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Prospects for "Lincoln 2.5"
Douglas L. Wilson
| Matthew Pinsker's extraordinary survey of the field of Lincoln studies is a valuable piece of historiography, offering Lincoln scholars and historians generally an opportunity to reflect on the varied directions and range of topics that have been pursued in recent years. Pinsker's findings suggest persuasively that the field has undergone notable reorientation over time, both in subject matter and in sources; issues previously regarded as settled have been forcefully reopened and sources previously disparaged or discredited are being reconsidered. Because knowledge and understanding are always in flux the one "true path" has not, of course, been found and the prevailing wisdom is never unassailable. What follows are some brief observations on a few of the matters addressed in Pinsker's survey. |
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One of the developments that he identifies—a resurgence of interest in Abraham Lincoln's personal life—would surely have seemed misguided, and perhaps even counterproductive, to J. G. Randall in 1936, given his assumption that the professional study of history should mainly focus on the subject's public life, in this case, Lincoln's political career and his presidential administration. Randall was a great scholar but, like all of us, a product of his time. By his lights, such things as Lincoln's romantic relationships with women, his intense interest in poetry, his emotional vulnerabilities, and his troubled domestic life were largely distractions, siren songs luring serious students away from what was important about the historical Lincoln. But for scholars working in the field today, who have, in Pinsker's words, "pushed deeper into the narrative of Lincoln's self-propelled rise," these "distractions" constitute very promising avenues for getting at critical aspects of Lincoln's formative experience and his development over time.1 |
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Although offered as contributions toward the same general goal of better understanding and appreciating the historical Lincoln, such efforts necessarily alter and expand the research agenda. The lists that both Randall (in 1936) and Mark E. Neely Jr. (in 1979) provided of persons connected to Lincoln for whom biographical information would be helpful, for example, apply almost exclusively to Lincoln's political career. To help further illuminate the personal Lincoln and restore some of what Pinsker calls the "lost connective tissue essential for a more dynamic portrait of Lincoln," additional information about a wider range of informants is clearly desirable.2 Take, for example, some potential sources of information on Lincoln's relations with women. These might include Elizabeth Abell, a woman who showed a remarkable interest in the young Lincoln—she was his landlady, adviser, and matchmaker, and (in New Salem gossip) she possibly filled other roles; her sister, Mary Owens, who turned down Lincoln's repeated proposals of marriage; Matilda Edwards, the woman he thought he was in love with in the winter of 1840–1841, a circumstance that played a role in his serious mental breakdown; and Sarah Rickard, a young woman who was apparently involved with both Lincoln and his roommate Joshua F. Speed. Knowing more about these women would almost certainly shed light on the repeated difficulties in courtship that wreaked havoc with Lincoln's emotional life as a young man and threatened to derail his career as a rising politician. |
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