Harold Holzer

"In A Just and Generous Nation, the eminent historian Harold Holzer and the noted economist Norton Garfinkle present a groundbreaking new account of the beliefs that inspired our sixteenth president to go to war when the Southern states seceded from the Union. Rather than a commitment to eradicating slavery or a defense of the Union, they argue, Lincoln's guiding principle was the defense of equal economic opportunity. Lincoln firmly believed that...

In the three decades before the Civil War, some ten million foreign-born people settled in the United States, forever altering the nation's demographics, culture, and--perhaps most significantly--voting patterns. America's newest residents fueled the national economy, but they also wrought enormous changes in the political landscape, and exposed an ugly, at times violent, vein of nativist bigotry. Abraham Lincoln's rise ran parallel to this turmoil;...

"Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln's most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address - an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln's suitability for the presidency, and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition...