Author Archives: Rich & Tracy Y

Civil War Podcast, Episode 22

This Lincoln photograph by Samuel G. Alschuler in Chicago on
November 25, 1860, shows the president-elect’s new beard.


In which we discuss the reasons behind the collapse of the Democratic Party, the resulting four-way contest for the presidency, and Abraham Lincoln’s victory on Election Day, November 6, 1860.

Our book recommendation for this episode is Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought On the Civil War by Douglas R. Egerton.

“Well-informed, judicious, and lively political history.  Douglas Egerton has a sharp eye for telling biographical details, and he deploys them to great analytical and narrative effect.”  ~ Bruce Levine, author of Half Slave and Half Free


Listen to Episode 22: Election1860

Civil War Podcast, Episode 21

The Lincoln portrait that Matthew Brady
took on February 27, 1860.

In which we take a look at the February, 1860 address that was the most important speech of Abraham Lincoln’s political life. The Cooper Union speech in New York City catapulted Abraham Lincoln to the White House.

Our book recommendation for this episode is Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President by Harold Holzer.

“Few people know more about Abraham Lincoln than Holzer. This fine new work focuses on a widely known but little studied address that Lincoln delivered in early 1860 in New York City… Surely no one will again overlook this masterful speech.”  ~ Publishers Weekly


Listen to Episode 21: LincolnCooperUnion

Civil War Podcast, Episode 20

John Brown (1800-1859)

In which we discuss the importance of John Brown’s assault on the federal arsenal & armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in October 1859. 

Our book recommendation for this episode is Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz.  

“With his customary blend of rich archival research, on-location color, and lyrical prose, Tony Horwitz has delivered a John Brown book for our time.  Part biography, part historical narrative, Midnight Rising is a riveting re-creation of the Harper’s Ferry raid, told with an unblinking sense of Brown’s tragic place in American history.  Writing with enveloping detail and a storyteller’s verve, Horwitz shows why Brown was- and still is- so troubling and important to our culture.” ~ David W. Blight


Listen to Episode 20: JohnBrownPartFirst

Civil War Podcast, Episode 19

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES (Part the Second)


In which we continue our coverage of the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 1858.

Our book recommendations for this episode are:

Stephen A. Douglas by Robert Johannsen.  About this book, Lincoln scholar David Herbert Donald said, “At once a work of enormous scholarship and of deep insight. Here, for the first time, is the full story of a great career, told with such skill that we can now understand why Abraham Lincoln found the ‘Little Giant’ the most formidable political rival he ever faced.”

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald.  About this book, Pulitzer-Prize winning Lincoln historian Mark E. Neely Jr said, “The best biography of Lincoln I have ever read.”


Listen to Episode 19: LincolnDouglasDebatesPartSecond

Civil War Podcast, Episode 18

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES (Part the First)

Stephen Douglas (1813-1861)

In which we give the background to the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, and then we start in on our coverage of the debates.

Our book recommendation for this episode is Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America by Allen C. Guelzo.  

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer.  Two years later, he was elected president.  What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country’s most formidable politician.  As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, and the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. 


Listen to Episode 18: LincolnDouglasDebatesPartFirst

Civil War Podcast, Episode 15

Roger Taney (1777-1864)
Dred Scott (1799-1858)

In which we talk about the results of the Dred Scott case in 1857 & the fiasco over the Lecompton Constitution in 1858, and we show how the snowballing negative consequences of those events finally caused the Democratic Party to split, once & for all, along sectional lines.  A unified Republican Party will take advantage of that split & win the presidency in 1860.

Our book recommendation for this episode is The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics by Don E. Fehrenbacher.  

On March 6, 1857 Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the Supreme Court’s decision against Dred Scott.  Scott, a slave, maintained he had been emancipated as a result of having lived with his master in territory where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise.  The decision did much more than resolve the fate of an elderly black man and his family, however; Dred Scott vs Sanford was the first instance in which the Supreme Court invalidated a major piece of federal legislation.  the decision declared that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, thereby intensifying the sectional conflict over slavery.


Listen to Episode 15: DredScott

Civil War Podcast, Episode 14

James Buchanan
(1791-1868)

In which we discuss the three-way presidential contest of 1856 & its importance in the stunning rise of the Republican Party.  Plus, we see Abraham Lincoln start to position himself to be a leading national figure in the party.

Our book recommendation for this episode is James Buchanan by Jean H Baker.

Almost no president was as well trained and well prepared for the office as James Buchanan.  he had served in the Pennsylvania state legislature, the U.S. House, and the U.S. Senate; he was Secretary of State and was even offered a seat on the Supreme Court.  And yet, by every measure except his own, James Buchanan was a miserable failure as president.  Historian Jean H. Baker explains that we have rightly placed Buchanan at the bottom of the presidential rankings, but that is no excuse to forget him.  To study Buchanan is to consider the implications of weak leadership in a time of national crisis.  Elegantly written, Baker’s book offers a balanced look at a crucial moment in our nation’s history and explores a man who, when given the opportunity, failed to rise to the challenge.

 
** This episode of the podcast contains explicit language. **

Listen to Episode 14: Election1856