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Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography

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Perhaps no figure in American history has been the subject of more mythology, legend and revision than Abraham Lincoln. He has been elevated to the status of Christ-like martyrdom. He has been called a white supremacist and a racist. Revisionists of the right have accused him of fomenting war to promote mercantile interests. His motives and morality have been questioned. His commitment to the anti-slavery cause has been questioned. But who was the real Abraham Lincoln? What were his true thoughts on the great issue of the day? How did the prairie born son of illiterate pioneers become the most revered man in American History?

In this wonderful new book, William Lee Miller examines, not so much the events of Lincoln's life as the evolution of the character of the man historian Paul Johnson calls "a kind of moral genius." The book covers the years from Lincoln's birth until his inauguration in 1861. In particular, Miller examines how Lincoln's politics can be squared with his morality. Using Lincoln's own words, Miller effectively refutes the revisionists of both the right and the left and restores Lincoln to his rightful place as an American giant and irrepressible foe of slavery.

Miller is an unabashed admirer of Lincoln. Through careful scholarship and relentless logic, the author dissects Lincoln's words and actions, explores his motivations and raises and disposes of revisionist arguments. He does so in an amusing and folksy style that clearly reveals his affection and fascination with this greatest of all Americans. All of the positive traits associated with Lincoln are shown to be true. In speech after speech, Lincoln is revealed to be an intractable foe of slavery. Miller's exploration of Lincoln's character show a living politician to be sure, but a politician who clearly sees the elective process as a path to his moral goals, namely the containment and end of slavery. Lincoln is revealed to be unusually conciliatory and non-vindictive. For example, he placed Edwin Stanton in his cabinet despite Stanton's support for his Southern Democratic opponent and despite the fact that Lincoln was personally humiliated by Stanton years earlier. Not many presidents would do that. It reveals much about Lincoln's character.

Miller has no patience for arguments that attack Lincoln's character because he was not a morally pure abolitionist. Miller places Lincoln's pragmatism in its proper context, given the opinions of the electorate Lincoln faced in Illinois and then nationally. He also shows how Lincoln's pragmatic approach was in fact the moral and ethical method to solving as intractable a problem as American slavery. He contrasts Lincoln's pragmatic moral approach with that of Stephen Douglas who Miller contends lacked any morality at all.

During the vital six years between 1854 and Lincoln's election as President, Lincoln is shown to have developed a comprehensive and consistent moral perspective on slavery. He thought it a terrible evil and planned for its ultimate destruction. But Lincoln recognized that immediate abolition was not possible so the platform of the Republican party, which Lincoln helped build, was limited to the demand that slavery not be permitted in the territories. Douglas had no belief that slavery was immoral and would have allowed its spread to the territories to preserve the peace and the union. As Miller shows, there is no evidence that slavery was anything but Lincoln's prime concern from 1954 on. The Civil War was fought because the Southern states could not abide the election of a president determined to halt the spread of slavery. As Lincoln put it to Alexander Stephens after his election as president, "you think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub."

A key component of Lincoln's thinking that distinguishes him from many of his allies of the day is his magnanimity, most famously reflected in his "malice towards none..." second inaugural. Miller shows how this magnanimity was a key component of Lincoln's moral thinking. Lincoln always argued that slavery was an American, not merely a Southern problem. He never personally condemned the Southerners who supported slavery but instead tried to understand them and his program always called for accommodating their fears and concerns. In this book, Abraham Lincoln is revealed as a truly great American and a most moral man who proved to be a brilliant leader. He comes across, not as a saint but as a living breathing human being with desires and passions but with a real commitment to justice. This book should really be read by all college students as an example of how an American politician can be effective and still remain committed to his core principals. The brilliant scholarship and lively style makes it a must read for anyone with an interest in American history. I expect this book will be on many university history department reading lists.

