He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860 (Pivotal Moments in American History)

A gripping and granular look at how Abraham Lincoln got elected the 16th president of the United States. James McPherson calls the election of 1860 "undeniably the most important--and pivotal--in all of American history." The nation was not merely divided over the issue of slavery; the opposing camps were at each other's throats.The moment John Brown and his men attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in the fall of 1859 the compromises that had stitched the country together for decades unraveled.The presidential election was therefore about more than who the next president would be.It was about how soon war would follow his inauguration. Using the writings and story of Murat Halstead, the nation's first campaign journalist, as well as previously unused documents from Lincoln's campaign manager, Jonathan Earle captures the full drama of the 1860 election.He shows how Lincoln, a one-time Congressman from Illinois, and a dark horse against the more established Stephen Douglas, the