McPherson is Edwards Professor of American History at Princeton University. This authoritative volume makes sense of that vast and confusing second American Revolution we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty. This new birth of freedom, as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict.

Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war-slavery-and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. Particularly notable are McPherson's new views on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory. McPherson, one of the foremost experts on the Civil War that took place between 18, synthesizes the social, intellectual, and economic factors that catalyzed the violent national schism between the North and South. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era Read description Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. McPherson’s Pulitzer Prizewinning history of the Civil War, may be the finest one-volume history of any American war ever written, let alone the Civil War.Its.

Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War-the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry-and then moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself-the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era is a 1988 book on American history by professor and historian James M. He has published numerous volumes on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, Crossroads of Freedom (which was a New York Times bestseller), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. McPherson, for one, holds Lincoln in high esteem, complimenting his tactful leadership and pithy prose and oratory throughout the book.Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. Who, exactly, deserves credit for Lincoln’s transformation is a matter for historical debate. McPherson, quote from Battle Cry of Freedom Copy text In cities and factories, the vices of our nature are more fully displayed, declared James Hammond of South Carolina in 1829, while rural life promotes a generous hospitality, a high and perfect courtesy, a lofty spirit of independence. So while Lincoln certainly didn’t have as identifiable and strong anti-racist convictions as, say, William Lloyd Garrison or Frederick Douglass, he ended up as a de facto abolitionist by the end of his life. His commonly-remembered image as a liberator contrasts to some of his words: “‘the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate evils ’” (55) “‘I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races ’” (186) “‘I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists.’” (186) (All of these quotes were uttered before his presidency.) He also attempted to address the issue of freed slaves during the war by shipping them to a black island colony near Haiti ! On the other hand, this is also the man who issued the Emancipation Proclamation and oversaw the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Abraham Lincoln’s views on slavery, racism and leadership were complicated.

James mcpherson battle cry of freedom