Chapter 1
A. Lincoln and the Promise of America
He signed his name "a. lincoln." a visitor to abraham lincoln's Springfield, Illinois, home at Eighth and Jackson would find "A. Lincoln" in silvered Roman characters affixed to an octagonal black plate on the front door. All through his life, people sought to complete the A-to define Lincoln, to label or libel him. Immediately after his death and continuing to the present, Americans have tried to explain the nation's most revered president. A. Lincoln continues to fascinate us because he eludes simple definitions and final judgments.
Tall, raw boned, and with an unruly shock of black hair, his appearance could not have been more different from that of George Washington and the other founding fathers. Walt Whitman, who saw the president regularly in Washington, D.C., wrote that Lincoln's face was "so awful ugly it becomes beautiful." But when Lincoln spoke, audiences forgot his appearance as they listened to his inspiring words.
He is one of the few Americans whose life and words bridge time. Illinois senator Everett Dirksen said fifty years ago, "The first task of every politician is to get right with Lincoln." At critical moments in our nation's history, his eloquent words become contemporary.
As a young man, he won the nickname "Honest Abe" when his store in New Salem, Illinois, "winked out." Rather than cut and run from his debts in the middle of the night, as was common on the frontier, he stayed and paid back what he called his "National Debt." His political opponents invented a long list of denunciations, ranging from "the Black Republican" to "the original gorilla" to "the dictator." His supporters crafted monikers of admiration: "Old Abe," affectionately attached to him while he was still a relatively young man, and the "Rail Splitter," to remind voters in the 1860 presidential campaign of his roots in what was then the Western frontier. During the Civil War, admiration became endearment when the soldiers he led as commander in chief called him "Father Abraham." After his controversial decision to sign the Emancipation Proclamation on New Year's Day 1863, grateful Americans, black and white, honored him with the title "the Great Emancipator."
Each name became a signpost pointing to the ways Lincoln grew and changed through critical episodes in his life. Each was an attempt to define him, whether by characterization or caricature.
Yet how did Lincoln define himself? He never kept a diary. He wrote three brief autobiographical statements, one pointedly in the third person. As the Lincolns prepared to leave for Washington in the winter of 1861, Mary Lincoln, to protect her privacy, burned her correspondence with her husband in the alley behind their Springfield home. In an age when one did not tell all, Lincoln seldom shared his innermost feelings in public. Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon, summed it up "He was the most shut-mouthed man that ever existed."
From the book A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White, Jr.
Abraham Lincoln never signed or saw himself as “Abe” and rarely as “Abraham,” except on formal documents. Left to his preferences, he was always “A. Lincoln.” In that simple signature lay his humility, yet it was also a cloak that covered the deep complexity of the man. This wonderful biography presents the whole of the man, whereas others have simply centered on his years in office.
In A. Lincoln, Ronald C. White, Jr. offers a fresh and compelling definition of Lincoln as a man of integrity, whose moral compass—whether guiding him on issues ranging from slavery to politics to religion—holds the key to understanding his life. While the basic story arc of Lincoln’s life remains largely unchanged, the subtle nuances and subtext presented here are what make this such a revelatory, landmark biography. Most enlightening, the Abraham Lincoln who comes into focus is a person of intellectual curiosity, comfortable with ambiguity, unafraid to “think anew and act anew.” Although often uncertain of his course, this is the portrait of a man who was willing to see things through, who acted with great integrity and who steered his course towards victorious triumph.
Softcover : 800 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade/Div Random House ( January 20, 2009 )
Item #: 12-791126
ISBN: 9781615233885
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 1.28inches
Product Weight: 29.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

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