Lincoln, religion, and romantic cultural politics
By: Stewart Winger.
Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: DeKalb
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Views on religion.; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Political and social views.; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Oratory.; Political culture -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Romanticism -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Religion and politics -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; National characteristics, American.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865.
Description: "The nature of Abraham Lincoln's religious beliefs is perhaps the most perplexing enigma of his legacy. Examining the relationship between Lincoln's religious language and antebellum political culture, Winger offers a new perspective on the Great Emancipator. Lincoln's greatest speeches, Winger shows, articulate a Romantic Protestant vision of American identity and destiny.".

"A man who took ideas seriously, Lincoln conducted a decades-long dialogue with Stephen Douglas and George Bancroft about popular sovereignty and America's place in history. Although the Lincoln-Douglas debates became almost theological arguments about the ethics of slavery in a democracy, they were carried out in the context of intense party politics and personal ambition.

Throughout, Lincoln expressed an intellectually grounded piety that placed his beloved Union under the judgment of both history and God. The crisis of war transformed and deepened Lincoln's religious politics, and the Second Inaugural Address reveals a Lincoln brought to humility by his powerlessness before God's commanding will."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-257) and index.