LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY

Children have been taught in school that President Abraham Lincoln was our greatest President. So it
is not surprising that he often tops most popularity polls. He is the subject of more books than any
person in history, save for Napoleon. After all, Lincoln was honored with a magnificent memorial on the
National Mall to remind everyone of his “sterling” reputation. But are these accolades really deserved?

If you honestly believe Lincoln to be among the greatest of Presidents, you just may be the unwitting
victim of revisionist history or a product of our “dumbed down” government education monopoly.

To understand revisionist history, one must first understand historians. Historians are captives of their
own experiences and prejudices. They all too often project their own preoccupations with the present
through their observations of the distant past. This is not unlike the modern journalists’ characteristic
infusion of personal political bias in even the most mundane of news stories.

Thus, many sordid details of Abraham Lincoln’s public and private life have been dutifully embellished,
sanitized, or omitted from most popular historical accounts. Some historians do this to perpetuate the
enduring Lincoln legend. A few do this strictly out of ignorance or laziness. Others intentionally color
their opinions to impart a carefully veiled political agenda. All do a great disservice to America.

Lincoln’s greatness is truly a matter of opinion -- opinion that has been clouded by several generations
of revisionist history. Whereas Lincoln had several admirable qualities, this essay stands in stark
contrast to the idyllic works of the ardent revisionist. It is an honest criticism of Lincoln’s disturbing
character flaws that are seldom, if ever, discussed openly or truthfully. It will be thought provoking, and
may reveal the overall quality of the reader’s public “education” – or the shocking lack thereof. Once
this critique is read in its entirety, the reader is encouraged to click the many embedded hypertext links
to explore countless external articles, or download a variety of eBook resources for further study.

Before shattering your preconceived mental image of “Honest Abe”, let us begin with some essential
19th century banking history and interesting numismatic trivia. Lincoln’s countenance first adorned his
infamous Greenback 1861 $10 Demand Note (inflationary fiat money), 1863 $20 Compound Interest
Treasury Note and $20 Interest Bearing Note (issued while alive), 1869 $100 Legal Tender Note, and
1880 $500 Gold Certificate before being demoted to the variety of five dollar designs which followed.

Lincoln’s portrait also graced a few banknotes issued by independent and State chartered banks (e.g.,
broken bank notes) whose currency was soon taxed out of existence by his appointed Treasury
Secretary Salmon P. Chase. Chase cleverly crafted the National Banking Acts, in which his shady
friend Jay Cooke underwrote the escalating Federal debt. This was done solely to allow Nationally-
chartered banks to engage in an expansion of the financial fiction known as fractional reserve banking.1
This inherently fraudulent banking practice would not only help finance Lincoln’s war effort, but would
have a lasting effect on perilous banking practices through to the present day.

When it comes to “pocket change”, Lincoln’s portrait was used on the short-lived 50-cent fourth issue
fractional currency note and the 1918 Illinois Centennial Half Dollar. Perhaps the 16th President of the
United States was relegated to the five dollar bill and the lowly penny as a symbolic gesture reflective of
the immense contempt for Lincoln held in the hearts of a great many of his contemporaries -- including

1
The Mystery of Banking by Murray N. Rothbard ppg. 219-234 (download eBook)

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 1

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
members of his own political parties (Republican and National Union), as well as faithful members of
his own administration!

When it comes to “pocket change”, Lincoln’s portrait was used on the short-lived 50-cent fourth issue
fractional currency note and the 1918 Illinois Centennial Commemorative Half Dollar. Perhaps the 16th
President of the United States was relegated to the five dollar bill and the lowly penny as a symbolic
gesture reflective of the immense contempt for Lincoln held in the hearts of a great many of his
contemporaries -- including countless members of his own political parties (Republican and National
Union), as well as several trusted members of the Lincoln administration!2

Lincoln began gathering formidable enemies early in his campaign for the presidency. Several
attempts were made on Lincoln’s life prior to the assassination that claimed it. The first attempt to kill
Lincoln was the “Baltimore Plot”, which was widely publicized through unflattering political cartoons that
made the President-elect appear cowardly, thereby making him the laughing stock of the nation on the
eve of his first inauguration.3

Lincoln was a dark horse candidate in 1860, who amazingly overcame party favorites such as William
H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Simon Cameron, and Edward Bates. Nonetheless, the other candidates
alienated various factions within the Republican Party. This enabled Lincoln to win the nomination, on
the third ballot, where he was teamed with a vice presidential candidate who he had never met. This
mismatched team went on to garner 39.8% of the vote, which was sufficient to win the election of 1860.

In 1864, the Republican Party faithful so mistrusted Lincoln’s abilities as the incumbent that they
nominated John Frémont as their Presidential candidate, thereby splitting the party into two rival
factions. Lincoln was subsequently nominated as the candidate of the newly organized National Union
Party, where he was paired with the too often inebriated Democrat running mate Andrew Johnson.
Johnson was a very questionable replacement for the incumbent Hannibal Hamlin.

The National Union Party was a short-lived political party that was an impromptu alliance of Lincoln
loyalists from the Republican Party, Northern Democrats, and anti-Confederate Southerners (War
Democrats). Lincoln/Johnson won the election of 1864 by a substantial margin over
McClellan/Pendelton. Johnson assumed Presidential duties immediately after Lincoln’s assassination,
but was destined to become the first President to be impeached (Bill Clinton being the second), and the
only President to be impeached twice. The National Union Party was one of expedience whose
support had collapsed within three years of its inception. As Republicans fled the National Union
movement, it became little more than the Democratic Party in a new and different form.

In retrospect, Lincoln probably should have been impeached in 1861 for abuse of power. During the
Lincoln Imperial Presidency there were suspicions that a Coup d'état to topple his dictatorial
administration had been planned. One of the more likely theories behind the Lincoln assassination was
that Edwin Stanton, his Secretary of War; Lafayette Baker, head of the precursor of the Secret Service;
several high ranking Congressmen; and a few key military leaders were behind the assassination plot.

2
Abraham Lincoln and the Men of War-Times by Alexander Kelly McClure (download eBook)
3
Lincoln’s Wrath by Jeffrey Manber

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 2

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
This was never proven in court, since John Wilkes Booth and his ragtag band of losers turned out to be
fitting patsies. Stanton proceeded to make certain that Booth was silenced with extreme prejudice prior
to his being brought to justice before a military tribunal.4

Lincoln was never an abolitionist, although late in his Presidency he did find the label expedient. His
undeserved fame undoubtedly rests upon Lincoln’s strictly coincidental connection with the collapse of
the institution of slavery. Nonetheless, slavery had been on a collision course with its destiny of self-
destruction since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 onward.

Lincoln did not destroy slavery. Slavery began destroying itself of its own volition!

