builds a brilliant case for how Lincoln's core economic beliefs and underlying support for man to enjoy the fruit of his labor would define his entire life's work, from when he was a young man seeking office for the first time in Sangamon County in 1832 up through the White House. Boritt's ability to weave Lincoln's speeches, writings, and work through each of the key stages of his professional life and political development is impressive, and well shows that Lincoln's greatest achievements and most famous speeches -- Gettysburg, the second inaugural, the -- were built first and foremost on his unbreakable keystone economic ideals. Lincoln's most unceasing pursuit throughout life was for the preservation of free labor so that every American could achieve his own dream and grow out the young nation.

I am not a student of economics; in fact, I have very little interest in economic theory or history, and even less knowledge of these fields. For these reasons, I put off reading this book for years (after I was assigned for a college seminar on Lincoln and promptly dropped it on my window sill), figuring it was too dry and too tall a hill to climb when other Lincoln literature remained more accessible and flashy. That was a huge error. If you have a great interest in Lincoln, and really, the social and political era of the mid-1850s, this book is well worth the time. I don't think there's even been a book like it before, and it will expand your interest and appreciation in the Great Emancipator in ever-new ways.

And let me add, even the book's first appendix, a historiographical essay titled "Lincoln: Man and God," is fantastic by itself, and at around 20 pages is just as delicious to read and dissect and ponder as the rest of the book. Another tremendous component of a great book.