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President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman

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William Lee Miller is one of the most readable and thoughtful of modern American historians. His utterly captivating "Arguing About Slavery," concerning John Quincy Adams' battle against the Gag Rule in Congress, made me a committed fan of both Adams and Miller. Miller followed with "Lincoln's Virtues," a penetrating meditation on the decency and moral character of Lincoln that focussed mainly on his life before 1861.

"President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman," is a delight. As the title reflects, this volume deals with Lincoln's years as President. Miller is well-versed in the vast reaches of Lincoln scholarship. Unlike the best-selling "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kerns Goodwin, however, Miller actually provides new and revelatory insights that further enhance Lincoln's reputation. Of the current coterie of authors on Lincoln, I have yet to find one who has spent the time Miller does on addressing the substance of Lincoln's critical July 4, 1861 message to Congress, where Lincoln denounced the "farcical" pretence of secession and demolished the myth of state sovereignty as he asked Congress for money and men to fight a war that had become much fiercer than almost anyone had imagined. Douglas Wilson, in "Lincoln's Sword," provides an excellent and in-depth discussion of the drafting of this document but he skirts much of the real substance - which remains controversial in some quarters. Miller shows how Lincoln carefully maneuvered between Union and emancipation. He does not avoid controversy. The message to Congress emerges as a central document in Lincoln's development and in the ongoing debate over "states' rights."

One intriguing episode Miller describes concerns the cashiering of Major John J. Key, who was the brother of one of General McClellan's top aides. David Herbert Donald merely asserts, without attribution, that McClellan was not disloyal. The question is not so lightly to be disposed of. According to Major Key's "silly treasonable talk" (in Lincon's phrase), the "game" was to let both the Union and Confederate armies contend in the field until they were exhausted, making compromise inevitable and thereby saving slavery. McClellan is quoted as asserting his distinct preference for a principled, Christian war that would leave inviolate Confederates' property rights - including their "rights" in slaves. While there is no direct evidence presented of McClellan's disloyalty, certainly these facts, coupled with his notorious reluctance to fight, his constant insistence that he was drastically outnumbered when he was often in charge of superior numbers himself, and his platform when he ran against Lincoln for President in 1864, suggest the need to consider that McClellan's agenda as a general was indeed to subvert the war effort and let slavery prevail. The fact that Major Key became a candidate for clemency shortly after Lincoln sacked him only makes Miller's point more acutely: Lincoln refused to reinstate Key.

Miller also gives some substantial scope to the accounts of how much time Lincoln spent reviewing charges against Union soliders who had been sentenced to die, and how his reputation for leniency misses the fact that he did indeed allow executions to proceed when they were warranted. One fascinating case concerns an American officer who was apprehended in the act of transporting more than 800 slaves from Africa. A Republican prosecutor pursued the case aggressively with the result that this man became the first, last, and only slave-trader in all of American history to be executed under American law. Lincoln refused to commute the sentence to life, despite the tears of the prospective widow and child and the intervention of many worthy citizens - 11,000 at least - on behalf of the condemned man.

This volume is not a comprehensive history or biography. While it is more than an extended scholarly essay or meditation on our greatest President, in many respects it reads like one. Miller's scholarship is substantial and he has a fine set of notes, not referenced in the text. They are arranged in the back according to the page number in the main text where the reference arises. The result is a book a lay-person can read for sheer pleasure, or which specialists can peruse for new nuggets. Miller is a master prose stylist, not impervious to humor. And, not unlike his subject, he presents powerful ideas simply. Though the story has been told a myriad of times, it gains new richness, depth and subtlety from Miller's telling of it, his selection of different issues to highlight, and his juxtaposition of materials. I recommend it highly.

Wlliam Lee Miller's new book on US President Abraham Lincoln focuses entirely on the 1861-1865 period when Lincoln was chief executive and the nation suffered through a horrendous Civil War. Miller is an eloquent author and an expert on Lincoln. His book is a combination of narrative laced with a detailed study of several of the moral issues the Kentucky railsplitter faced in office. Among these Gordian Knot problems upon which Lincoln had to decide were:

1. Whether to supply Fort Sumter by sea or allow the Charleston SC.fort to be surrendered to the new Confederate government without a shot being fired? Lincoln had promised to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution in his inaugural address on March 4, 1861. He believed the President of the United States should defend our territory so refused to give up on Sumter. The Confederates fired on the fort leading to a declaration of war with the United States. The Civil War would cost over

600,000 lives-2/3 of them because of disease and insanitary conditions.

