Abraham Lincoln, a History — Volume 02

One of the most intimate portraits of Abraham Lincoln ever written, by the man who stood beside him through the apocalypse. John G. Nicolay served as Lincoln's private secretary from Springfield to the White House, and in this monumental history, first published in 1890, he draws on unprecedented access to documents, letters, and firsthand recollections to trace the political forces that elevated a prairie lawyer to the brink of the White House. This volume chronicles the explosive years immediately preceding the Civil War, focusing on the territorial violence of 'Bleeding Kansas' and the collapse of law and order in the western territories. Nicolay meticulously details the guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, the political machinations driving both sides, and the desperate attempts of figures like the newly appointed Governor Geary to impose impartial governance on a land consumed by factional rage. The narrative builds toward the Republican Party's fateful convention in Chicago, where Lincoln was nominated on a platform declaring slavery morally wrong, a platform Nicolay, who was there, describes with the authority of a man who helped shape it. A vital primary source for understanding the political genius of Lincoln and the Republic's near-death experience, written by someone who lived inside the story.