For the past century, our school children have been indoctrinated with romanticized images of Lincoln’s
embellished legend, conveniently overlooking his numerous shortcomings. These sanitized anecdotes
persist unchallenged to this day, only to be regurgitated into deceptive history textbooks which are
published to inculcate vulnerable and impressionable American youth, and which subtly convey the
progressive or the collectivist / Eurocommunist ideologies of their various authors.

Serious students of nineteenth century American history are therefore required to unearth the
unvarnished truth from first hand accounts. Such records are most readily revealed in the newspapers
of the day, such as Harper’s Weekly, Harper's Monthly, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Atlantic
Monthly, and countless newspapers across both the Union and the Confederacy.

Further clarity may be gained through reading Lincoln’s own words as they appeared in his unedited
letters and unabridged speeches. These were compiled subsequently in the eight volume encyclopedic
reference “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, as well as other antebellum accounts. Of course,
modern scholars may disagree with certain details such as the wording of Lincoln's ten-sentence-long
Gettysburg Address, since all five known copies in Lincoln’s hand differ in their specific wording,
punctuation, and sentence structure. Lincoln himself would have been confused after all this time!

Much of what the majority of modern Americans think that they know about Abraham Lincoln is either a
distortion of historical fact or an agenda-driven, politically correct fabrication. President Lincoln’s
underserved celebrity essentially centers on folklore perpetrated and promulgated by revisionists. Let
us simply classify a few of these common misrepresentations as “myths” rather than bald faced lies, out
of fairness to the cult of twentieth century romanticists who really do not know any better.

Mythology, after all, carries with it an altogether different set of “truths” than that of historical truth or
fact. In Lincoln’s case, his deification is what many Americans wish the man to have been, rather than
what he really was – a corruptible human being, no different than the rest of us.

MYTH: Lincoln invaded the Confederacy to free the slaves. (This is the greatest myth of all.)

FACT: Ending slavery and racial injustice is NOT why the North invaded the South, although it did
become a fashionable ex post facto excuse for the senseless slaughter of 625,000 souls.

4
The Web of Conspiracy by Theodore Roscoe

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 3

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Days before Lincoln’s first inauguration, seven Southern States declared their secession from the
Union. South Carolina immediately sent three commissioners to Washington DC, to negotiate in good
faith a treaty between the new republic of the Confederate States of America and the old republic of the
United States of America. They wished to respectfully divide public property (primarily forts and
lighthouses), to apportion the public debt, and to settle any other outstanding issues. President
Buchanan took the position that he had no authority to decide any of these matters, and declined to
make any preparations to fight over them since he was at the end of his tenure. Due to Buchanan’s
negligence, some Union weapons were moved to the South by sympathizers within his administration.

Days later, in Lincoln’s first inaugural address, the new President warned against a civil war while
promising that he would not invade the South. He was lying! Lincoln suggested that the Federal
Government would continue to occupy its property in the South. Lincoln then took the tyrannical
position that States have absolutely no right to secede from the Union. He believed it was his
obligation as President to keep the States in the Union against their will, contrary to any democratic
conventions or actions of individual State legislatures. Lincoln’s utterly hypocritical policy directly
contradicted Lincoln’s doctrine of the right of revolution, expressed before Congress during the Mexican
War on January 12, 1848. He was a very good liar, whenever it was necessary.

Far from being a peacemaker, Lincoln proceeded to do everything in his power to incite the war!

Federal forces were moved from less defensible forts into Fort Sumter, a customs house that collected
import duties. The Confederacy deemed this an act of war. There were asymmetric taxation demands
on the Southern States that subsidized the industrialized Northern States. Despite the growing
Abolitionist movement, New Jersey continued unabated to increase its slave population throughout the
war. Interestingly, after the first seven States seceded, there were more slaves in the Union than in
these Southern Slave States. After the South had been provoked into attacking Fort Sumter, four
more States seceded from the Union to avoid becoming helpless agricultural colonies of the Northern
industrial States.

None of this made one lick of difference to an indifferent President. Lincoln had no plans whatsoever to
free any slaves – especially those held in the Union! That would have undermined his political support
in Northern Slave States..

Congress announced on July 22, 1861, that the purpose of the War Of The Rebellion (known in the
South as the “War of Northern Aggression”) was not “interfering with the rights or established
institutions (e.g., slavery) of those States". Rather, the war was the vehicle used to restore the Union
“with the rights of the States unimpaired." Many argue that this action was a direct violation of State
Sovereignty and of Constitutionally-guarantied States’ Rights. These principles had led the Southern
States to secede from “the Union” (the centralized government) which they believed failed to honor the
covenant that bound the States together under dual Federalism.

In order to ensure a Union victory, after inciting battle, Lincoln garnered the dubious distinction of
sending TWICE as many soldiers to their deaths in combat, than did the Confederacy. The
unnecessary death toll for our “Un-Civil War” was greater than all other American wartime casualties
from the time of the American Revolution through today’s clumsily-executed “war on terrorism” (or any
absurd euphemism thereof) -- combined!

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 4

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the underlying Executive Orders were strictly a war
measures act -- some consider an afterthought – which applied only to territories not already under
Union control. All Northern States were exempt. The proclamation, which came as a complete
surprise to his cabinet, was a timely war strategy to save Lincoln’s political career at a time when he
was extremely unpopular -- especially with Democrats, the Party of Slavery.

The Emancipation Proclamation freed few, if any, slaves. That was never its original intent. Its primary
purpose was to shore up the war effort by encouraging more than 200,000 blacks to join Union forces.
The proclamation also served as a convenient diversion and as a justification for prolonging the war at
a time when public sentiments had turned against Lincoln’s expansion of government. Freeing of
slaves did not officially occur until many months after Lincoln’s death with the December 6, 1865
ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments.

In his famous letter to Horace Greeley, dated August 22, 1862; Lincoln wrote "My paramount object in
this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the
Union without freeing any slave, I would do it."5

The North invaded the South to reassemble the Union using brute force for the underlying purpose of
regaining lost Federal tax revenue. Tax collection and exerting military force are the only things that
massive authoritarian governments do well. In his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln pledged to invade
any state that failed to collect "the duties and imposts". In his inimitable slickness, he made good on
that promise. Additionally, the reason Lincoln gave for his April 19, 1861 naval blockade of Southern
ports was that "the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed" in the States that had
seceded. Lincoln was fighting fiercely to save his political career.

“If the Declaration of Independence justifies the secession from the British Empire of three
million Colonists in 1776, we do not see why it would not justify the secession of five million
Southerners from the Federal Union” -.Horace Greeley

MYTH: Lincoln championed equality and natural rights.

FACT: Lincoln’s words and actions repudiate every bit of this manner of revisionist history. Lincoln
was a segregationist at best.

In Springfield, Illinois on July 17, 1858, Lincoln boldly stated, "What I would most desire would be the
separation of the white and black races." Lincoln announced on August 21, 1858 in an early debate
with Judge Stephen A. Douglas that "I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality
between the white and black races." He then said, "I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race
to which I belong having the superior position” much to Douglas’ chagrin. Lincoln went on to ask, "Free
them [slaves] and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this.

5
“The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln” edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, ppg. 388-389 (Letter to Horace Greeley,
August 22, 1862).

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 5

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
We cannot, then, make them equals." In Charleston, Illinois on September 18, 1858, he said, "I will to
the very last stand by the law of this State, which forbids the marrying of white people with negroes."

To elaborate on the fourth debate with Judge Stephen A. Douglas in Charleston, Illinois (September 18,
1858), consider Lincoln’s appalling tirade against the Negro race that follows. To wit;

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social
and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of
making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with
white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the
white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of
social and political equality. And, inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain
together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am
in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do
not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be
denied everything."6

These are words befitting the most despicable Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. They certainly do not
square with the notion of Lincoln’s being a “Great Emancipator” or those of a purportedly “great” future
President. This is where the earliest revisionists began to sanitize the historic record – through the
strategic omission of Lincoln’s most offensive words and deeds. How unfortunate.

Lincoln supported the Illinois Constitution, which expressly prohibited the emigration of blacks into the
State. He also supported the Illinois Black Codes, which deprived any semblance of citizenship to the
few free blacks in the State. Lincoln strongly supported the Fugitive Slave Act, which compelled
Northern states to capture runaway slaves and return them to their owners in the South. In his First
Inaugural Address he pledged his support of a proposed Constitutional amendment that had passed
both houses of Congress which would have prohibited the Federal government from having the power
"to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons
held to labor or service by the laws of said State." Lincoln went on to advocate making this pro-slavery
amendment "express and irrevocable.", thus proving that his grasp of the Constitution was about as
fallible as his grasp of history. (In his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln boldly asserted that the States
were never sovereign, and that “The Union is much older than the Constitution”.)

Lincoln declared himself against equal rights in voting and office holding, and he was a life-long
advocate of the “colonization” of blacks to lands outside the United States -- an idea that was
anathematic to abolitionists. In a December 1, 1862 message to Congress, Lincoln stated, "I cannot
make it better known than it already is … that I strongly favor colonization." Blacks could be "equal" to
whites, as long as they were not considered equals here in the United States.

When the far-left attempts to smear and discredit a noted author as “racist”, you know that there must
be considerable substance in a book that documented Lincoln’s faults using first-person accounts. The
harsh reality was that noted author Edgar Lee Masters’ courageous book entitled “Lincoln, the Man”,
6
“The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln” edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "ppg. 145-146 (Fourth Debate with Stephen
A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois September 18, 1858)

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 6

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
published at the height of the Great Depression, revealed the dark side of Lincoln’s humanity. This was
in direct contrast to the sickeningly sweet soliloquy, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years -- part fact and
part fiction -- published in 1926 by author Carl Sandburg.

Masters’ father and grandfather both knew Lincoln personally, and related their interpersonal accounts
directly to the author. Unlike Sandberg’s works, Masters’ biography spoke of Lincoln in a most candid
and factual manner. He revealed that Lincoln hated his “worthless” father, and was cruel to both his
mother and stepmother. Lincoln also confessed to have married Mary Todd for her money. Lincoln
was, indeed, a dastardly demagogue who elected to pummel the South into submission rather than
avoid bloodshed. Lincoln feigned morality while dragging the nation into an immoral war of his own
design. Conversely, Sandberg's successful book Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, often fictional,
worshiped the President and clearly perpetuated the distorted Lincoln legend.

However, the great myth did not begin with Sandberg’s works. Rather, it began building almost
immediately after Lincoln’s death. April 16, 1865 – “Black Easter” -- marked when Northern abolitionist
clergy portrayed the slain President as a martyr. However preposterous and blasphemous, Lincoln was
rendered shamelessly as the American “Christ” who died to cleanse the sins of the nation.

MYTH: Lincoln was a defender of the Constitution.

FACT: Nothing could be further from the truth.

His contemporaries, as well as generations of honest historians, have labeled Lincoln a "dictator". In
his book “Constitutional Dictatorship”, Clinton Rossiter wrote “Lincoln's amazing disregard for the
Constitution was considered by nobody as legal.” Rossiter went on to say "Dictatorship played a
decisive role in the North's successful effort to maintain the Union by force of arms."

Lincoln assaulted the Constitution with wild abandon. He unconstitutionally suspended the writ of
habeas corpus. He had the military arrest Northern political opponents, including dozens of newspaper
editors and owners. Lalor's Encyclopedia indicates that Washington Provost Marshal's office records
show that thirty-eight thousand political prisoners in all were arrested.7

Lincoln had the Federal authorities forcibly close three hundred newspapers who dared to criticize his
policies, many permanently, and censored telegraph communications. Lincoln also issued a warrant to
arrest the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney, following his opinion in
the case of Ex parte Merryman (May, 1861).

The plight of one Pennsylvania newspaper, The Jeffersonian, and its editor’s long-fought court battle is
documented in “Lincoln’s Wrath: Fierce Mobs, Brilliant Scoundrels, and a President's Mission to
Destroy the Press” by Manber and Dahlstrom. So much for Lincoln’s utmost respect for the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

7
Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln by James G. Randall (a 25MB eBook)

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 7

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Democrat voters were intimidated by Union soldiers. Some Northern elections were rigged. The
border States were systematically disarmed in direct violation of the Second Amendment. Hundreds of
New York City draft protesters were murdered by Federal troops. Tens of thousands of citizens were
tortured. Private property was confiscated from its rightful owners, including vital food stuffs. West
Virginia was unconstitutionally carved out of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Congressman Clement
Vallandigham of Ohio, an outspoken member of the Democrat Party against the war of “King Lincoln”,
was deported. Duly elected members of the Maryland legislature were imprisoned, as were the mayor
of Baltimore and Congressman Henry May. The horrors of the Lincoln administration were unparalleled
in all of American history, and made Margaret Michell’s novel seem like a picnic by comparison!

The eternal cult of Lincoln apologists routinely excuse his otherwise inexcusable behavior with the trite
comment "Lincoln had to destroy the Constitution in order to save it." Oh please, spare us all! Tell
that drivel to the countless victims of his outrageous schemes – including the many thousands of
innocents who were murdered or starved to death in the name of “saving the Constitution”!

MYTH: Lincoln's war saved the Union.