2. Lincoln made the decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in Confederate controlled areas as of January 1, 1863. As a wily politician this act did not apply to slaves held in Union held but slave states. All African-Americans in bondage would be freed by the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution following the great emancipator's death

by assassination on April 15, 1865.

3. Miller cites several examples of Lincoln's mercy to soldiers convicted by court martial. He could be tough refusing to save the life of Nathaniel Gordon a slave ship owner and a man who shot a white officer leading a parade of black soldiers in Norfolk, Va. Lincoln was a kind and merciful man who was without hubris or self-glorification.

4. Lincoln showed mercy to most of the Indians who had been involved in the war launched against white settlers in Minnesota in 1863.

5. Lincoln was a great war leader getting rid of poor generals such as George McClellan and choosing fighters like Grant, Sherman and Sheridan to lead the north to victory. He favored a tolerant policy to the South following the war. Unfortunately he died before Reconstruction which proved to be harsh under Andrew Johnson.

6. The Civil War, says Miller, was not total war as civilians were not targeted for death although their property was destoyed by armies. This especially occurred during Sherman's March to the Sea.

7. Lincoln expressed the highest aspirations of republican government in his great speeches. He was in favor of the common person and had no tolerance for rulership by an aristocratic elite.

Lincoln saw his purpose as President to be dominated by two major themes: 1. The preservation of the United States governed by the Constitution 2. The elimination of chattel slavery and the granting of citizenship to the four million Africa-Americans who lived in America. Lincoln was not a racist but a friend of blacks. He welcomed the black leader Frederick Douglass to the White House.

William Lee Miller's book should be required reading in any course dealing with the American Civil War, Presidential Leadership or the life of Lincoln. This great and good man shows us that morality in high office can be practiced by a skillful politician.

This books should be read in tandem with Miller's earlier book on Lincoln's virtues which takes our sixteenth president through his career up until election as President of the United States.

A book to treasure!

Will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in our greatest president and his time in office. Professor Miller is a wonderful master of his subject.

Abraham Lincoln is rightfully remembered here for the actions he took during the short time he actually served in the White House. This is not a book about Mr. Lincoln's youth, his career in Illinois, or his family life. How this statesman balanced power, people, and ethics in reaching his twin noble objectives is laid out in a most compelling way by William Lee Miller.

(I especially found interesting the material presented on President Lincoln's use of the pardoning power.)

Purchase this book for yourself, or a friend who may question why the world still celebrates a politician who was born almost two hundred years ago.

Miller had an almost throwaway line about halfway through the book where he stated his opinion that Lincoln was the most intelligent president we've ever had, bar none -- not even Jefferson.

And, by the time I got done, I came to the impression that this statement (with which I heartily agree) was the fulcrum of the whole book.

Miller breaks Lincoln's Civil War activities down into easily reviewed and analyzed chunks, and in doing so, parses, pulls out, and displays Lincoln's intelligence undergoing presidential growth, meeting the challenges and rising to the occasion.

A couple of other specifics. Miller does an excellent job of defending Lincoln against improperly revisionist historians' (there are properly revisionist historians) charges of racism or similar. Lincoln was moderatly left of center on racial enlightenment, in terms of his day and age, even before becoming president, and grew vastly after taking office. As for colonization ideas, Lincoln was not racist, nor was he alone in proposing colonization, nor was he alone in why he proposed it.

Miller is not a hagiographer, though. He points out that Lincoln did have one notable weakness, indeed somewhat of a failing, in his administration -- Indian affairs. The 1862 Minnesota Sioux uprising and its aftermath are cited as evidence.

That said, had Lincoln served a second term, free from the Civil War, although dealing with Reconstruction, I certainly agree with the implied idea of Miller that Lincoln would have exhibited the same degree of growth in Indian affairs as he did elsewhere.

I enjoyed this book, as I have two previous efforts by William Lee Miller, but I would suggest it is probably not the place to start if you are just now getting to know President Lincoln.

Miller has written previously about the topic of slavery, in Arguing about Slavery: John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United States Congressand the person of Abraham Lincoln, in [[ASIN:0375701737 Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography]. Lincoln's Virtues is basically this book's predecessor, examining the development of Lincoln's moral philosophy as he grew as a politcal leader, before becoming president. This book focuses on his entirely on his presidential term, however, it stands by itself, you don't need to have read the first to enjoy this.