William Lee Miller's book underscores Lincoln's general goodness and honesty. This book is less so a traditional biography and more an examination of Lincoln's moral beliefs and principles. The author traces Lincoln's ethical development from a young man in New Salem, Illinois to the mature Lincoln at the height of his intellectual powers in the 1850's and 1860's. Mr. Miller indicates that yes Lincoln was a politician and could be quite good at wheeling and dealing. However, he never engaged in back room negotiations without first taking into account all angles and ramifications, and would never attempt to promote anything totally dishonest. We would describe Lincoln today as a man who was tough but fair. He sought compromise and took into account the possible "fruits" of whatever he was proposing. He was not an absolutist. He realized that the real world was a prism with shades of gray. He was never capricious, as he researched and pondered deeply all his beliefs and subsequent actions. Like any human being he was not perfect and because of his legend it is easy to fall into thinking that he was saint like. He was a truly good-hearted man, who was keenly intelligent and insightful. When our country was at war with itself his steadfastness at the helm and magnaminity he showed towards the Confederates ("with malice toward none") serve as an example of true leadership. His being an American icon is well deserved. Thank you, Mr. President.

There's likely been no other American so widely dissected as Abraham Lincoln. Author after author has explored Lincoln's outer world to the point of exhaustion. It's only understandable, then, that the fashion lately seems to be an exploration of his inner one. So we have a spate of books in the last few years that explore Lincoln's psyche, his religion, his sexuality,his relation with his family--and now, with Miller's new book, his moral character.

Miller tells us that he wants to begin afresh by forgetting the Lincoln myth and tracing the moral development of Lincoln in order to see where he winds up. But of course this is an impossibly objective position to attain, and the fix is in from page one: the reader knows--and so does Miller--who's going to win the race. Lincoln predictably emerges as a complex individual who rises to historical prominence not just because he grew into an astute statesperson, but also because he was a virtuous human being. The first alone would have given him power; both together give him greatness.

Most of Miller's tracing of the inner life of Lincoln isn't particularly new, although it is pleasingly systematic. But two characteristics of his approach are worth noting. First, Miller obviously admires his main character without falling into the hagiography that bedevils so many books on Lincoln. Second, Miller's thesis that the contours of Lincoln's moral character are shaped by his earnest efforts to repudiate his backwoods heritage is both novel and persuasive. This argument alone would make the book a worthy read.

But what the book doesn't do--and perhaps no single book can do this--is explain why it is that we simply can't seem to get enough of Lincoln. Lincoln is a sort of national icon. The fascination with him is apparently endless. Miller's book will contribute to the on-going fascination.

William Lee Miller's book Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography proves Abraham Lincoln was a most unique individual an
ethical politician. Miller introduces the Lincoln as he lived and breathe and Lincoln lived and breathe politics. Lincoln's practice of politics is familiar to us because it was partisan, compromising as well as searching for consenus and individual distinction.
Lincoln the politician seems commmon, it is his ethical quality on the rub of a matter which is outstanding. For Lincoln there was more to poltics than winning elections. There were larger issues of life to be effected by law and politics. Miller points out Lincoln achieved his moral basis from no individual but from the reading of books such as the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, biographies of Washington and Shakespeare.
Miller indicates that in Lincoln's early political career the larger issue was the rise of the common man which Lincoln believed was best achieved by Henry Clay's Whig policies. Post-1854 Lincoln's moral issue was slavery. Lincoln recognized slavery was a moral issue and to present it politcally as a moral issue and not allow it to be presented as an economic issue clouded by the prejudice of the day as Lincoln's great political rival Douglas presented the slavery issue.
Miller presents Lincoln's strength of mind and in particular its ability to study and think an issue. His clear judgment balanced by a sincere sensitivity. This was best explained by Leonard Swett in the footnotes on p490 of Miller's book.
The best part of the book was the Stanton-Lincoln relationship on pp 410-426. Stanton began with disdain of Linclon but in working with Lincoln in the Civil War Stanton grew to respect Lincoln and be astonished by Lincoln's work. Miller points out the lack of vindictiveness in Lincoln and contrasts that with 20th century American Presidents. The ethical biography of Lincoln shows the gift to the Amercian people the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln was at our most crucial time.
This excellent and fresh biography of Lincoln shows he transcended his times and was a product of his times. He was a great man whose example gives us hope that an ethical politician is not and should not be an oxymoron.

