BOOK REVIEWS
Lincoln the President: Springfield to
Gettysburg. By J. G. Ran-
dall. (New York, Dodd, Mead &
Company, 1945. 2v. $7.50.)
Although biographies of Abraham Lincoln
have been written
in great profusion, this work, based on
documentary sources and
a reevaluation of previously published
materials, offers what might
be termed a "revisionist"
point of view, or more properly, a res-
toration of historical truth. The
author, conceiving his purpose
as both biography and history, has
employed the laboratory
technique of modern historians in
challenging certain myths and
misconceptions surrounding Lincoln and
the Lincoln era.
The author traces the career of Lincoln
from his early days
in Springfield to Gettysburg. Against a
background of the political,
social, and economic conditions of the
period, the author rapidly
reviews Lincoln's service in the
Illinois legislature (1834-41), out-
lines his undistinguished service in
Congress (1847-49), restudies
his life with Mary Lincoln, and sketches
his success as a practicing
attorney. It is shown that Lincoln's
backwoods setting and rail-
splitting were of much less significance
than his cultural associa-
tions. Because of his aristocratic
marriage and his partnership
with the socially prominent John Todd
Stuart, his political oppo-
nents soon labeled him as a candidate of
"pride, wealth, and family
distinction." Indeed, by the
forties and fifties he was one of the
outstanding lawyers in Illinois
rendering service to, and collecting
substantial fees from such concerns as
the Illinois Central Railroad.
Lincoln's retirement from Congress and
his return to the
practice of law marked a period of
political frustration in his
career. The revival of the sectional
controversy, occasioned by the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, made
him the logical oppo-
nent of Stephen A. Douglas for the
Illinois senatorship. In dis-
cussing Lincoln's oratorical contest
with Douglas, Mr. Randall is
inclined to believe that Douglas'
popular sovereignty doctrine was
the correct solution of the territorial
problem. The debates, it ap-
pears, added little to a clarification
of the sectional issue.
189
190 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Adequate attention is devoted to
Lincoln's defeat for the
Senate and his subsequent nomination for
the Presidency and elec-
tion to that office. The Illinoian's
conservative position concerning
the sectional issue proved to be a
valuable asset to the party man-
agers and political strategists at the
Chicago convention. In
addition, because of Lincoln's liberal
views, as evidenced by his
opposition to political nativism, his
selection as the standard bearer
would not only be acceptable to the rank
and file in the party, but
would add genuine strength to the
Republican cause in the North-
west.
In discussing the coming of the Civil
War the author con-
cludes that the territorial issue and
the rendition of fugitive slaves
were inadequate grievances to produce a
crisis resulting in seces-
sion. Evidence seems to indicate that a
psychological malady in
sectional relationships had developed
and few at the South at-
tempted to analyze the so-called evil
consequences apprehended at
the hands of a Republican
administration. Yet on the eve of seces-
sion many Union-loving southerners, with
Whig antecedents,
readily admitted that the election of
Abraham Lincoln offered
neither a threat to the institution of
slavery nor a cause for the
dissolution of the Union. It is
significant to note that in the course
of events even the issue of abolition in
the territories was a cam-
paign appeal rather than a guide for
legislation. This contention
is borne out by the action of Congress
in organizing the territories
of Colorado, Nevada, and Dakota
(February-March, 1861) when
the squatter sovereignty principle was
substituted for the restric-
tive doctrine of the Republican party.
Throughout the period Lincoln is shown
to have been a con-
servative, who, although opposed to the
extension of slavery, dis-
trusted both the abolitionists of New
England and secessionists of
the old South. He was prepared to defend
the constitutional rights
of the South which included, among other
things, non-intervention
with the peculiar institution within the
states, and displayed a
"marked preference for non-drastic
measures in the realm of
slavery and sectional adjustment."
The war years present a picture of
waste, speculation, and
inefficiency in high places. This
inefficiency was occasioned, in
BOOK REVIEWS 191
part, by the appointment of cabinet
members to satisfy pre-
convention pledges made in Lincoln's
behalf, factional disagree-
ments within the party, and by actual
disloyalty within the official
family as a spirit of vindictiveness
swept the North. Lincoin was
forced to revise the opinions of
secretaries, assume the direction
of foreign affairs, and the direction of
military operations in the
field. In the latter instance, the Chief
Executive often proved to
be a source of embarrassment both to the
Secretary of War and
the commanders in the field.
