Allen C. Guelzo

The Little Men Behind the Curtain: The Committees, Connectors, and Carpenters Who Made the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Happen

The Lincoln-Douglas debates were first of all a great political celebration in Illinois politics of the 1850s. In that role, they provide us a window into political practice in that decade. Altshuler and Blumin characterize the era as a time when politics in the United States were the domain of party elites. Testing their thesis against the debates reveals a much more finely textured structure around the debates. The debates show a constant shuttling of power and control back-and-forth between the political public and the structures of party, and sometimes even the structures within the parties. Political engagement in 1858 Illinois took on a number of forms as citizens oriented their political lives to the debates that captured the attention of the state.

The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (review)

and South. Matthew Norman contributes an outstanding essay on the historic rivalry between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, including a discussion of what may have been Douglas’s finest hour as he rallied behind Lincoln at the beginning of the Civil War despite their obvious differences. Colin McCoy provides a fascinating look at northern Democrats who joined the Republican Party. Bryon C. Andreasen, David A. Raney, and Kenneth W. Noe offer essays on religious aspects of the Civil War. Daniel McDonough breaks slightly from the volume’s overall theme by discussing the career of Ambrose Burnside. The concluding essay by Bruce Tap is a discussion of Zachariah Chandler’s role in negotiating the dismissal of Montgomery Blair from the Lincoln cabinet prior to the election of 1864. The work concludes with information about the contributors. As in any compilation of essays, some are better than others. Editor Noe’s essay on I. T. Tichenor gives interesting insights into the conflict that ministers serving in Civil War armies experienced. This reviewer noticed only one small error in detail. Editor McDonough’s essay is excellent but, save the political aspects of Burnside’s miseries, seems to fit little with the volume’s other contributions. Andreasen’s essay on Copperhead Christians is both delightful and insightful, especially his stellar research in small Democratic newspapers. One of the best essays is McCoy’s discussion tracing the origins of the Republican Party and the difficulties of political coalition building. Both Huston’s and Klunder’s essays are well written. The other essays are good, just not as strong as these. The work is relatively clean and well-edited, although this reviewer did find a couple of minor errors in the last essay. Festschrift volumes can be notorious for lacking unity or being rather dry. This volume avoids both problems. Specialists in late Jacksonian politics and Civil War culture will find this helpful, as will many U.S. historians. It is a fine tribute to a fine historian.