Review

Textbooks, Readers, and References

Herbert Mitgang's Abraham Lincoln: A Press Portrait is the fourth edition of a work first published in 1956. The author states in his original introduction that his goal was to bring the reader to a more intimate view of Lincoln and that by evaluating "first-hand reports the truer [image] will emerge of the Lincoln personality and the forces around him." (p. xxvii) To accomplish this goal Mitgang draws on newspaper sources from the Northern, Southern, and European press. While Southern and foreign papers do present a different perspective on Lincoln, the number of stories from the Northern press overwhelms the others. Chapter Five, for example, deals with the campaign of 1860 and the interval before the inauguration. Twenty-two of the articles are from the Northern press and only seven are from Southern sources. As this book is part of Fordham University's series, The North's Civil War, this reviewer feels that Southern and foreign reports could have been eliminated from an already lengthy volume. Mitgang has arranged his work in chronological order beginning with young Lincoln (1832) and ending with a series of eulogies. The great majority of the book, however, deals with Lincoln beginning with the 1858 senatorial debates with Douglas. Since the first two chapters ("The Young Lincoln" and "Congressman Lincoln") do not substantially add to our knowledge, the "meat" of this book really begins with Chapter Three, "The Great Debater."	1
Mitgang points out in his introduction to this edition that there were only two ways to influence public opinion in the mid-nineteenth century: by voice and by the press. He argues that most of the newspapers of the time were party organs and made no pretence to being impartial. Because most of the articles are of an editorial nature, students must be reminded of each papers' bias. While Mitgang identifies each paper as being pro or anti-Lincoln the first time each is quoted, I found myself frequently turning back to establish the paper's point of view. Although he lists the papers and magazines in a brief note at the beginning of the book, I would have preferred a simple chart dividing the publications according to their most dominant political persuasion. One point that does become very clear in the press stories is how accurate a view of their own times Lincoln's contemporaries had. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates attracted national attention in 1858 causing the Chicago Tribune to say that Lincoln's "House Divided" speech was "a powerful summing up of the issues before the people." (p. 91) Most papers acknowledged that the debates "made" Lincoln's reputation. It is also obvious that most Northern newspapers thought slavery, not states rights, caused the war by creating rival sections. Most papers were aware that resistance to the extension of slavery would be interpreted by the South as an attack on that section. The British publication, Punch, was just as prophetic in pointing out in March, 1861, that there would be no end of secession--that secession begat secession--as was proved in 1865 when Georgia threatened to secede from the Confederacy. Finally, as early as 1862, the San Francisco Alta California predicted that one of the first duties of the federal government after the war would be "to teach the Negroes self-reliance." (p. 307) The one interpretive position I would disagree with concerns the 1864 campaign. The articles Mitgang has selected would lead one to believe that the Republican Party went through much soul-searching before nominating Lincoln. Mitgang rightfully points out that Lincoln was the first president since Jackson elected to a second term. However, Lincoln handily won the party's nomination, and what ensued was a vigorous campaign against the Democratic candidate, General George McClellan. Also, judging from the articles Mitgang has selected, one might conclude that having won the nomination, Lincoln's election was a certainty. Such was not the case. Even the President himself feared he would be defeated.	2
Mitgang's book also gives an insight to the publication business in mid-nineteenth-century America. Papers commonly reprinted articles from other papers. Reporters often had to reconstruct stories from incomplete notes. A Chicago Tribune reporter wrote, "I do not pretend to give his [Lincoln's] exact words, but I give you the substance." (p. 86) Occasionally, however, Lincoln submitted a text of his speech to the press. (Mitgang does admit that the New York press routinely reprinted Lincoln's speeches in full.) It would have been helpful if Mitgang had reproduced some of these (even in an appendix) so that the reader could evaluate the accuracy of the reporting. Likewise, it would have been helpful to have some of the more famous presidential documents readily on hand--the Emancipation Proclamation for example--so that they could easily be referred to. The few Lincoln writings reproduced in this volume clearly reveal the clarity of the President's style that stands in marked contrast to the news reports.	3
Abraham Lincoln: A Press Portrait will best be used in the secondary and college classrooms as a reference work. For those teachers wishing to utilize primary sources in their teaching, this book will be valuable. Northern (both pro- and anti-Lincoln positions) and Southern views are presented. Many of the articles, however, are long and would need to be edited. The concluding article was written by Noah Brooks and published in Harper's Monthly Magazine in May 1865. Brooks, who was slated to take over as Lincoln's private secretary, wrote a most personal account of the man he had known for over fifteen years. This essay alone should be read to all secondary and post-secondary students of American History. In it, the reader truly comes to know the "real" Lincoln as well as understand the depths of sorrow both North and South felt at his passing.	4
Redondo Beach, California Rosemary Abend

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