Few, if any, will regret a restatement
or reevaluation of the
services of General McClellan who proved
to be a master of tactics
and was an important factor in
consolidating the incongruous
forces of the North into a trained Union
army. Not all will agree,
however, that the general's bearing
toward the Chief Executive
was "proper and respectful,"
or that the "Harrison Bar Letter"
was entirely appropriate. But even here
Mr. Randall concedes that
McClellan "may have failed in tact
or political aptness." It is
shown that McClellan's dismissal on the
eve of a renewed pen-
insular campaign was a direct result of
pressure politics.
In treating the matter of emancipation,
the author destroys
the unhistorical picture of Lincoln
"sitting in the White House
and suddenly striking the shackles from
millions of bondmen at a
stroke of the presidential pen."
The preliminary and final procla-
mations were issued as war measures in
the interest of preserving
the Union and were not, in any sense, a
direct result of Lincoln's
moral or personal feelings.
The volumes end with a penetrating
analysis of the Gettys-
burg memorial ceremonies. The President
took advantage of the
event to pay tribute to those who had
fallen and to express the
political idea uppermost in his own
mind: "the wider world
significance of democracy's testing, the
enduring importance of
success in the American democratic
experiment as proving that
government by the people is no
failure."
It should be clear at this point that
Mr. Randall has made a
substantial contribution to historical
scholarship and to the under-
standing of Abraham Lincoln. His
treatment is, at all times,
judicious and impartial. At the touch of
Mr. Randall's pen Lincoln
192
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
becomes a living person: a husband,
father, attorney, and politician
who "knew the ways of politicians,
the manner in which things
are arranged among leaders, the give and
take of party maneuver."
If one were to find fault with this
excellent biography it would
be the author's tendency, in isolated
instances, to weigh evidence
at the expense of a nice synthesis and
correlation of facts. This
cannot be interpreted to mean, however,
that the author fails to
present new conclusions or to disagree
with the conclusions of
previous biographers. Then, too, one
should like to know some-
thing of Lincoln's attitude toward such
matters as Civil War
prisoners and Civil War prisons. This
material was, perhaps.
purposely omitted as the author
announces his intention to publish
a companion work to deal with further
aspects of Lincoln the
President. Since this material is
available in his excellent study of
the Civil War and Reconstruction, the
omission is not of serious
moment.
The volumes are well-printed,
attractively bound, thoroughly
documented; contain a fifty-seven page
bibliography, maps, photo-
graphs, an appendix, and an adequate
index. Mr. Randall is to
be complimented upon his placing the
materials relating to Ann
Rutledge in an appendix.
J. O. M.
Lake Ontario. By Arthur Pound. The American Lakes Series.
Edited by Milo M. Quaife. (Indianapolis,
Bobbs-Merrill
Company, 1945. 384p. $3.50.)
Mr. Pound, former state historian of New
York, has written
an entertaining account of the smallest
of the five great lakes and
of the surrounding territory with its
euphonious Indian names--
Oswego, Oneida, Onondaga and Ontario.
This region was the
home of the Five Nations, the Iroquois
Confederation which
dominated the entire area and figured so
largely in the wars and
politics of the British and French as
these European nations ex-
panded into the lake area. The author
gives an interesting ac-
count of the various Indian tribes and
advances the theory that
the Hurons and Iroquois, originally one
people, migrated from
BOOK REVIEWS 193
the Southwest northward through the
Mound Builder territory
in Ohio and on to the eastern lakes
country.
Lake Ontario is very deep, but more than
two thirds of its
waters lie below sea level so that
surface disturbances are not so
quick to rise on this lake as on the
others. Mr. Pound describes
the lake and the lands around it
interestingly and with evident
personal pleasure. His chapter on
Niagara Falls and the sensa-
tion seekers who have braved its waters
is entertaining.
