Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas. By Allen C. Guelzo. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009).

Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College, and he also oversees the prestigious Gettysburg Semester. He is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Civil War history, focusing on Abraham Lincoln. Guelzo couples intellectual history with Abraham Lincoln and generates one of his better masterpieces. Some of his former works include: Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America. Guelzo’s Abraham Lincoln: As a Man of Ideas is a collection of ten essays, focusing not on Lincoln’s life, but rather his ideas. Lincoln is often seen as a complex figure. For instance, he opposed slavery, but he also rejected emancipation. The president “championed” the Constitution but “had to step outside of it in order to save it.” Guelzo’s rich work is a must read for any Civil War historian or Lincoln buff. Many have failed to understand Lincoln because he was a man of paradoxes, but Abraham Lincoln: As a Man of Ideas gives allows the reader to delve into the mind of Lincoln, and help students better understand one of America’s greatest presidents. Guelzo analyzes various topics, which include “Abraham Lincoln and the Idea of Community in Nineteenth-Century America,” “Lincoln and Natural Law,” Lincoln’s relationship with the abolitionists, and finally Lincoln’s ideas on the Constitution and liberty.     

Lincoln was “a classic nineteenth-century democratic liberal,” which meant that he championed the Enlightenment. He reasoned that America was not based on an aristocratic order that dictated an individual’s status at birth. Rather a man, Lincoln claimed, was born with a clean slate and was given the opportunity of “self-improvement,” allowing him to move freely up the social ladder.  

Guelzo also points out that some historians go as far as classifying Lincoln as racist. But he explains that too many couple Lincoln with modern-day racism. Instead, historians need to view Lincoln within the era he lived in. The president, unlike many Americans in the nineteenth century, was actually quite progressive for his day.

 Three essays in this collection focus on Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Guelzo claims that historians have failed to appreciate it and analyze the proclamation’s meaning. Lincoln had contemplated emancipation as early as 1861. The president also considered gradual emancipation and even colonization for African Americans. This was not due racism as many claim, but “the forbidding legal circumstances he faced as president.”(8) Lincoln feared that McClellan was preparing to intervene militarily and “a proclamation was the only way Lincoln had to wedge emancipation into public policy as quickly as possible.” (9) Lastly, Lincoln realized that the Emancipation Proclamation could possibly cause a rebellion “behind Confederate lines.” (9)     

In Guelzo’s last essay he analyzed the war powers Lincoln exercised. The president believed that he could operate outside the boundaries of the Constitution only until the Civil War was won. Once the war ended, however, Lincoln would then return to function under the Constitution. In essence, “war powers were a means, not an end, toward the promotion of democracy that kept Lincoln from becoming the outright dictator his enemies, and some of his friends, feared.” (206)

Many books have been written about Abraham Lincoln in recent years, but few are as worthy as Guelzo’s Abraham Lincoln: As a Man of Ideas. In fact, Guelzo’s well written opus is a must for scholars of Lincoln or of the Civil War. His work will surely not disappoint.    

Shawn Devaney