Description: A gripping and granular look at how Abraham Lincoln got elected the 16th president of the United States.Using the writings and story of Murat Halstead, the nation's first campaign journalist, as well as previously unused documents from Lincoln's campaign manager, Jonathan Earle captures the full drama of the 1860 election. He shows how Lincoln, a one-time Congressman from Illinois, and a dark horse against the more established Stephen Douglas, the Democratic frontrunner, and William Henry Seward, the presumptive Republican nominee, got the people and votes he needed to win in a protracted yet furiously disputed election cycle.
Review Quotes: "Jonathan Earle has made good his intention to portray the contest of 1860 as "the most consequential election in American history-then and to this day." He shows the reader a pivotal moment between Union and Disunion, between a past of slavery and a future of freedom, and between a corrupt peace and a transformative war that ushered in modern America." -- James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
"From the Republican convention in the Wigwam to the general election in 1860, Jonathan Earle has written the best campaign account since Teddy White's book on the 1960 election." -- James Carville, Political Contributor, CNN"This account of the players, passion, rituals, and (at times) barely control bedlam of the "most transformative election in American history" explains how, against all odds, a minor Illinois politician prevailed within a five-person contest. Based on first-hand accounts and highlighting the role of contingency in the election of 1860, Jonathan Earle' book is a thrilling and illuminating read." -- Amy S. Greenberg, George Winfree Professor of American History, Penn State University, author of A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico"Jonathan Earle's He Has the People offers a fresh, fast-paced account of the transformative year leading to Lincoln's election. The book is a brief but powerful thrill ride, filled with chaos and contingencies, and taking us into the heart of a presidential election that would change the moral and political landscape of America forever." -- Michael Vorenberg, author of Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War