FACT: Truth, States’ Rights, and individual liberties were the very first casualties of Lincoln’s war.
Whereas Lincoln may have restored the Union in geographical terms, his war destroyed the Union
philosophically, by annihilating the voluntary nature of State-Federal relationships. For this, Lincoln
must never be forgiven!

Please reflect on the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S.
Constitution. These founding documents describe the several States as "free and independent." The
States had delegated certain limited powers to the Federal government that they had created as their
agent. Most importantly, the several States had retained sovereignty for themselves (e.g., States’
Rights). Prior to the war, it is safe to say that these facts were abundantly clear in all States – both
North and South.

It was the majority opinion of Northern newspapers that the Union, as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle so
plainly editorialized on November 13, 1860, "depends for its continuance on the free consent and will of
the sovereign people of each State, and when that consent and will is withdrawn on either part, their
Union is gone." On January 12, 1861 the New York Journal of Commerce concurred that a coerced
Union changes the nature of government from "a voluntary one, in which all the people are sovereigns,
to a despotism where one part of the People are slaves."

Alas, the pre-war Union was forever lost and personal liberties surrendered at the hands of Mr. Lincoln.

MYTH: Lincoln was a "great humanitarian”, with malice toward none.

FACT: This is simply untrue and completely inconsistent with historical facts. “Dishonest Abe”
micromanaged the waging of total war against large civilian populations. Lincoln ordered the burning of
thriving communities populated only by innocent civilians. He encouraged the looting and plunder of
civilian property, including the destruction of essential food supplies. Lincoln’s executive atrocities also

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 8

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
excused the summary execution and even rape of civilians.8 Are these the hallmarks of a caring and
compassionate “humanitarian” who is devoid of all malice?

It should be noted that Lincoln was a staunch atheist for all of his adult life. It has been suggested,
however, that he may have come to understand and respect Christianity in the closing months of his
life. This is carefully documented in lectures published in 1884 by Joshua Speed, a close friend and
fellow skeptic. It is a matter of speculation whether Lincoln had come to grips with his abuses of power
and troubled existence shortly before he died. So it is possible that his Creator may have forgiven his
actions, even if his many victims had not – nor should they be expected to forgive him.

Lincoln’s formidable war machine executed a scorched earth policy that ranged from Gen. Sherman’s
most notorious “March to the Sea” to Gen. Grant’s anti-Semitic General Order Number 11 down to Gen.
Ewing’s bloody execution of Order No. 11 to Gen. Sheridan’s stripping of the Shenandoah Valley. Few
Union Generals were above waging total war against civilian populations, their property, their
infrastructure, and their food sources. Lincoln’s measures were so draconian that even pro-Lincoln
historian Lee Kennett wrote in "Marching Through Georgia" that, had the Confederates somehow won
the war, they would have been completely justified in "stringing up President Lincoln and the entire
Union high command" as war criminals!

MYTH: The War Between the States was absolutely necessary to put an end to slavery.

FACT: Balderdash! Many other nations and powerful empires ended slavery peaceably during the
nineteenth century through compensated emancipation. The list of nations and empires included:
Argentina, Bolivia, British Empire, Chile, Colombia, Danish colonies, Ecuador, French colonial empire,
Mexico and Central America, Peru, Spanish Empire, Sweden, Uruguay, and Venezuela, to name a few.

In fact, President Lincoln signed into law the Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862. This
act freed about 3,100 enslaved individuals, but only in the District of Columbia! To be fair, the Lincoln
administration had proposed compensated emancipation for border States only, coupled with the
forced deportation of freed slaves. The proposal failed.

Is it not more than a bit strange -- and painfully ironic -- that only in the (Re-)United States of
America could the liberation of slaves be associated with the atrocities of WAR?

Lincoln’s distorted vision was that his treacherous “War to Prevent Southern Independence” (not the
words of a Lincoln apologist) must be fought solely to preserve the sanctity of an omnipotent
centralized government that would be unaccountable to the citizenry for its actions. He could only
advance his warped notion of the American System through such institutionalized corruption. Lincoln’s
Whig-inspired “American System” was comprised of a government monetary monopoly, a perverse
array of mercantilists dependent on government subsidies (e.g., corporate welfare), and a monstrous
protectionist tariff system designed to fund the government and obstruct all forms of free-trade
and laissez-faire capitalism – especially if practiced South of the Mason-Dixon line.

8
Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians by Mark Grimsley

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 9

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
One does not have to be a learned scholar to ferret out the many suppressed or revised aspects of
American history to see Abraham Lincoln for who he really was. Lincoln’s flagrant violations of
Constitutional law opened the door widely for the continued nineteenth century abuses of Native
Americans, the ongoing theft of our Constitutional liberties, and the further government plunder of
private property at the hands of twentieth century progressives. Lincoln knew that he had inflicted
boundless misery on many millions of Americans with his ghastly war for which he expressed sadness
– whether real or imagined. Lincoln had absolutely no idea the scope of his enduring soulless wrath on
the entire nation.

These myths and countless other half-truths and outright lies surround various Presidents of the United
States since Lincoln, all of which you thought you knew. They emphasize the fact that the power of
the State ultimately rests solely upon the alleged benevolence of a corrupt, arrogant, self-
serving, mutually enabling ruling aristocracy.

Myths also illustrate how present-day ideologs within the State-run “news” media can handily shape the
opinions of the masses -- those who have been deprived of critical thinking skills by our over-priced
government education cartel.

Abraham Lincoln needlessly caused a massive Constitutional Crisis. That is a fact. But the invisibility
of details of his “man-caused disaster”, to use Homeland Security parlance, is as stunning as Lincoln’s
maniacal handling of the war and the economy. Lincoln’s abuses of power established many
precedents that have been exercised since his dreadful administration by all Presidents of the United
States, Congresses, the military, and the Federal Reserve System.

The overarching issue of this harsh criticism is to point out the miserable failures that most “historians”,
“journalists”, and “educators” have proven themselves to be. The quotation marks are purely
intentional, as precious few produce unbiased work of any significant redeeming value to American
society and its unique culture.

The premeditated grooming of the Lincoln legend / myth is simply one isolated example.

Other useful online resources:

Cornell University Library Making of America Collection
The Making of the U.S. Constitution
Timeline: American History as Seen in Congressional Documents, 1774-1873
The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States
Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1784 to 1894
The Louisiana Purchase: Legislative Timeline - 1802 to 1807
Statutes At Large - Volumes 1 to 18 1789-1875
Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865
The Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson, 1868
Presidential Elections and the Electoral College, 1877
Readex/NewsBank Early American Newspaper Archives

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 10

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
There are approximately 10,000 books and booklets relating to Abraham Lincoln. No other historical
person, save for Napoleon, has been studied and written about as much as our 16th President. The
list of Lincoln publications continues to grow at a steady pace – this being yet another. Here are some
others to consider reading (revisionist and otherwise):

Angle, Paul M., with Case, Richard G., eds. A PORTRAIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LETTERS
BY HIS OLDEST SON. Chicago: 1968. 92p., ft. This valuable source contains over eighty letters
written between 1903 and 1926 in which Robert Todd Lincoln commented about his father’s life.

