In this groundbreaking environmental biography of Abraham Lincoln, James Tackach maps Lincoln’s lifelong relationship with the natural world from his birth and boyhood on Midwestern farms through his political career and presidency dealing with the effects of the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War. Lincoln was born in a generation that grew up on farms but began to move to cities as industrialization transformed the American economy. Turning away from the outdoor, manual labor of his youth, he chose careers in law and politics but always found solace outside first on the prairies of Illinois and, later, at the woodsy presidential retreat. As Tackach shows, Lincoln relied on examples and metaphors from the natural world in his speeches and writings. As a member of the Whig Party Lincoln endorsed the Industrial Revolution, which transformed the nation’s economy and its physical, social, and cultural landscapes, and advocated for the creation of railroads, canals, roads, and bridges to facilitate growth and the distribution of products. But he and his party failed to take steps to protect the natural environment. Surveying the destruction of the environment in the mid-nineteenth century, Tackach outlines how some American writers, the first voices for protection and conservation, began to call attention to the results of deforestation and the overhunting of animals during Lincoln’s lifetime. As commander in chief during the Civil War, Lincoln approved a strategy that included significant infrastructure and environmental damage. In the South, where most of the battles occurred, Union troops burned cities and towns and destroyed plantations, farms, and natural landscapes. Tackach argues that, midway through his presidency, Lincoln seemed to sense that postwar Reconstruction would have to be spiritual, political, economic, and environmental in order to heal the nation’s wounds. He signed the Morrill Act, creating the land-grant colleges, and the environmentally progressive Yosemite Grant Act, which preserved thousands of acres of forest in California. The first scholar to thoroughly investigate Lincoln’s lifelong relationship with the natural environment, Tackach paints Lincoln’s personal and professional life against the backdrop of nineteenth-century American environmental history, issues, and writers, providing insights into contemporary environmental issues.
Discusses the circumstances that existed at the time Stowe wrote her famous novel, the details of the book, and its impact on feelings about the existence of slavery in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.
Discusses slavery as a cause of the American Civil War and examines the events surrounding Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the impact of this declaration on the course of the war and the institution of slavery.
Focuses on the trial of the abolitionist who was hanged for treason and murder following his attempt to capture a military arsenal and arm the slaves for revolt.
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address, the final great speech of his three- decades public career. Delivered a little more than a month before the end of the Civil War and forty-one days before he was assassinated, the speech reveals Lincoln coming to terms with vital moral and political issues with which he had grappled during his political life. This book traces how the speech addresses three critical issues that obsessed him: slavery, race, and religion. Although in early life Lincoln developed a personal distaste for slavery, he never embraced the abolitionist cause. Before his presidency, he endorsed a "middle position" on slavery, arguing that it could remain legal in the South where it was entrenched, but not be allowed to spread to new territories. On the matter of race Lincoln was a man shaped by the prejudices of his time and place. Before the Civil War he advocated no civil rights for blacks and often asserted that whites should hold a superior position in American society. In religious perspective Lincoln was a skeptic, even accused by one political opponent of being an infidel. But during the political turbulence of the 1850s and during Lincoln's presidency, his positions on these three burning issues shifted dramatically. The profound changes in Lincoln's thinking are evident in the Second Inaugural Address, in which he condemns slavery as a grievous national sin that prompted a just God to deliver upon the United States a fierce punishment in the form of a devastating civil war. This book argues that the Second Inaugural Address was Lincoln's resolution of the moral and political issues of his time and is the key document in Lincoln's entire literary canon. James Tackach, a professor of English at Roger Williams University, is the editor of Slave Narratives and The Battle of Gettysburg and the author of books for young adults, including The Trial of John Brown: Radical Abolitionist and The Emancipation Proclamation: Abolishing Slavery in the South.
A fascinating glimpse into the private world of some of America's most illustrious figures--from writers, artists and business entrepreneurs to military, political figures and presidents.
* Captivating portraits that will appeal to baseball lovers of all ages * Contains thrilling accounts of pivotal games * Filled with action photographs & statistics
In this groundbreaking environmental biography of Abraham Lincoln, James Tackach maps Lincoln’s lifelong relationship with the natural world from his birth and boyhood on Midwestern farms through his political career and presidency dealing with the effects of the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War. Lincoln was born in a generation that grew up on farms but began to move to cities as industrialization transformed the American economy. Turning away from the outdoor, manual labor of his youth, he chose careers in law and politics but always found solace outside first on the prairies of Illinois and, later, at the woodsy presidential retreat. As Tackach shows, Lincoln relied on examples and metaphors from the natural world in his speeches and writings. As a member of the Whig Party Lincoln endorsed the Industrial Revolution, which transformed the nation’s economy and its physical, social, and cultural landscapes, and advocated for the creation of railroads, canals, roads, and bridges to facilitate growth and the distribution of products. But he and his party failed to take steps to protect the natural environment. Surveying the destruction of the environment in the mid-nineteenth century, Tackach outlines how some American writers, the first voices for protection and conservation, began to call attention to the results of deforestation and the overhunting of animals during Lincoln’s lifetime. As commander in chief during the Civil War, Lincoln approved a strategy that included significant infrastructure and environmental damage. In the South, where most of the battles occurred, Union troops burned cities and towns and destroyed plantations, farms, and natural landscapes. Tackach argues that, midway through his presidency, Lincoln seemed to sense that postwar Reconstruction would have to be spiritual, political, economic, and environmental in order to heal the nation’s wounds. He signed the Morrill Act, creating the land-grant colleges, and the environmentally progressive Yosemite Grant Act, which preserved thousands of acres of forest in California. The first scholar to thoroughly investigate Lincoln’s lifelong relationship with the natural environment, Tackach paints Lincoln’s personal and professional life against the backdrop of nineteenth-century American environmental history, issues, and writers, providing insights into contemporary environmental issues.
A fascinating glimpse into the private world of some of America's most illustrious figures--from writers, artists and business entrepreneurs to military, political figures and presidents.
Presents the history, architecture, decor, service, and cuisine of fifteen of America's greatest hotels, and views their lobbies, ballrooms, restaurants, guest rooms, and other facilities
Lavishly illustrated with over 300 photographs, this book surveys 24 of baseball's most significant arenas in the United States and one in Canada. Included are the concrete-and-steel parks of the early part of this century to the superstructures of the modern times.
This landmark history of corporate responsibility documents corporate power and business behaviour from the mid-eighteenth century to the modern day. It shows how corporate responsibility has evolved, with the roles, responsibilities and performance of corporations coming increasingly under the spotlight as new norms of transparency and accountability emerge.
Discusses the circumstances that existed at the time Stowe wrote her famous novel, the details of the book, and its impact on feelings about the existence of slavery in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.
Discusses slavery as a cause of the American Civil War and examines the events surrounding Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the impact of this declaration on the course of the war and the institution of slavery.
Focuses on the trial of the abolitionist who was hanged for treason and murder following his attempt to capture a military arsenal and arm the slaves for revolt.
* Captivating portraits that will appeal to baseball lovers of all ages * Contains thrilling accounts of pivotal games * Filled with action photographs & statistics
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