This Lincoln would not - and could not - allow. For many in the South, the lands to the West, Southwest, and Northwest that the US acquired in the first half of the 19th century represented an opportunity to perpetuate the dominance of slave-holding states' powers throughout the rest of the 19th century and well into the next century as well.

The breaking point - for Lincoln and many others - came when the South increasingly pressed for territorial expansion of their system to NEW territories and states. This was so in the adoption of the Constitution, since without the South's votes the document could not be adopted, and it remained so throughout the first half of the 19th century when, on issue after issue, the South demanded respect for its views and a continued 'hands-off' when it came to their system of chattel slavery. It is a sad fact that the South ALWAYS used the existence of slavery - and their demands that their slaves count towards representation in the US House's membership (through the infamous 3/5 clause) - to demand, and win, concessions from the rest of the country. Put simply, the federal government had no ability to interfere in an institution - however deplorable and inhumane - in states where it had already existed in 1789. It is true that the ending of slavery in the South was NOT Lincoln's priority, in large measure because he shared the prevailing view that its presence there was part of the compact by which the Constitution was hammered out and adopted. I appreciated how professor Guelzo both traced Lincoln's growth in understanding of the major issues of his time as well has stressed those many factors which were seemingly present in Lincoln from the beginning, including his voracious appetite for reading, curiosity about apparently everything, simple human decency, and an unwillingness to ever see the mistreatment - let alone enslavement - of other human beings as anything other than a great evil.

It is sadly unthinkable that a man like Abraham Lincoln could today in our own fractured times even be considered as a candidate for high office, both because in our television and influence dominated age his looks would disqualify him but also because he had such solid ethics and such high-minded principles. Lincoln in this short 12-lecture course, but also so many others whom Lincoln encountered and/or impressed. A wonderful overview of a great man! Although the Great Courses feature many, many fine teachers and superb lecturers, none surpasses Allen Guelzo (at least in my opinion) for his dynamic style in which he brings to life notably Mr.

Abraham Lincoln by Allen C. Guelzo