Description: Lincoln and the Democrats describes the vexatious behavior of a two-party system in war and points to the sound parts of the American system which proved to be the country's salvation: local civic pride, and quiet nonpartisanship in mobilization and funding for the war, for example. While revealing that the role of a noxious 'white supremacy' in American politics of the period has been exaggerated - as has the power of the Copperheads - Neely revives the claim that the Civil War put the country on the road to 'human rights', and also uncovers a previously unnoticed tendency toward deceptive and impractical grandstanding on the Constitution during war in the United States.
Brief description: Mark E. Neely, Jr is Emeritus Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University, specialising in political and constitutional history. His book, The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberty (1992), won the Pulitzer Prize for History.
Review Quotes: '... a probing and often revelatory look at the loyal opposition during the Civil War. ... Anyone curious about the Democratic Party's conflicted past - as well as Lincoln's growth as a constitutional thinker - will find this book well worth reading.' Barry Alfonso, Civil War Book Review