Letters to the Editor
Likes Lincoln
Concerning the book review entitled “Unpopular Problem,” of the book The Problem With Lincoln by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, in the October 19, 2020 issue of TNA, I respond as a Lincoln scholar with an admitted admiration for our 16th president, yet with a desire for works on him to be historically accurate. The book reviewer Laurence Vance states that “most works about Lincoln are more hagiographical than historical,” which would be true for those written in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but not since.
The problem with The Problem With Lincoln is that it is neither hagiographical nor historical. Let us review: In the 1860 election, four candidates ran, one of whom represented the Southern Democrats. Lincoln won. The same Democrats who validated that election by participating then launched a rebellion to cancel its result.
If anyone is to be blamed for the expansion of the government, it would be those who made that action necessary to preserve the Union. Note that Lincoln was assassinated and did not manage the Reconstruction policies that are more worthy of a critical review. I value books critical of Lincoln, but the DiLorenzo title must be classed among those that fail to criticize him where he would be open to a fair dose of such.
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