It has been Lake Ontario's fate, as
compared to the other
lakes, to be always left behind in the
main stream of commerce
and migration from east to west. Her
geographical position has
made it necessary for all the railroads
and canals and natural
arteries of commerce to be built just
far enough south of her
shores to leave her sitting quietly by.
Lake Ontario's southern
harbors are open two weeks or more
earlier than the ports of the
other lakes and the Welland Canal has
been expanded to accom-
modate large ships. Most of the traffic,
however, is from north
to south across the lake rather than
from west to east in the main
flow of commerce.
During the seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries, Lake
Ontario was important as the highway
over which the French
traveled to dominate the Iroquois tribes
and maintain French
power in the interior. Mr. Pound gives
the impression that after
this early period of expansion and the
colonial wars, Lake On-
tario was left to develop more or less
alone. This she has done
very successfully with such world famous
industries as Eastman
Kodak and Bausch and Lomb at Rochester,
huge power plants
at Niagara and on the Canadian side,
pleasant resort towns all
around the lake shores, and thriving
Toronto and Kingston on
the Canadian shore. The author's
chapters on the development
of British policy and government in
Canada are particularly in-
teresting.
Mr. Pound has written in a very lively
and entertaining
style and makes the reader feel the
dynamic forces present in the
development of this region. Some may
think he has devoted too
much space to the colonial wars and the
exciting incidents which
occurred on and around the lake in that
period; his treatment
194
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
tends to leave the reader with the
feeling that Lake Ontario's life
ended with the mid-nineteenth century.
However, he has handled
his material in such a scholarly and
entertaining way that Lake
Ontario is a most welcome addition to the American Lakes Se-
ries. This volume has a comprehensive index and excellent
pic-
tures, some of which, however, are
inserted without particular
reference to the text. M. G. S.
The Correspondence of Bayard Taylor
and Paul Hamilton Hayne.
Edited with an introduction and notes by
Charles Duffy.
(Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University
Press, 1945. IIIp.
$2.00.)
This book, published in November, 1945,
is an editing of the
correspondence between Hayne and Taylor
covering the period
of 1859 to 1878. Twenty-seven letters by
Hayne to Taylor are
here produced for the first time and
nineteen letters by Taylor to
Hayne, four of which have never been
published previously and
eight only in fragmentary form. Their
chief value is in their
reflecting contrasts between the two men
of letters, one from the
North and the other from the South,
during the post-war period.
The originals of the Hayne's letters are
in the Bayard Taylor
Collection at Cornell University. The
Taylor letters come from
scattered sources. The editor is
associated with the University
of Akron. H. L.
The United States: 1865-1900: A
Survey of Current Litera-
ture with Abstracts of Unpublished
Dissertations. Edited
by Curtis W. Garrison, Roger W. Shugg, et
al. Vol. III.
(Fremont, Ohio, The Rutherford B.
Hayes-Lucy Webb
Hayes Foundation, 1945. vii + 403 p.
Front.)
Recently Dr. Clarence P. Gould, of
Youngstown College,
challenged the historical profession
with an essay, entitled "His-
tory--A Science?" published in the
December, 1945, issue of the
Mississippi Valley Historical Review.
He charges that history
as it is written today is in general
"worthless antiquarianism."
Historians, he points out, "have
not assumed the duty of inter-
preting their history into general laws,
forecasts of the future,
BOOK REVIEWS 195
or practical policies. . . . They are in
no way seeking any con-
crete values in the past they
study." The book review, he main-
tains, should work as a check upon the
scientific historian's pro-
duction. Out of repeated writings,
checking, and re-checking,
values and policies in human affairs can
be discovered.
From this point of view the United
States: 1865-1900 is a
valuable aid to American historians. But
it can be more worth-
while.
I find, in reading the editor's prefatory statement, that
the meaning of the word
"contribution" as applied to assessing
historical writings is vague. The editor
recognizes this fact him-
self in his statement, and promises that
in volume V he will try
to produce a "cumulative volume,
going into the problem of
knowledge from an academic and also from
a civic point of
view."
