Lincoln and the South (Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History. Louisia) by James G. Randall

Lincoln and the South (Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History. Louisia) Reviews

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  David Kent

  When James Garfield Randall died in 1953 he was considered one of the leading scholars on Abraham Lincoln. Students and mentees of his included David Herbert Donald, Richard Current, and Wayne Temple. He is best known for his promotion of scientific history studies, that is, the methodological evaluation of primary materials such as letters and speeches. He was also known for his somewhat contrarian views of the causes of the Civil War, which he believed was less about economic disparities and more about fanatics on both sides (abolitionists and fire-eaters) racing each other to war. He also painted an unusually favorable portrait of General George B. McClellan in his writings.
  
  With this background one can understand the views offered in this collection of four of his essays on Lincoln as presented in the Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History, given at Louisiana State University in the early 1940s. As the book’s title suggests, Randall explored Lincoln’s views as they relate to interactions with the southern states, both before and after secession and the beginnings of the war.
  
  In the first essay, “When Lincoln Looked South,” Randall suggests that the Kentucky-born Lincoln remained more southern than most people give him credit. He spoke in the language of the South, lived in the areas of southern Indiana and Illinois greatly populated and influenced by the South, and defended river interests important to the South (internal improvements such as navigation, flatboat trips to New Orleans), and visited his intimate friend Speed’s and wife Mary’s southern homes in Kentucky. Lincoln was a “Clay Whig,” which Randall defines as having southern roots. He was also a “slavery moderate,” supporting southern rights to slavery and the idea that compensation and colonization was warranted should southern slaveowners or states give up their enslaved peoples. Randall also suggests Lincoln was not for equality of the races.
  
  In “Lincoln and the Southern Border,” Randall discusses Lincoln’s “antagonistic dualism,” that is his attempt to keep the border states in the Union, a goal that required complicated statesmanship and the critical role that Kentucky played in trying to keep the peace. Starting his third essay, “Design for Freedom,” with a racist story (delivered in Louisiana in the 1940s), Randall argues that Lincoln believed gradual compensated emancipation was both practical and obligatory given how much the North benefited economically from the slave labor system of the South. Randall slights Lincoln for his views on colonization and reiterates his own minority view that McClellan was a great general thwarted by politicians like Lincoln and the Radical Republicans in Congress. He does give credit to Lincoln for framing the Emancipation Proclamation as a necessary war measure, but also spends significant time discussing the insufficiencies of the proclamation, sordid conduct by Union and Confederate soldiers alike (e.g., selling freed slaves back to their previous owners).
  
  In his final essay, “Design for Peace,” Randall paints Lincoln as a reconciler who tried to make it easy on the South to rejoin the Union. Essentially, his only requirement was to accept the end of slavery and the 13th amendment. He argues that Andrew Johnson simply tried to apply what Lincoln wanted, while hardliner radicals in Congress wanted to punish the South (thus the real reason for impeaching Johnson). In fact, Randall suggests that radical Republicans had turned on Lincoln during and after the war, and as such were the real villains of the post-war reconstruction period.
  
  There is a reason that Randall is considered “Dean of the Lincoln Scholars.” His adherence to a systematic, scientific methodology focused on primary sources has become the mainstay of historical research. Some of the views expressed in these essays and his other writings have been challenged by other Lincoln scholars, both during his lifetime and since. This is good scholarship. Despite disagreements, Randall is considered one of the premier Lincoln scholars in history. This volume provides excellent insights into Lincoln’s presidency, in particular how his views reflected on the South. Ironically, given his emphasis on primary sources, the volume came out within weeks of the official opening of the Lincoln Papers to the public, 21 years after the death of Robert Lincoln, at his insistence. Ah, but Randall would go onto write his magnum opus, a four volume Lincoln as President series using all those new primary sources. The Lincoln world is much more knowledgeable because of the efforts of J.G. Randall.