First published in 1956, this is an account of the arming of the Union forces in the Civil War, and of Lincoln’s part in it. It has never been told in any comprehensive way before, and shows Lincoln in a new and engaging light. Lincoln was determined to win the war, yet his generals seemed unable to give him a victory, so he reasoned that a more efficient weapon would have to be invented. However, his main opponent, General James W. Ripley, who sat in charge of army ordnance, believed the war would be short and didn’t want a vast supply of expensive arms left over. Standardized guns and ammunition made supplying the troops in the field easier. Lincoln was in the thick of it. He wanted mortar boats to help open the upper Mississippi as they had helped Porter take New Orleans. When he discovered a big snafu had delayed production, one J. D. Mills came to Washington with a crude machine gun that was soon christened the coffee-mill gun. Probably the biggest and longest controversy involved muzzle-loading rifles—favoured by Ripley—and breech-loading rifles—the Soldier’s choice, as he could lie down and load a breechloader at least five times as fast as a muzzle-loader. In addition to these and other standard arms, the inventors offered a wide catalogue of innovations: rockets, steam guns, liquid fire, a submarine, explosive bullets, a proposed poison gas, and so on down to the fantastic. This book is a big American story of Washington in wartime, and it will appeal to everybody who ever had any contact with the armed services. For the specialist, it offers quite a quantity of previously unpublished material. Its biggest merit is, however, that it is just plain fascinating reading, the kind of book no one should start late in the evening if he wants any sleep.

Shows the part technology played in the North winning the Civil War over the South and how Lincoln appreciated technology after awhile.

''For Lincoln specialists, The Historian's Lincoln deepens and sharpens familiar arguments. For nonspecialists, it is the most efficient and enjoyable way to 'get right' with Lincoln.'' -- Robert E. McGlone, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography ''Provides an excursion to the frontiers of Lincoln scholarship, and insight into the passions of those who labor there. . . . Rarely do the products of a scholarly symposium so richly deserve placement on public and academic library shelves.'' -- John Y. Simon, Choice ''Authoritative, well written, and spiced by informed debate. In short, Lincoln's depth and height as a figure in history are well measured by this distinguished volume, not only in its several parts and authors, but also as a whole.'' -- Robert V. Bruce, author of Lincoln and the Tools of War

In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln declared that as president he would "have no lawful right" to interfere with the institution of slavery. Yet less than two years later, he issued a proclamation intended to free all slaves throughout the Confederate states. When critics challenged the constitutional soundness of the act, Lincoln pointed to the international laws and usages of war as the legal basis for his Proclamation, asserting that the Constitution invested the president "with the law of war in time of war." As the Civil War intensified, the Lincoln administration slowly and reluctantly accorded full belligerent rights to the Confederacy under the law of war. This included designating a prisoner of war status for captives, honoring flags of truce, and negotiating formal agreements for the exchange of prisoners -- practices that laid the intellectual foundations for emancipation. Once the United States allowed Confederates all the privileges of belligerents under international law, it followed that they should also suffer the disadvantages, including trial by military courts, seizure of property, and eventually the emancipation of slaves. Even after the Lincoln administration decided to apply the law of war, it was unclear whether state and federal courts would agree. After careful analysis, author Burrus M. Carnahan concludes that if the courts had decided that the proclamation was not justified, the result would have been the personal legal liability of thousands of Union officers to aggrieved slave owners. This argument offers further support to the notion that Lincoln's delay in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation was an exercise of political prudence, not a personal reluctance to free the slaves. In Act of Justice, Carnahan contends that Lincoln was no reluctant emancipator; he wrote a truly radical document that treated Confederate slaves as an oppressed people rather than merely as enemy property. In this respect, Lincoln's proclamation anticipated the psychological warfare tactics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Carnahan's exploration of the president's war powers illuminates the origins of early debates about war powers and the Constitution and their link to international law.

This “intriguing” look at the sixteenth president’s telegraph usage during the Civil War “revisits a familiar hero, but does so from an utterly new perspective” (Ken Burns). The Civil War was the first “modern war.” Because of rapid changes in American society, Abraham Lincoln became president of a divided United States during a period of technological and social revolution. Among the many modern marvels that gave the North an advantage was the telegraph, which Lincoln used to stay connected to the forces in the field in almost real time. No leader in history had ever possessed such a powerful tool to gain control over a fractious situation. An eager student of technology, Lincoln (the only president to hold a patent) had to learn to use the power of electronic messages. Without precedent to guide him, Lincoln began by reading the telegraph traffic among his generals. Then he used the telegraph to supplement his preferred form of communication—meetings and letters. He did not replace those face-to-face interactions. Through this experience, Lincoln crafted the best way to guide, reprimand, praise, reward, and encourage his commanders in the field. Written by a former FCC chairman, Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails tells a big story within a small compass—both an elegant work of history and a timeless lesson in leadership. By paying close attention to Lincoln’s “lightning messages,” we see a great leader adapt to a new medium. No reader of this work of history will be able to miss the contemporary parallels. Watching Lincoln carefully word his messages—and follow up on those words with the right actions—offers a striking example for those who spend their days tapping out notes on their various devices. “Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails shines. . . . an accessible jaunt through this formative American event.” —USA Today “Wheeler shows a Lincoln groping for a best-use of new technology and learning the limitations of the ‘killer app.’”—Booklist “Altogether captivating.” —Harold Holzer, author of Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration

Finalist for the 2022 Lincoln Prize An award-winning scholar uncovers the guiding principles of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies. The long and turning path to the abolition of American slavery has often been attributed to the equivocations and inconsistencies of antislavery leaders, including Lincoln himself. But James Oakes’s brilliant history of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies reveals a striking consistency and commitment extending over many years. The linchpin of antislavery for Lincoln was the Constitution of the United States. Lincoln adopted the antislavery view that the Constitution made freedom the rule in the United States, slavery the exception. Where federal power prevailed, so did freedom. Where state power prevailed, that state determined the status of slavery, and the federal government could not interfere. It would take state action to achieve the final abolition of American slavery. With this understanding, Lincoln and his antislavery allies used every tool available to undermine the institution. Wherever the Constitution empowered direct federal action—in the western territories, in the District of Columbia, over the slave trade—they intervened. As a congressman in 1849 Lincoln sponsored a bill to abolish slavery in Washington, DC. He reentered politics in 1854 to oppose what he considered the unconstitutional opening of the territories to slavery by the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He attempted to persuade states to abolish slavery by supporting gradual abolition with compensation for slaveholders and the colonization of free Blacks abroad. President Lincoln took full advantage of the antislavery options opened by the Civil War. Enslaved people who escaped to Union lines were declared free. The Emancipation Proclamation, a military order of the president, undermined slavery across the South. It led to abolition by six slave states, which then joined the coalition to affect what Lincoln called the "King’s cure": state ratification of the constitutional amendment that in 1865 finally abolished slavery.

Examines Abraham Lincoln's relationship with the press, arguing that he used such intimidation and manipulation techniques as closing down dissenting newspapers, pampering favoring newspaper men, and physically moving official telegraph lines.