In Abraham Lincoln chapter 7, author George McGovern writes about
the ways which Lincoln utilized federal power for the war effort. After
his reelection, Lincoln happy gun to replace many of his cabinet
members. He would hire her man he greatly respected such as Secretary of
State William Seward, but he would even hire men whom he didn't get
along with personally, but would form great working relationships with
them, such as his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. Lincoln put aside
his personal views and pride for the good of the country. Lincoln was
very pleased with the make up of his second cabinet, choosing men such
as Gideon Wells as Secretary of the Navy, John Usher as Secretary of the
Interior, and Edward Bates as Attorney General. After Bates was called
home to St. Louis by his family, Lincoln chose Joshua Speed as attorney
general. Mc govern also explains that financial measures to fund the
war had been enacted such as the Legal Tender Act of 1862, which
authorized the production of paper money to fuel the bond program, the
Internal Revenue Act of 1861, which was the first federal income tax,
The Subsequent Revenue Acts of 1862 and 1864 which created moderately
progressive tax brackets and set rates at 5, 7.5, and 10 percent. These
measures greatly reversed the downward spiral of the trends issued by
the Democratic Congress. The author also tells us about the landmark
acts, the Homestead Act of 1862 which made it possible for any adult
citizen to obtain 160 acres of land just by living on it for five years,
the Morril Land Grant College Act, which gave federal lands to states
to establish agricultural and mechanical arts colleges, and the US
department of agriculture to look after farmers. Lincoln also proposed
the Ten Percent Plan, Which allowed states back into the Union as long
as 10% of its citizens gave an oath of allegiance to the national
government. We also read about how Lincoln worked tirelessly to gain
votes for a new constitutional amendment, which was passed by a vote of
119 to 58. McGovern uses evidence to support his claim by giving
specific dates and locations, making his claims credible. Chapter 7
gives us readers an insight of how Lincoln dealt with the political
aftermath of the war.
In Abraham Lincoln, chapter 8, make a governor examines the toll that
the war took on both the people and Lincoln. The four years of hard,
bloody war had begun to drain Lincoln,he did not eat or sleep very well
and people who are close to him commented that he was extremely
depressed and his same to you are hardly ever appeared, the weight of
thousands of deaths weighing on his shoulders. Though physically, he was
weak, Hisperia remain strong and he had to bend his faith in God. The
author also describes the battle against Lee and his honorable
surrender. McGovern uses the last few pages to recollect the death of
Lincoln at Ford's theater and the happiness he had experienced in the
moments before. Much like chapter 7,The author uses specific dates and
even specific times as evidence.
The authors main purpose in these two chapters is to dig deeper into
Lincoln's political choices at the end of the war and explain the
negative told that the war took on Lincoln. From the authors point of
view, Lincoln did everything he could to stabilize the country and put
it back together in the end, even if it meant losing hundreds of
thousands of lives.we mainly here Lincoln's voice in chapter 8, but I
would like to hear you little more about his opinion on the many acts
passed in the early 1860s, as discussed in Chapter 7. Did he agree with
all of them?
in class, we formed groups of three to discuss some of Lincolns
views. In Lincoln's point of view, we were to finish the sentences, "I
believe that..." "I hope that..." and "I insisted that…" How would he
finish the sentences? For the first, I am reminded of a quote of Lincoln
in chapter 7. "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." I feel that
these two statements work well together. "I believe that if slavery is
not wrong, nothing is wrong." For "I hope that..." I think Lincoln would
choose to say, "I hope that our nation can unify and become one as the
Union again. For "I insist that..." I think that "I insist that all men
are created equal and United States is stronger when we are unified." We
also read "War by the Numbers" which debunks the previous death total
of the war at 620,000 as calculated by two amateur historians to the new
2012 estimation of 750,000 as reported by Dr. J. David Hacker. This is
possibly the closest number, but we will never really know for sure
because no one ever kept any proper death tolls back then. Our
discussions in class helped us get a better understanding of Lincoln's
views and choices at the end of the Civil War.
We also discussed in class some historical questions we had about the
reading. One question was, "after the war, how would the states make
sure that no one was illegally owning slaves?" According to our
teacher, states would hire agents to make sure everyone was abiding by
the law. Another question was, "what does the author do well?"in my
opinion, the author uses direct quotes from Lincoln along with his
claims to prove that it's not only his opinion, but also Lincoln's
opinion. We also discussed how the war affected soldier's family
members. They upset Stover dying soldiers constantly, asking, "did they
have a proper death?" "Did they have any last words?" "Did they die with
others around them or were they all alone?" Proper deaths were very
important to people in the 19th century, especially to wives and
mothers. These questions really helped us dig deeper and better
understand the reading.
Some questions still remain: were the financial acts well accepted?
Were they successful? Did Lincolns former cabinet members still remain
in politics? Were they angry with him because they let them go?