Baringer, William E. A HOUSE DIVIDING: LINCOLN AS PRESIDENT ELECT. Springfield: 1945.

356p., ft. An excellent study of Lincoln during the secession winter of 1860-61.

Baringer, William E. LINCOLN’S RISE TO POWER. Boston: 1937. 373p., ft., illus. A fine account of
Lincoln’s strategy that, within two years, turned him from a defeated senatorial candidate into the
successful Republican candidate for President.

Baringer, William E. LINCOLN’S VANDALIA: A PIONEER PORTRAIT. New Brunswick: 1949.

141p., illus. Lincoln passed his freshman course in politics in this lively frontier capital. Here started his
rivalry with Stephen A. Douglas, as well as the friendships that would one day carry him to the White
House.

Bates, David H. LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE. New York: 1907. 432p., ft. Personal
recollections and dispatches of a War Department telegraph office manager and a cipher operator,
1861-1866.

Beale, Howard K., ed. THE DIARY OF EDWARD BATES, 1859 – 1866. Washington: 1933.
685p. The diary of Lincoln’s Attorney General, a southern moderate and unionist. documents life and
politics in St. Louis during the secession crisis, Washington in wartime, legal and administrative issues,
and his evaluation of Lincoln.

Boritt, Gabor S. LINCOLN AND THE ECONOMICS OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. Memphis: 1978.
420p., illus. Lincoln ’s economic concerns and observations long preceded the political issues of
slavery and secession. These ideas helped him not only face his political trials, but create his vision of
the American Dream.

Boritt, Gabor S., ed. THE HISTORIAN’S LINCOLN: PSEUDOHISTORY, PSYCHOHISTORY, AND
HISTORY. Urbana: 1988. 423p., illus., ports.; THE HISTORIAN’S LINCOLN: REBUTTALS, WHAT
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS WOULD NOT PRINT. Gettysburg: 1988. Wraps, 43p., erratum
sheet. Numerous writers, among them Current, Fehrenbacher, McPherson and Oates, defend and
denounce various images of Lincoln and views of his biographers, focusing on the fundamental issue of
whether Lincoln’s ultimate commitment was to union or liberty.

Braden, Waldo W., ed. BUILDING THE MYTH: SELECTED SPEECHES MEMORIALIZING
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Urbana andChicago: 1990. 259p. A compilation of 23 speeches that illuminate
the rhetorical dimension of the Lincoln myth; includes orations by Emerson, T. Roosevelt, Cuomo, Taft,
Frederick Douglass, Garfield, and Booker T. Washington.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 11

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
(Browning, Orville H.) Pease, Theodore, & Randall, James, eds. THE DIARY OF ORVILLE
HICKMAN BROWNING: 1850-1881.Springfield: 1925. 2 volumes (700p.; 698p.). Thirty-one years in
the life of this Illinois senator, cabinet member, and political associate and personal friend of Lincoln.

Bruce, Robert. LINCOLN AND THE TOOLS OF WAR. Indianapolis and New York: 1956. 368p., ft.,
illus. A fine treatment of the Union development of technology.

Bryan, George S. THE GREAT AMERICAN MYTH. [A] New York: 1940. 436p., illus. [B] Chicago:
1990. 2 nd ed., with new Introduction by William Hanchett. The classic interpretation of Lincoln's
assassination as a simple conspiracy, carried out by John Wilkes Booth acting on his own and dying in
the Garret barn. Noted authority William Hanchett provides an insightful essay, viewing the
assassination through the eyes of Lincoln's biographers since 1865.

Bunker, Gary L. FROM RAIL-SPLITER TO ICON: LINCOLN 'S IMAGE IN ILLUSTRATED

PERIODICALS, 1860-1865. Kent &London: 2001. 387p., illus. Editorial, news, poetic, and satirical
content from contemporary periodicals is artfully woven into the narrative of a copiously illustrated
history of the development of Lincoln 's public profile.

Burlingame, Michael, ed. AN ORAL HISTORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: JOHN G. NICOLAY’S

INTERVIEWS AND ESSAYS.Carbondale: 1996. 167p. With fellow secretary John Hay, Nicolay spent
the years from 1872 to 1890 writing a monumental ten-volume biography of Lincoln. In preparation for
this task, Nicolay interviewed men who had known Lincoln both during his years in Springfield and
when he became President; among them Orville H. Browning, John Todd Stuart, Stephen T. Logan,
Ward H. Lamon, James Speed, and Robert Todd Lincoln. These 39 interviews are supplemented by
two previously unpublished essays by Nicolay.

Burlingame, Michael, and Ettlinger, John R. Turner, eds. INSIDE LINCOLN’S WHITE HOUSE:
THE COMPLETE CIVIL WAR DIARY OF JOHN HAY. Carbondale: 1997. 393p. Justly deemed the
most intimate record we will ever have of Abraham Lincoln in the White House, This authoritative and
unedited edition of Lincoln’s secretary’s finely written diary includes a body of notes providing a critical
apparatus to the diary, identifying historical events and persons.

Carman, Harry J., & Luthin, Reinhard, H. LINCOLN AND THE PATRONAGE. New York: 1943.
375p., ft., illus. The standard work on an important aspect of Lincoln’s career.

Chamlee, Roy Z. LINCOLN’S ASSASSINS: A COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF THEIR CAPTURE, TRIAL,

AND PUNISHMENT. Jefferson,NC: 1990. 622p., illus., maps. Extensively researched work, digging
deep into War Department files, pretrial and trial testimony, newspaper accounts and manuscripts.

Current, Richard N. THE LINCOLN NOBODY KNOWS. New York: 1958. 314p. A collection of
essays on controversial episodes from each period of Lincoln’s life, by one of his abler biographers.

Dirck, Brian. LINCOLN THE LAWYER. Urbana and Chicago: 2007. 228p. Abraham Lincoln lived
most of his adult life as a practicing lawyer, and it was as a lawyer that he began his political career. In
this excellent study of Lincoln’s legal career, Brian Dirck explores the origins of Lincoln’s desire to
practice law, his legal education, his partnerships, and the maturation of his far-flung practice in the
1840s and 1850s.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 12

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Donald, David Herbert, ed. INSIDE LINCOLN’S CABINET: THE CIVIL WAR DIARIES OF SALMON
P. CHASE. New York: 1954. 342p., ft. An intimate record and fine resource on the inner workings of
Lincoln’s administration by his Treasury Secretary.

Duff, John J. A. LINCOLN, PRAIRIE LAWYER. New York: 1960. 443p., ft., illus. A flavorful
anecdotal account of Lincoln’s circuit practice from 1837-1861.

Farber, Daniel. LINCOLN’S CONSTITUTION. Chicago & London: 2003. 240p. The Civil War brought
pressure on the Constitution that had never seen before or since. Did the South have the right to
secede? What is the nature of the Union, and what are the limits of states’ rights? Faber evaluates
Lincoln’s legal legacy comprehensively, leading the reader to understand the constitutional problems
that arose during Lincoln’s term, what arguments he made in defense of his actions, and how his words
and deeds fit into the context of the times.

Fehrenbacher, Don E. LINCOLN IN TEXT AND CONTEXT: COLLECTED ESSAYS. Palo Alto: 1987.
363p. A wide-ranging and insightful collection, from this admired Lincoln scholar.

Guelzo, Allen C. LINCOLN’S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: THE END OF SLAVERY IN

AMERICA. New York: 2004. 332p., illus. No single official paper in American history changed the lives
of so many Americans as the Emancipation Proclamation. But no American document has been held
up to greater suspicion. One of the nation’s foremost Lincoln scholars examines Lincoln’s purposes in
planning and issuing the Proclamation and identifies the sources, language, sequence, readership, and
impact of the Proclamation’s creation.

Hanchett, William. THE LINCOLN MURDER CONSPIRACIES. Champaign: 1983. 304p., illus. A
thoughtful analysis of the assassination and of the various theories put forth to explain the murder. “The
best interpretation of the assassination I have ever seen in print.” - Mark E. Neely, Jr.

Harper, Robert S. LINCOLN AND THE PRESS. New York: 1951. 418p. A study commencing in 1836
when Lincoln’s name first appeared in print, with emphasis on Civil War civilian attitudes and editorial
opinion.

Hendrick, Burton J. LINCOLN’S WAR CABINET. Boston: 1946. 482p., ft., illus. Portrays each of the
members of the Cabinet and the part they played in the various crises of the administration.

Herndon, William H., & Weik, Jesse W. HERNDON’S LINCOLN: THE TRUE STORY OF A GREAT
LIFE; THE HISTORY AND PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Chicago:
1889. 3 volumes, fts., plates. (B) ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE TRUE STORY OF A GREAT LIFE.
New York: 1892. 2 vols. (331p.; 348p.). (C) HERNDON’S LIFE OF LINCOLN. New York: 1930. 1
vol., ed. with an Introduction by Paul Angle. 511p. (D) Urbana and Chicago: 2006. Wilson,
Douglas L., and Davis, Rodney O., eds. 481p., illus. Herndon was Lincoln’s law partner and this
remains an essential source for the lawyer Lincoln’s “growth” years, telling much of his personal habits
and tastes from 1837 to 1860. The 1892 edition contains material not found in the original, including
much on the 1858 Illinois campaign and an informative appendix.

Hesseltine, William B. LINCOLN AND THE WAR GOVERNORS. New York: 1948. 405p. An
authoritative study of Lincoln’s relationship with state executives.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 13

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Holzer, Harold, ed. LINCOLN AS I KNEW HIM: GOSSIP, TRIBUTES, AND REVELATIONS FROM
HIS BEST FRIENDS AND WORST ENEMIES. Chapel Hill: 1999. 352p. Noted Lincoln scholar Harold
Holzer sifted through letters, diary entries, books, and speeches written by those, famous and
unknown, who actually met Lincoln, and offers up an intimate look at a man who was a terrible dresser,
loved raunchy stories, and let his kids run all over him. We learn this and more about an extraordinary
man who made an impression on everyone who met him.

Holzer, Harold, ed. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES: THE FIRST COMPLETE,

UNEXPURGATED TEXT. New York: 1993. 394p., illus. A terrific reference; well edited, with a
valuable introduction.

Holzer, Harold. LINCOLN: PRESIDENT ELECT – ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE GREAT
SECESSION WINTER, 1860 – 1861. New York: (2008). 1 st ed., 623p., ft., illus. One of our most
eminent Lincoln scholars, winner of a Lincoln Prize for Lincoln at Cooper Union, examines the four
months between Lincoln's election and inauguration.

Jaffa, Harry V. CRISIS OF THE HOUSE DIVIDED: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE ISSUES IN THE
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES. Garden City, NY: 1959. 451p. Perhaps the best book written on the
debates.

Johannsen, Robert W. LINCOLN, THE SOUTH, AND SLAVERY: THE POLITICAL DIMENSION.
Baton Rouge and London: 1991. 144p. An astute analytical study which traces the political dimension
of Lincoln’s antislavery stance as it evolved from the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 to
his election as President in 1860, showing Lincoln becoming increasingly antislavery and anti-Southern
in response to the demands of politics.

Keckley, Elizabeth. BEHIND THE SCENES: OR, THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE, AND FOUR YEARS IN
THE WHITE HOUSE. New York: 1868. 371p., ft. A classic reminiscence by Mrs. Lincoln’s dressmaker.

Kincaid, Robert L. JOSHUA FRY SPEED: LINCOLN’S MOST INTIMATE FRIEND. Harrrogate, TN:
1943. 250 copies, 70p., illus. A fine biography, including the fascinating letters written by Lincoln to his
closest friend.

Leech, Margaret. REVILLE IN WASHINGTON, 1860-1865. New York: 1941. 438p., illus. The Pulitzer
Prize-winning work of history, written like a novel, tells the story of the capital during the Civil War.

Lewis, Lloyd. MYTHS AFTER LINCOLN. [A] New York: 1929. 422p. [B] Revised ed., 1940, with
new Introduction by Carl Sandburg. [C] THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN:
HISTORY AND MYTH. Lincoln & London: 1994. With new Introduction by Mark Neely, Jr.
367p. The traditions, legends, and folklore that grew after Lincoln’s murder; and his influence and the
reality.

Long, David E. THE JEWEL OF LIBERTY: ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S RE-ELECTION AND THE END
OF SLAVERY. Mechanicsburg, PA: 1994. 368p., illus. A splendid, comprehensive investigation of
the 1864 presidential campaign, presenting the case as the most important election in American
history.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 14

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Luthin, Reinhard H. THE FIRST LINCOLN CAMPAIGN. Cambridge: 1944. 328p. An objective
picture of the 1860 campaign, Lincoln’s and of his opponents.

Luthin, Reinhard H. THE REAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A COMPLETE ONE VOLUME HISTORY OF
HIS LIFE & TIMES. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1960. 778p. Another fine one-volume biography of Lincoln.

