The author seeks to challenge the long-held perceptions of the politics of the American Civil War. He argues that the war was fought not to preserve the Union or free the slaves but rather to establish the political power of the Republican Party within the federal government. The author argues further that Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party manipulated events to bring about the Civil War in the first place and used the war as a pretext for the establishment of the modern central government.

Robert P. Broadwater has written more than 35 books of military history and more than 100 magazine articles dealing with the American Civil War and the Revolutionary War. He lives in Bellwood, Pennsylvania.

Robert P. Broadwater
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 247
Bibliographic Info: 48 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3361-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0689-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

Introduction      7

1. Birth of the Republican Party      15

2. The White House by Default      28

3. Sectional Crisis and the Outbreak of War      46

4. Securing the Borders      68

5. Elections and Endorsements      85

6. The Democrats Must Leave the Army      100

7. The Committee on the Conduct of the War      119

8. Riots in the North      130

9. Clement Vallandigham and the Copperhead Movement      143

10. Ordered to Vote for Lincoln: The Election of 1864      154

11. Lincoln: The First Modern President      174

12. Reconstruction and Consolidation      191

13. Twenty-four Years in Charge      203

Conclusion      215

Chapter Notes      219

Bibliography      225

Index      235