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Escott, Paul D.

Lincoln's Dilemma
Blair, Sumner, and the Republican Struggle over Racism and Equality in the Civil War Era

Paul D. Escott

The Civil War forced America finally to confront the contradiction between its founding values and human slavery. At the center of this historic confrontation was Abraham Lincoln. By the time this Illinois politician had risen to the office of president, the dilemma of slavery had expanded to the... More

"What Shall We Do with the Negro?"
Lincoln, White Racism, and Civil War America

Paul D. Escott

Throughout the Civil War, newspaper headlines and stories repeatedly asked some variation of the question posed by the New York Times in 1862, "What shall we do with the negro?" The future status of African Americans was a pressing issue for those in both the North and in the South. Consulting a... More