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Lincoln's Autocrat: The Life of Edwin Stanton

by William Marvel

Series: Civil War America (2015)

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761349,016 (3.71)2
Edwin M. Stanton (1814-1869), one of the nineteenth century's most impressive legal and political minds, wielded enormous influence and power as Lincoln's secretary of war during most of the Civil War and under Johnson during the early years of Reconstruction. In the first full biography of Stanton in more than fifty years, William Marvel offers a detailed reexamination of Stanton's life, career, and legacy. Marvel argues that while Stanton was a formidable advocate and politician, his character was hardly benign. Climbing from a difficult youth to the pinnacle of power, Stanton used his authority--and the public coffers--to pursue political vendettas, and he exercised sweeping wartime powers with a cavalier disregard for civil liberties. Though Lincoln's ability to harness a cabinet with sharp divisions and strong personalities is widely celebrated, Marvel suggests that Stanton's tenure raises important questions about Lincoln's actual control over the executive branch. This insightful biography also reveals why men like Ulysses S. Grant considered Stanton a coward and a bully, who was unashamed to use political power for partisan enforcement and personal preservation.… (more)
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In as much as Edwin Stanton is inevitably a controversial figure, I was curious as to learn more about the man and how he handled his war-time role. Well, William Marvel has much more to tell you about Stanton; mostly that every bad thing ever written about Lincoln's Secretary of War was true. This book goes so much for the throat that at a certain point I had to settle back and wonder why I should take such a slash-and-burn examination of Stanton's life seriously. To put it another way this is very much a history of Stanton's political and legal intrigues, which were many, but Marvel really doesn't answer in a satisfactory fashion my main question; was Stanton, for all his faults, an indispensable man? The implication is certainly no, but having learned more about Marvel's own feelings on the general course of the war since I made my initial statements I'm having to further discount this book. In the argument over whether the Civil War, or slavery, was the Great American Tragedy, Marvel is in the first camp and I'm in the second. At the very least this is not going to be the last word on Stanton. ( )
  Shrike58 | Dec 2, 2015 |
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Edwin M. Stanton (1814-1869), one of the nineteenth century's most impressive legal and political minds, wielded enormous influence and power as Lincoln's secretary of war during most of the Civil War and under Johnson during the early years of Reconstruction. In the first full biography of Stanton in more than fifty years, William Marvel offers a detailed reexamination of Stanton's life, career, and legacy. Marvel argues that while Stanton was a formidable advocate and politician, his character was hardly benign. Climbing from a difficult youth to the pinnacle of power, Stanton used his authority--and the public coffers--to pursue political vendettas, and he exercised sweeping wartime powers with a cavalier disregard for civil liberties. Though Lincoln's ability to harness a cabinet with sharp divisions and strong personalities is widely celebrated, Marvel suggests that Stanton's tenure raises important questions about Lincoln's actual control over the executive branch. This insightful biography also reveals why men like Ulysses S. Grant considered Stanton a coward and a bully, who was unashamed to use political power for partisan enforcement and personal preservation.

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Stanton was quite brusque
In a hole he could put you
Cowardly lion

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Tantor Media

An edition of this book was published by Tantor Media.

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