Abraham Lincoln was born and raised in America's frontier. As an adult, he was a politician and lawyer in Illinois, the free state that, perhaps, was most tolerant of slavery. Yet, Lincoln went against the grain and firmly made known his belief that the Declaration of Independence applied to Blacks, that they too were included in the statement "all men are created equal."

Lincoln has often been villified by two distinct groups. Many on the left have branded him a racist. On the other hand, many who, in their minds, still fight the Civil War on behalf of the Confederacy, accuse him of hypocracy. In reading Miller's book, it is clear they are both wrong. Although Lincoln proposed sending freed slaves to Liberia, there is a reasonable interpretation to his motive other than racism: compassion. In other words, he probably forsaw the ill treatment freed slaves would receive and wanted to see them in a country where they would have full rights and political power. It is important to note that this colonization would have been voluntary: nobody would have been exiled. Also, in arguing against the spread of slaverey, Lincoln made statements that might be regarded as racist, such as disclamers that he thought Blacks should have full political rights. But, then again, if he had taken such a position at his time and place, he would have been branded an extremist. Therefore his arguments against the spread of slavery would have been discredited. In the best sense of the word, Lincoln was a skilled politician and his political tactics were not indicative of racism.

Lincoln was far from a perfect human being. He became very well self educated and, therefore, and perhaps, inexcusably, he had no tolerance for his uneducated father. As an adult, he broke off virtually all contact with his father and, in my opinion, broke the commandment to honor his father. But then again, who knows what went on between Lincoln and his father? Maybe there were good reasons for his insensitivity. However, the available evidence seems to be that he was ashamed of his hard working, produtive father, because his father was not interested in improving his mind.

This book is not a biography of Lincoln. Rather, it is an analysis of Lincoln's character. Significantly, the book does not cover his presidency. Rather it shows his character development up to his inaugeration. The book provides compelling reading. I would suggest that a standard biography of Lincoln, such as that by Donald or by Oates, be read prior to reading this book.

I bought this book immediately after hearing the author give a talk about Lincoln on our local public radio station. It has been a fascinating reading experience-I read the book cover to cover right away. Now I am slowly re-reading it, with many pauses for thought and reflection on the depth of Lincoln's political and moral genius. The author's premise is that these two talents need not be incompatible, and that Lincoln's life demonstrates that both could be taken to the highest level of accomplishment. The book is not a dull moral treatise, however. It is written with spirit, humanity and humor worthy of its subject.

Growing up in Illinois, I was raised on the folksy backwoods cartoonlike interpretation of Lincoln presented by populizers like Carl Sandberg. I knew there must be more to the story, and this book has opened the door to whole a new world of ideas and information about our greatest American president.

While Miller does not present any information that is not available in other Lincoln biographies, his presentation and viewpoint are very fresh and a welcome antidote to the more cynical books on Lincoln as of late.

Miller's writing style is superb. The book is hard to put down. He is humorous at the same time as being quite serious. This is a wonderful addition to any Lincoln bookshelf or for anyone interested in American politics.

Right now you can read two similar Lincoln debunking books from opposite ends of the spectrum-- Lerone Bennett's Forced Into Glory, in which Lincoln is a racist who didn't want to do anything for black people, and neo-Confederate Thomas diLorenzo's The Real Lincoln (talk about a presumptuous title!) in which Lincoln is a "national socialist" for prizing the Union over states' rights and waging total war. (DiLorenzo seems to forget who declared war, or maybe whiny victimhood is the form Suth'n honuh takes in the 21st century.) Despite the fact that they're as far apart as Frederick Douglass and Jefferson Davis, the two authors wind up twisting the same quotations, ignoring the obvious counterarguments (diLorenzo actually says Lincoln didn't believe in the Declaration of Independence-- when Lincoln made speech after speech about it!) and painting a surprisingly similar picture of Lincoln as a genocidal, powermad tyrant who cared nothing for the black man and used slavery as an excuse for his own ends. (Gore Vidal, what hath you wrought by trying to knock Sandburg's plaster saint off the shelf?)

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, there is this book, by the author of the fascinating and lively Arguing About Slavery. It is almost exactly a halfway point between two of the best Lincoln books of the 1990s, combining a biographical portrait grounded in David Herbert Donald's extremely reliable biography with the kind of close textual study that Garry Wills brought to the Gettysburg Address. Miller's goal is to explicate Lincoln's moral choices, in what he said and-- this is critical-- in what he did, as a politician trying to simultaneously and honorably pursue a personal ambition as well as advance the causes he believed in (national improvement first, then abolition). Though he is not attempting to answer fringe writers (Bennett does get a mention in a note, Miller being amazed to find him comparing Lincoln unfavorably to the notably more racist Lyman Trumbull), you will find everything here you might need to dispose of their one-sided, selective portraits, usually in Lincoln's own words.

What Miller understands and others don't is the overall context from which Lincoln arose and in which he acted; here is a Lincoln who, though raised in a society which took white superiority for granted, not only was able to communicate the principles of equality to racist audiences (well enough that he led them to war for them) but to a considerable extent rid himself of racism personally. And where diLorenzo would have you believe that the South merely asked to be leave meekly, only to suffer the full force of Lincoln's megalomaniacal anschluss, Miller reminds us of the reality of the political situation in which Lincoln rose to power, with the Compromise of 1850 dead at the hand of Slave Power ambition, the prospect of new slave states popping up all over, collusion in every branch of government (Douglas with the South in Congress, Buchanan in the White House and Taney's Supreme Court) and the likelihood that slavery would, within a short time, have established itself legally in every state of the union. (No states' rights person like diLorenzo ever answers the Northerner's complaint, that the Southern-backed federal Fugitive Slave Law forced slavery upon every state, even those whose Constitutions forbade it.) In Miller's telling, here is a man who, in his own phrase, cultivated the better angels of his nature. It is an inspiring story for those not already too far gone in partisan foolishness. It is The Real Lincoln, whose glory was not forced but self-realized.

Miller's book has proven to be a valuable resource for me in teaching about Lincoln and the moral issues of his times. The author's unique approach to the ethical development of the politician/president enables students to see the complexities of leadership.

An excellent and helpful work.

First, let me start off by talking about "the grade inflation" of most reviews on this website. I mean, let's be honest, do you really think there are that many books that deserve five stars? Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest . . . . On to my review. I won't go into detail about Miller's book as others have done this already, and have done a better job than I could do. So, let me simply make a few observations. THIS BOOK IS NOT HAGIOGRAPHY! Miller does tell the story of what makes Lincoln a good man, and shows how this helped him to become a great President. To benefit from this book, you need to have a fairly good knowledge of Lincoln, otherwise you will be lost. Don't let this scare you off from reading the book. If you don't know much about Lincoln, or need to refresh your memory, read a one volume biography first. The only bone I have to pick with Miller and his views on Lincoln and his era is when it comes to Miller's virtual dismissal of the Abolitionist Movement. I got the impression that Miller viewed the abolitionist movement as a necessary evil: extreme and fanatical. What is surprising about this is that Miller doesn't really spend too much time discussing Lincoln's views of the abolitionists. In closing, let me say that I agree with Miller that Lincoln was a good man, and that this goodness made him a great President. However, I would encourage anyone interested in this era of history to take the time and effort to find and read Henry Mayer's masterful biography of William Garrison: All on Fire. Garrison was also a good man, and a great leader. Without him, slavery would have long continued and there would have been no Lincoln presidency!