And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

In early 1859, after Lincoln lost his second bid for the senate, the Lincolns worry that another child will die from illness, but he recovers. At the same time, Republican leadership is looking to Lincoln for a presidential campaign in 1860.

During the fall of 1859, John Brown, the militant abolitionist who fought in Kansas, led an attempted slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The rebellion was quickly quashed by a force led by Robert E. Lee, the future confederate general. Brown was captured and eventually convicted and sentenced to death. Lincoln condemned Brown’s rebellion while on a trip to Kansas. According to Meacham, Lincoln’s political savvy led him to frame his antislavery commitments around the legacy of the founders of the nation and as something to be achieved with the rule of law.

Meacham then details the life of future Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, who was a Senator from Mississippi in 1860. Davis had previously served as an officer in the Mexican-American War and as the Secretary of War for Franklin Pierce. Meanwhile, after returning to Illinois, Lincoln headed to the northeast for a number of speaking engagements. Lincoln engages in hypothetical debate with slaveholders in the south, noting that their arguments are weak and that they are offended by those who even speak about the immorality with slavery.