The Crooked Path to Abolition

Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution

By: James Oakes

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Hardcover | 12 February 2021 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 15.0 x 2.3

Hardcover

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Some celebrate Lincoln for freeing the slaves; others fault him for a long-standing conservatism on abolition and race.

James Oakes gives us another option in this brilliant exploration of Lincoln and the end of slavery. Through the unforeseen challenges of the Civil War crisis, Lincoln and the Republican party adhered to a clear antislavery strategy founded on the Constitution itself. All understood the limits to federal power in the slave states, and the need for state action to abolish slavery finally. But Lincoln and the Republicans claimed strong constitutional tools for federal action against slavery, and they used those tools consistently to undermine slavery, prevent its expansion, and pressure the slave states into abolition.

This antislavery Constitution guided Lincoln and his allies as they navigated the sectional crisis and the Civil War. When the states finally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, it was a confirmation of a long-held vision.

Industry Reviews

"In "The Crooked Path to Abolition," his very solid, carefully and rigorously argued book, James Oakes... describes and analyzes the antislavery constitutionalism that emerged in a dialectical struggle with pro-slavery constitutionalism in antebellum America." -- The New York Times
"Mr. Oakes, a distinguished Civil War historian and a professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, describes the development of these constitutional antislavery strategies concisely and clearly. At just over 200 pages, his book contains more insightful analysis than countless massive tomes on the antislavery movement." -- The Washington Post

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