And There Was Light summary

In the America of Lincoln’s youth, politics was all-consuming. As suffrage for white men expanded, political engagement increased. This was the world in which Lincoln yearned to make his mark –⁠ to transcend the limitations of his upbringing and prove himself legitimate.

As he settled in the small Illinois town of New Salem, he found himself drawn to the courtroom. There, he observed lawyers with fascination. Hearing a defense lawyer make a powerful case for his client in a murder trial, Lincoln later remarked that his “soul would have been satisfied” if he could have made as good a speech as that.

Slavery was the moral question throughout Lincoln’s life and time in politics. As such, the topic was ever-present during Lincoln’s four terms in the Illinois state legislature –⁠ a position he won two years after his initial loss.

Early on, Lincoln was a member of the Whig Party. The Whigs were opposed to slavery but didn’t advocate for its immediate abolition. Lincoln, along with many other antislavery advocates, believed that the federal government didn’t have the constitutional power to abolish slavery in the states where it existed. Only the states themselves could choose to emancipate.

Despite his gradualism, Lincoln didn’t hide his opposition to slavery. He didn’t hide it when he vocally criticized the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which would have enabled new territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. He didn’t hide it in 1854 when as part of a Senate campaign speech he called slavery a “monstrous injustice” and a “great moral wrong.” And he didn’t hide it in 1856 when he joined the newly-formed Republican Party, which was explicitly committed to the abolition of slavery.

By 1858, Lincoln’s name had become well-known. Though he’d lost his Senate race in Illinois against Stephen Douglas, the Republican political world had taken note of him. The debates with Douglas had been highly publicized, and Lincoln’s rhetorical skill had made him a national figure almost overnight.

After the Confederate States of America had declared itself separate from the Union, Frederick Douglass wondered aloud whether Lincoln would, characteristically, seek a compromise. This time, he didn’t.

Lincoln was perhaps emboldened after defeating his adversaries at the polls. In a speech, he declared that the Union and the original Constitution would be perpetuated. He went so far as to declare that he’d rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender the work of the Founding Fathers. Despite other prominent Republicans being willing to compromise with the South, Lincoln refused to capitulate.

Ever the cautious leader, Lincoln was reluctant to alienate his base and jeopardize his political standing. So he attacked slavery only when and where he believed it was safe.

Eventually, in July 1862, he felt comfortable broaching the subject of full emancipation. It wasn’t a purely moral consideration. The Union wasn’t performing well in the war, and emancipation, Lincoln hoped, would encourage Black Americans to join them in the fight.

The cannons roared at dawn on the morning of Monday, April 10, 1865. Five hundred explosions in total rocked the capital. The sound of the explosions literally cracked the windows of people’s homes, while the streets came alive and muddy with celebration. Lincoln, breakfasting in the White House, could hear it all clearly.

The Union had triumphed in the American Civil War.

John Wilkes Booth was a handsome, elegant figure. He was also a white supremacist and a Confederate sympathizer who’d long harbored a seething hatred for President Lincoln. Eventually, that hatred craved expression.

On April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, President Lincoln was attending a showing of the farce Our American Cousin. In the second scene of the third act, Booth snuck to the president’s box, in which he’d carved a small hole. Through it, he peered at the president from a small anteroom. When he decided the moment was right, Booth opened the door, walked toward the president, and shot him directly in the head with a .44-caliber single-shot pistol.