McCarthy, Charles H. LINCOLN’S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION. New York: 1901. 531p. A very
detailed account.

McPherson, James M. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION. New
York: 1991. 256p. These graceful essays, written by one of America’s leading historians, offer a series
of thoughtful and engaging essays on aspects of Lincoln and the Civil War rarely discussed in depth.

McPherson, James M. BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM: THE CIVIL WAR ERA. [A] New York: 1988.
904p., illus. [B] THE ILLUSTRATED BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM: THE CIVIL WAR ERA. 2003.
Revised ed., 786p., illus., maps. Quite simply superb, and easily the best one volume work on the
Civil War. A Pulitzer Prize-winner.

McPherson, James M. TRIED BY WAR: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. New

York: 2008. 1 st ed., 416p., illus., maps . In essence, Lincoln invented the idea of commander in
chief, as neither the Constitution nor existing legislation specified how the president ought to declare
war or dictate strategy. In fact, by assuming the powers we associate with the role of commander in
chief, Lincoln often overstepped the narrow band of rights granted the president; good thing, too,
because his strategic insight and will to fight won the war and saved the Union.

Miller, William Lee. LINCOLN'S VIRTUES: AN ETHICAL BIOGRAPHY. New York: 2002. 515p.,
ft. Lincoln, Miller says, was a great man who was also a good man. It is the central thrust of this "ethical
biography" to reveal how he became both, to trace his moral and intellectual development in the
context of his times and in confrontation with the leading issues of the day - most notably, of course,
that of slavery.

Mitgang, Herbert, ed. LINCOLN AS THEY SAW HIM. [A] New York: 1956. 519p. [B] ABRAHAM
LINCOLN: A PRESS PORTRAIT. New York: 1971. A biography fashioned from contemporary
sources, primarily journalistic.

Monaghan, Jay. DIPLOMAT IN CARPET SLIPPERS: ABRAHAM LINCOLN DEALS WITH FOREIGN
AFFAIRS. Indianapolis: 1945. 505p., illus. Still the best work on Lincoln’s foreign policy.

Neely, Mark E., Jr. THE FATE OF LIBERTY: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND CIVIL LIBERTIES. New
York and Oxford: 1991. 278p. The Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of the whole range of Lincoln’s
constitutional policies.

Nevins, Allen. THE ORDEAL OF THE UNION. New York: 1947-71. 8 volumes. Fts., illus., maps. A
Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s definitive history of the war, with much on Lincoln as Commander in
Chief.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 15

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Nichols, David A. LINCOLN AND THE INDIANS: CIVIL WAR POLICY AND POLITICS. Columbia,
MO: 1978. 223p. The only title to tackle this subject, though a bit critical of Lincoln for not putting more
time into the problem.

Nicolay, John G., and Hay, John. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY. New York: 1890. 10 vols.,
fts., illus., plates, maps. Written by the personal secretaries to the President, who were at the heart of
his administration, this is one of the truly essential works on Abraham Lincoln, as much a history of the
Civil War as a biography of the man who prosecuted it. Reprinted in 1904, 1914, 1917, and 1941.

Oates, Stephen B. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTHS. New York: 1984.
160p. A biographical study, examining and comparing the mythical and historical Lincoln.

Oates, Stephen B. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE: A LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. New York:
1977. 492p., illus. A truly great one-volume biography.

Peterson, Merrill D. LINCOLN IN AMERICAN MEMORY. New York and Oxford: 1994. 482p.,
illus. A fascinating history of Lincoln’s place in the American imagination from the hour of his death to
the present, tracing the changing image of Lincoln through time by exploring the reminiscences,
biographies, memorials and myths.

Phillips, Isaac Newton, ed.. ABRAHAM LINCOLN BY SOME MEN WHO KNEW HIM. [A]
Bloomington, IL: 1910. 167p., illus. [B] Chicago: 1950. Ltd. ed., 123p., new Introduction by Paul
Angle. A basic Lincoln title containing recollections by men who knew Lincoln in the Bloomington,
Illinois vicinity.

Potter, David M. LINCOLN AND HIS PARTY IN THE SECESSION CRISIS. New Haven.
408p. Scholarly analysis of the critical period between Lincoln’s election and the outbreak of the Civil
War.

Pratt, Harry E. PERSONAL FINANCES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Springfield: 1943, ft., illus.,
plates. The only reliable source for information on the subject.

Quarles, Benjamin. LINCOLN AND THE NEGRO. New York: 1962. 275p., ft., illus. Examines
Lincoln’s attitudes on racial matters as they evolved from childhood, to the Presidency, and eventually
emancipation.

Randall, J.G. CONSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS UNDER LINCOLN. [A] New York: 1926. 580p.
[B] Urbana: 1951. 2nd, ed., revised. 596p. Randall’s first important work on the Lincoln presidency,
and a classic

Randall, James G. LINCOLN THE LIBERAL STATESMAN. New York: 1947. 266p., illus. A
collection of essays by “the greatest Lincoln scholar of all time” (Mark Neely).

Randall, J.G. LINCOLN THE PRESIDENT: SPRINGFIELD TO GETTYSBURG; MIDSTREAM; LAST

FULL MEASURE (with Current, Richard N.). New York: 1945-1955. 4 vols., fts., illus. Randall’s
landmark, ground-breaking biography, one of the first to utilize the vast Robert Todd Lincoln collection,
which changed the way scholars looked at Lincoln.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 16

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Randall, Ruth Painter. MARY LINCOLN: BIOGRAPHY OF A MARRIAGE. Boston: 1953. 555p., ft.,
illus. A sympathetic treatment, written in part to correct distortions in the Herndon biography.

Rice, Allen Thorndike, ed. REMINISCENCES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN BY DISTINGUISHED MEN

OF HIS TIME. [A] New York: 1886. 656p., illus. [B] New York: 1909. Revised ed., 428p., illus.,
facsims. A fine collection of recollections by people who personally knew Lincoln.

Riddle, Donald W. CONGRESSMAN ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Urbana: 1957. 280p. Perhaps the best
treatment of Lincoln during his one term in Congress.

Sandburg, Carl ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE PRAIRIE YEARS and THE WAR YEARS. [A] New
York: 1926; 1939; 6 vols., fts., illus.; facsims. [B] New York: 1940. 6 vols. [C] Pleasantville, NY:
1970. One-volume, Illustrated ed., 640p., illus., maps. Sandburg’s magnum opus and a fine narrative
biography by this famous poet.

Shenk, Joshua Wolf. LINCOLN’S MELANCHOLY: HOW DEPRESSION CHALLENGED A

PRESIDENT AND FUELED HIS GREATNESS. Boston and New York: 2005. 350p. Drawing on years
of research, Shenk reveals how Lincoln harnessed his depression to fuel his astonishing success,
finding the solace and tactics he needed to deal with the nation’s worst crisis in the “coping strategies”
he had developed over a lifetime of persevering through depressive episodes and personal tragedies.

