In his book, The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, Thomas J. DiLorenzo questions validity of the revered symbol of emancipation that is Abraham Lincoln. Found within the pages of The Real Lincoln is a series of allegations towards Lincoln and his legacy. Throughout the work, DiLorenzo questions both the actions of President Lincoln’s Administration and the intentions. DiLorenzo claims that Lincoln used his power as the President of the United States of America, his involvement in the Civil War, and his anti-slavery position as tools to pursue his true ambition of centralizing America’s government and enacting a more imperialistic economic policy (2). In doing this, DiLorenzo forms a respectable
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This chapter begins by showing numerous examples of Lincoln’s deliberate inaction when given the opportunity to give freedom to slaves. It even documents that Lincoln deemed such action on his part as unconstitutional during his first inauguration speech (35). This is no doubt done to highlight the blatant hypocrisy behind the Emancipation Proclamation. This speech was not only a complete contradiction to Lincoln’s agenda up to that point, but also a completely meaningless decree. According to DiLorenzo, this proclamation - which is today revered as a testament of American History – “did not free a single slave” (35). From there, DiLorenzo gives a list of countries that they abolished slavery before America through compensated emancipation. He does all this to answer the question of why Lincoln did not follow suit and end slavery peacefully; Lincoln never cared about slavery, the topic was only a tool for him to pursue his political aspirations and, as such, resolving it was never something that he took seriously …show more content…
However, it suffers from a handful of blatant and severe shortcomings. DiLorenzo excels in his writing skills. Throughout the entirety of his book, his words held a clear and concise tone with “the flair and passion of a prosecuting attorney” (Gamble 2003). One of the greatest assets is the degree to which DiLorenzo researched for this project. This work is nothing if not well supported. He never makes a claim outside what he can infer from his sources. Yet, it is in his sources where he falls short also. “He frequently distorts the meaning of the primary sources he cites” (Masugi 2002). This is a great issue as this abuse of his sources can “constitute a near-fatal threat to DiLorenzo's credibility as a historian” (Gamble 2003). There is still a lot of truth within the pages of The Real Lincoln that makes it worth the read, despite this. For anyone wanting to know more about Abraham Lincoln, it is a good place to start and is worth the time it takes to read
This chapter begins by showing numerous examples of Lincoln’s deliberate inaction when given the opportunity to give freedom to slaves. It even documents that Lincoln deemed such action on his part as unconstitutional during his first inauguration speech (35). This is no doubt done to highlight the blatant hypocrisy behind the Emancipation Proclamation. This speech was not only a complete contradiction to Lincoln’s agenda up to that point, but also a completely meaningless decree. According to DiLorenzo, this proclamation - which is today revered as a testament of American History – “did not free a single slave” (35). From there, DiLorenzo gives a list of countries that they abolished slavery before America through compensated emancipation. He does all this to answer the question of why Lincoln did not follow suit and end slavery peacefully; Lincoln never cared about slavery, the topic was only a tool for him to pursue his political aspirations and, as such, resolving it was never something that he took seriously …show more content…
However, it suffers from a handful of blatant and severe shortcomings. DiLorenzo excels in his writing skills. Throughout the entirety of his book, his words held a clear and concise tone with “the flair and passion of a prosecuting attorney” (Gamble 2003). One of the greatest assets is the degree to which DiLorenzo researched for this project. This work is nothing if not well supported. He never makes a claim outside what he can infer from his sources. Yet, it is in his sources where he falls short also. “He frequently distorts the meaning of the primary sources he cites” (Masugi 2002). This is a great issue as this abuse of his sources can “constitute a near-fatal threat to DiLorenzo's credibility as a historian” (Gamble 2003). There is still a lot of truth within the pages of The Real Lincoln that makes it worth the read, despite this. For anyone wanting to know more about Abraham Lincoln, it is a good place to start and is worth the time it takes to read