Professor James McPherson emerged as one of America's most regarded civil war historians. McPherson is a professor at Princeton University and holds a Pulitzer Prize for his work, “Battle Cry of Freedom”, which became a national bestseller. Additionally, he has educated those who follow his writings as he explains the political, social, and cultural forces at work during the Civil War era. In “Abraham Lincoln and the second American Revolution”, McPherson wrote about the Civil War, not just a war against two neighbors, but also a pathway to freedom for enslaved Americans. McPherson examines, what he believes, is one of the most critical subjects in American history. At the forefront of this time period is president Abraham Lincoln, as…show more content… Lincoln was strictly against the morality of slave ownership. He first battled the legislation that protected the institution. Politically, Lincoln’s was polarized on how to approach the issue. Lincoln understood whichever direction he took would have different outcomes for the north and south. McPherson explains a plan that is often missing in the methodical teachings of American history of this time. Gradual emancipation would allow several southern states to join the Union and be compensated for their loss of slaves. This was appealing, however, lacked a radical purpose of abolishing slavery. The North was fiercely for a united Union without slavery, with a revolutionary tone, not measured. On the other side, a southern General wrote, “we must conquer the rebels, or be conquered by them”, describing if the slaves were freed gradually they would take up arms against southern soldiers. McPherson’s validates the arguments with qualitative data to support that black soldiers were joining the Union to fight the Confederacy. Lincoln drew a conclusion that once slaves took arms there was a revolutionary tone to the Civil
