The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was a lawyer and politician who served in the House of Representatives and became the 16th President of the United States. Having led the United States through the Civil War, he is remembered for preserving the Union, abolishing enslavement, expanding the power of the federal government, and transforming the American economy. Consequently, he plays the most prominent role in the text, and McPherson’s analysis of Lincoln’s political and military actions provide insight on his convictions and character. 

The most significant aspect of Lincoln’s role in the text is his profound understanding of the legacy of the American Revolution. McPherson’s analysis establishes the fact that Lincoln was guided by the principles of the Declaration of Independence and by his understanding that these ideals were incompatible with the practice of enslavement. Thus, from the outset of Lincoln’s political career, he espoused an antislavery sentiment that evolved to an abolitionist stance, especially when the war necessitated that emancipation become a national strategy and policy aim. Underlying Lincoln’s political and military decisions were religious convictions developed in the face of the war’s mounting death and destruction. 

Moreover, McPherson draws attention to the character traits and leadership qualities that defined Lincoln’s presidency. In Chapter 8, for example, McPherson notes the pragmatism and shrewdness that guided Lincoln’s political decisions, including his use of strategic diversions “to appease conservatives while manipulating them toward acceptance of radical policies” (117). Chapter 9 highlights Lincoln’s tendency toward risk-taking, using this trait to explain why Lincoln expected the same qualities in those that he placed in command.

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was a politician and military leader. Before the Civil War, he represented Mississippi in the Senate and House of Representatives and served as secretary of war. He was the first and only president of the Confederacy. McPherson mentions Davis several times, particularly in his direct comparison of Davis and Lincoln at the beginning of Chapter 9. While Lincoln’s only military experience was as captain of a militia unit that did not have to fight during the Black Hawk War, Davis was a West Point graduate who had served in the army for several years, commanded a regiment during the Mexican-American War, and been secretary of war under the Pierce administration. Thus, Davis serves as Lincoln’s foil and underscores the extraordinariness of Lincoln’s success as commander in chief. 

As an outspoken advocate of enslavement and white supremacy, Davis was influential in the years leading up to the Civil War. McPherson highlights the fact that during Davis’s tenure as a Mississippi Senator, he denounced California’s admission as a free state, fearing that it would tip the balance of power against those states that practiced enslavement, thereby undermining white supremacy. Over the matter of the ceded territories, he challenged an Illinois congressman to a duel. He also represents the irony that both sides of the Civil War believed themselves to be fighting for the legacy of the founding fathers. He is one of the Southerners “who embraced secession with heavy hearts and a conviction that it was the Northern people who betrayed the great promise of 1776” (97). Davis is also mentioned in Chapters 3 and 5.

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was an American military officer who served as the 18th president of the United States. He is one of the “larger-than-life, near-mythical individuals” (2) to which McPherson attributes ongoing and intense interest in the Civil War. McPherson mentions Grant numerous times because of his role as a successful commanding general and Lincoln’s general-in-chief who carried the Union Army to the final defeat of the Confederacy. McPherson utilizes Grant as a comparison to Farragut in Chapter 6 and to McClellan in Chapter 10, thereby highlighting the risk-taking qualities that Lincoln demanded of his military officers.

In the final chapter of the text, McPherson focuses on Grant’s role as president during Reconstruction. The Grant administration was responsible for cracking down on the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) to mediate the violence inflicted on freedmen and Republicans. Therefore, a part of Grant’s legacy is his use of the 14th and 15th Amendments to expand the federal government’s power to protect civil rights. McPherson also refers to Grant at the beginning of Chapter 2 to set the stage for the discussion of the Mexican-American War and its role in deepening sectional conflict.