Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil War

by Mark E. Neely Jr.

Overview

The Civil War placed the U.S. Constitution under unprecedented — and, to this day, still unmatched — strain. In Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Mark Neely examines for the first time in one book the U.S. Constitution and its often overlooked cousin, the Confederate Constitution, and the ways the documents shaped the struggle for national survival.

Previous scholars have examined wartime challenges to civil liberties and questions of presidential power, but Neely argues that the constitutional conflict extended to the largest questions of national existence. Drawing on judicial opinions, presidential state papers, and political pamphlets spiced with the everyday immediacy of the partisan press, Neely reveals how judges, lawyers, editors, politicians, and government officials, both North and South, used their constitutions to fight the war and save, or create, their nation.

Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation illuminates how the U.S. Constitution not only survived its greatest test but emerged stronger after the war. That this happened at a time when the nation’s very existence was threatened, Neely argues, speaks ultimately to the wisdom of the Union leadership, notably President Lincoln and his vision of the American nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807869024
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/21/2011
Series:	Littlefield History of the Civil War Era
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Mark E. Neely Jr. is McCabe-Greer Professor of Civil War History Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University. He has written several books, including The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Mark Neely is a distinguished and evocative interpreter of Lincoln, the Civil War, and mid-nineteenth-century politics. Full of fresh insight and profound research, Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation is a compelling and fascinating look at the constitutional history of both the United States and the Confederate States in the Civil War.—Jean H. Baker, Goucher College, author of Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography

This is Mark Neely, the platinum standard in the Lincoln field, at his most thought-provoking, original, and persuasive. Making use of a mountain of new research into long-neglected sources, Neely has opened vast new terrain and harvested it with his unparalleled skill for sharp analysis in his distinctive and convincing voice. Here is the finest Lincoln scholar in the country at his very best—and there is nothing better.—Harold Holzer, co-chairman, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and author of Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860–1861

This is a sweeping and majestic contribution by an author who has spent a lifetime studying and writing great volumes about Abraham Lincoln, our two-party system, nationalism, and civil liberties during the Civil War. Brilliantly written, Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation is one of the most original and important books on the war ever published. Mark Neely understands, as did President Lincoln, that the struggle for victory was a battle for the survival of the U.S. Constitution. The story told here should be required reading during the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.—Frank J. Williams, retired chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and chair of the Lincoln Forum

Editorial Reviews

“The profound insights of Neely’s research, together with his sharp questioning of conventional and modern interpretations of Civil War constitutionalism, should spur debate and further inquiry about the essence of American nationalism, which even today continues to remain elusive.” — American Historical Review

“A meticulous study of Civil War-era constitutionalism, a complex and multifaceted book that will reward multiple readings to understand fully its meaning and implications. . . . Constitutional and political history at its finest.” — Journal of American History

“The most original, thought-provoking, and—at times—quarrelsome book about Civil War-era nationalism ever published. . . . Neely has made a major contribution to the study of Civil War constitutionalism and nationalism, and it is hard not to be persuaded by his argument.” — Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association

“Noteworthy for originality of argument, breadth of subject matter, and felicity of prose . . . it will undoubtedly stimulate further inquiry into the constitutional history of the Civil War and other American wars.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“A meditation on the relationship between nationalism and constitutionalism in war, one that is intended to inspire a certain love for constitutional history in the Civil War period, a woefully understudied area.” — The Historian

“This work is alive with character and narrative.” — Publishers Weekly

“This is an important work of constitutional history that ranks among the very best of the genre. Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” — CHOICE

“Entertains an extended and open-ended analysis. Discursive at times and wide-ranging throughout, Neely challenges, engages, tweaks, and revises the work of dozens of constitutional and civil war historians.” — Indiana Magazine of History

“A fresh starting point for a new generation of constitutional historians.” — Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians

“Neely seeks both to reinvigorate the roots and nature of ‘nationalism’ in the era of the Civil War for both the federal Union and the Confederacy. . . . [Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation] is sure to initiate further research, writing, arguments, incrimination, and vindications.” — Louisiana History

From the Publisher