Miller writes well, in a conversational tone, and is at his best when he is analyzing the moral issues of a problem confronted by Lincoln. Miller's understanding of the slavery question is especially astute. I thought he was less good on military issues, which was not a glaring problem in his earlier Lincoln volume, but hurts here. His interest and focus is on the debating halls, not the battlefields.

The book generally praises Lincoln, and notes the difficult choices he confronted. He is particularly strong on showing how Lincoln was able, after initially feeling he had to choose saving the Union over abolishing slavery, to achieve a solution that used emanicipation as a means to save the Union and end the war.

Anyone who is already a student of Lincoln or the Civil War will enjoy this book.

Many of us have wondered through the years "what really made Abraham Lincoln such a great man?" Often we have read histories and biographies that have attempted to answer that question from any number of viewpoints, many of which are superficial and recitative at best. William Lee Miller has produced, I feel, the definitive work of revealing those character traits, moral underpinnings and intellectual methods that Lincoln not only possessed inherently, but actually labored to develop within himself throughout his truly inspired life. Miller has done this in such a way as to lead us step by step through his socratic method of establishing fact, precendent, context and conclusion. When I was finished with the book, I literally said to myself, "this is so clear now. Why haven't more historians been able to see this before?"

Having read dozens of books and articles on President Lincoln by any number of historians/authors, this book I find to be the best, bar none, in outlining in clear terms and logical methods what made Abraham Lincoln so great - the fact that he was both an intellectual AND a moral giant at the same time.

William Lee Miller continues to show his own intellectual and moral gifts with this hugely satisfying work. I already had a very high opinion of Abraham Lincoln before reading this book, but now I stand in awe of this "simple man from the prairie".

First off , Miller writes well. Very well. The voice is conversational. And the insights flow: how Lincoln saw the war as a transcedent matter(after all the South withdrew from the union because they lost an election; no fundanmental rights were infringed;how can any republican government survive that?); the way Lincoln mixed mercy, strategically used, with a firmness to do anything(and anything covered a lot of ground for Lincoln) within his power to save the idea of a republican government; how he never let it be about him and his needs, but always about the greater needs of the cause he served( the writing on how he dealt with McClellan ,and the border states is superb; makes you wish our current politicans had more of the stuff of which Lincoln was made). A must read for anyone interested in the war and, more importantly, on what makes a great leader, political or otherwise.

This is a well written book and a must read follow up to the author's "Lincoln's Virtues". The book delves into Lincoln as he faces the many challanges as President and how his maturing as a politician and his moral beliefs affected that presidency. More than a "backcountry" political figure, Lincoln proves himself as one of our great leaders if not the greatest leader of all time. Any one truly interested in Abraham Lincoln should include both William Miller's "President Lincoln, the Duty of a Statesman" and "Lincoln's Virtues" as required reading.

I have read and reread this book three times; each reading brings me a larger understanding of how extraordinary Lincoln, the President, was. William Lee Miller being an intelligent and insightful person reveals those same qualities of Lincoln. As many other reviewers have explained Miller dives deeply into Lincoln reasoning on the major issues of his presidency and Miller brings out the results of that reasoning. Lincoln's biographer, William Herndon, tells us that Lincoln likened his own mind as a steel trap, once an idea was captured it did not leave him. We see evidence of that kind of mental power in Lincoln as our Chief Executive.

All of the book is marvelous, but the last chapter dealing with the global effect of his assassination on ordinary people, on governments, on communities, and tragically on all Americans of the mid-nineteen to mid-twentieth centuries is my favorite; it is a most moving memorial to the man. Miller's style is fluid and skillful in keeping the reader engrossed and, as in my case, enthralled. If one is to read only one biography of the 16th president, I recommend this book. Within its pages the issues, the decisions, the managing of Congress, and the handling of the Cabinet are amply illustrated.

If you are a Lincoln admirer you will profit from this book; if not you may find the material cogent and perhaps will find you could become an admirer. I am ordering Miller's Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography and the Arguing about Slavery: John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United States Congress also a book by Miller.

I would love to be part of a book club which discusses this book.

I am by no means a Lincoln scholar, but like almost all Americans I have great respect for the man based on what I know of him. Miller's book is a wonderful, in-depth look at a President beset by incredibly difficult challenges from the day of his swearing in. I just savored the book.