Silver, David M. LINCOLN’S SUPREME COURT. Urbana: 1856. 272p. ft. An historical rather than a
legalistic study, involving all aspects of this wartime court.

Steers, Edward, Jr. BLOOD ON THE MOON: THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Lexington: 2001. 360p., illus. The book on the assassination presents the most up-to-date research
and makes clear the important role of Mudd and members of the Confederate Secret Service in Booth’s
crime and escape, as Steers finally puts to rest the many myths and popular misconceptions and
accurately depicts what really happened.

Steers, Edward, Jr. (With an Introduction by Harold Holzer) LINCOLN LEGENDS: Myths Hoaxes
and Confabulations Associated With Our Greatest President, Lexington, KY (2007), 1st ed.,
264p., index, notes, photos. Noted historian and Lincoln expert Edward Steers Jr. carefully scrutinizes
some of the most notorious tall tales and distorted ideas about America's sixteenth President.

Stowell, Daniel W. THE PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Legal Documents and Cases. 4 vols.,
Charlottesville, VA: 2008. 2,326p., illus. Arranged chronologically, the four volumes present
documents from more than fifty of Lincoln's most interesting, important, or representative cases, all of
which are transcribed and annotated.

Strozier, Charles B. [A] LINCOLN’S QUEST FOR UNION: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MEANINGS.
New York: 1982. 271p. [B] LINCOLN'S QUEST FOR UNION: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT.
Philadelphia: 2001. Revised edition, 298p., illus. This excellent psychohistory traces Lincoln
development from childhood and youth to marriage and maturity. Through analysis of the recently
published interviews conducted by Lincoln's longtime law partner William Herndon, the revised edition
examines the curious duality that Lincoln felt abut his mother's illegitimacy, the rivalry between father
and son, the importance of Ann Rutledge, and the failures of his early manhood.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 17

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
Temple, Wayne C. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: FROM SKEPTIC TO PROPHET. 446p., illus. An insightful
book about Lincoln’s religious views.

Thomas, Benjamin P. LINCOLN’S NEW SALEM. [A] Springfield: 1934. 128p., illus. [B] New York:
1954. Revised ed. 166p., illus. New Salem’s history, influence on Lincoln, Lincoln legends and the
story of its restoration.

Thomas, John L., ed. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION.
Amherst: 1986. 162p. Collection of essays examines how Lincoln influenced and was influenced by
the politics of his era. Contributors include Fehrenbacher, McPherson and Oates.

Turner, Thomas R. BEWARE THE PEOPLE WEEPING: PUBLIC OPINION AND THE
ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Baton Rouge: 1982. 265p., illus. Turner examines
newspapers, diaries, letters, sermons and the trial of the conspirators to explain how and why the public
and the military reacted as they did.

Waugh, John C. REELECTING LINCOLN: THE BATTLE FOR THE 1864 PRESIDENCY. New York:
1998. 452p., illus. The dramatic story of perhaps the most critical election campaign in American
history.

Wheeler, Tom. MR. LINCOLN'S T-MAILS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF HOW ABRAHAM LINCOLN
USED THE TELEGRAPH TO WIN THE CIVIL WAR. New York: 2006. 227p., illus. Lincoln embraced
technical advancements, such as the telegraph. He also supported the Henry repeating rifle, the
transcontinental railroad, and gave an 1860 lecture, Discoveries and Inventions. Wheeler explores how
Lincoln "modern" technology to his advantage.

Williams, Kenneth P. LINCOLN FINDS A GENERAL: A MILITARY STUDY OF THE CIVIL WAR.
New York: 1949-59. 5 volumes, fts., plates, maps, map eps. The unfinished jewel in the crown of a
fine historian, which remains a classic rendition of Lincoln’s problems in finding a general to lead the
Federal armies and successfully prosecute the war.

Williams, T. Harry. LINCOLN AND THE RADICALS. Madison: 1941. 413p., illus. The vivid and
dramatic story of the bitter struggle between Lincoln and the radicals in his own party to control the
conduct of the war.

Williams, T. Harry. LINCOLN AND HIS GENERALS. New York: 1952. 363p., illus., map. An
excellent examination of Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief and his relationships with his field
commanders.

Wilson, Douglas L. LINCOLN'S SWORD: THE PRESIDENCY AND THE POWER OF WORDS. New
York: 2006. 343p., illus. An illuminating study of the composition, content, and intent of Lincoln's most
important presidential writings. Wilson examines the circumstances that prompted Lincoln to compose
each document, suggesting what Lincoln hoped to accomplish with them, and makes clear how very
carefully Lincoln honed his words to achieve the greatest possible power of persuasiveness.

Wilson, Douglas J., and Davis, Rodney, eds. HERNDON’S INFORMANTS: LETTERS,
INTERVIEWS, AND STATEMENTS ABOUT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Urbana: 1997. 600p. An

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 18

LINCOLN’S UNSPOKEN LEGACY
invaluable, basic source that must be placed next to Herndon’s own work - for here is corroboration of
his general reliability. There are over 600 primary sources covering Lincoln’s pre-political and pre-legal
career. Included are annotations, a registry of the informants, and a detailed topic index.

Wilson, Rufus Rockwell, comp. LINCOLN AMONG HIS FRIENDS: A SHEAF OF INTIMATE
MEMORIES. Caldwell, Idaho: 1942. 506p. illus. Fifty-one intimate recollections of Lincoln by those
who knew him and by contemporaries who personally saw him. Fascinating and insightful reading.

Wilson, Rufus Rockwell, comp. INTIMATE MEMORIES OF LINCOLN. Elmira, NY: 1945. 629p.,
ft. The limited sequel to the above, with 60 more fascinating and insightful recollections.

Wilson, Rufus Rockwell. LINCOLN IN CARICATURE: 165 POSTER CARTOONS AND DRAWINGS
FOR THE PRESS. Elmira, NY: 1945. 331p., illus. Each with a fine historical perspective by Wilson.

Other Presidents of the United States have shown great reverence for Lincoln and, much like Lincoln,
exhibited very little respect for the precisely defined limits of our ingeniously crafted Constitution. Could
that mean that a future President will soon become the Second Coming of Lincoln? If so, the Republic
is unlikely to survive another superfluous war for the expansion of government force and restriction of
individual liberties. As Plato predicted more than 2300 years ago, the republic will devolve into a brutal
dictatorship -- with the implicit permission of a mind-numbed populace. Please find it in your heart to
defend against this likelihood. Thank you.

©2010 – D. Scott Secor – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 19