The goal of the Hayes Foundation's Survey
is an eminently
worthy one. That is, by statement and by
implication, to achieve
an evaluation of historical production
in a definite field. Out of
such an evaluation should come the
elimination of worthless writ-
ings, the provision of a source for the
meat of contributions, and
the enforcement of standards in
historical research and writing.
But the goal has not been reached in any
of the three volumes,
for there are not sufficient common
values for judgment. This
is no charge that the Survey is
useless. It is worthwhile as a
classified bibliography; its
appraisements add further checks to
the reviews in professional journals;
and its introductory essays
and other features offer valuable
historical data.
Perhaps the Hayes Foundation, with its
good start, has the
opportunity to do a real experiment in
historical criticism. Cer-
tainly some foundation or institution
ought to start the ball roll-
ing. This calls for an analysis and
re-interpretation of the pur-
poses of history in terms of the modern
world. If the only aim
of history is to dig the facts of the
past out of dirty, musty attics,
and to fit those facts into a jig-saw
puzzle of the past, then the
appraiser's job is little more than an
investigation of the author's
railroad tickets, his work clothes, and
his ability to read and
write. These will reveal his sources,
the thoroughness of his
searches, and his talent and efficiency.
196
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
If, on the other hand, the historian's
purpose is to analyze
the past and present in terms of the
future conduct of human af-
fairs, as Dr. Gould suggests, then the
appraiser must fix his crit-
ical apparatus upon new standards.
It may be, from the point of view of
modern knowledge, that
one of the higher standards of criticism
is the social utility of a
study. The question may be, "Is a
writing a mere catalog of
fact and inter-relation, or does it
achieve as well the role of guide
and leader in human affairs?" Dr. Gould has pointed out that,
whether the historian intends it or not,
the public draws upon
history in determining the rules and
values in human relation-
ships. The result, as the historian
knows, is often misquotation
or misunderstanding of facts and
misinterpretation of the rela-
tionships of those facts. If the
historian can recognize this, then
he must be capable of providing the
guidance and leadership so
sorely needed.
To play a useful role in the educational
field, to fulfill his
responsibilities to society, to
guarantee his own livelihood, the
historian may have to broaden his sights
and give more practical
assistance in political and economic
life. These are considera-
tions for any reviewer or institution
whose project is the ap-
praisement of historical research and
writings. J. H. R.
Plainville, U. S. A. By James West. (New York. Columbia
University Press, 1945. 238p. $2.75.)
Under the pseudonym "James
West", one of America's an-
thropologists, Carl Withers, writes an
analysis of everyday life
in a typical rural American community.
The materials on which
the hook is based were collected between
June, 1939, and August,
1940, and during July and August, 1941,
as part of a larger re-
search project on acculturation,
financed by the Social Science
Research Council of Columbia University,
and directed by Pro-
fessor Ralph Linton. chairman of the
Department of Anthro-
pology.
More than a year was spent in a small
town in the middle of
the United States collecting material
which the author has used
BOOK REVIEWS 197
effectively, not statistically, not
academically, but informally and
descriptively. Many mid-western towns
were examined, but re-
jected in the author's search for
Plainville, U. S. A., until one
day, quite by accident, he found such a
place. It answered all
his research requirements. It was a
community quite unspoiled
by many modern forces which have so
materially and spiritually
changed countless former
Plainvilles. His first reaction to Plain-
ville was that life there was simple
indeed, and that there was free
exchange with little or no complexities,
but the twentieth century
had made more inroads than the author
anticipated. He had to
work fast, for even then a new highway
was contemplated which
would border Plainville and connect it
with the larger towns and
cities on the "outside." Erosive agents were already at work
breaking down and changing a social
structure which had been
so common to so many rural American
towns. The author, how-
ever, seems to take sly delight in this
discovery, and makes the
most of it.
The automobile, the mail-order
catalogue, the vocational agri-
culture teacher, the W. P. A., Mr. West
felt were some of the
erosive forces at work in Plainville.
These are only a few which
he treats interestingly and in great
detail, almost microscopically
analytical. Month after month was spent
interviewing people of
all classes and walks of rural and
semi-urban life, people of the
neighboring hill as well as the prairie
country. Mr. West's
greatest single problem was in gaining
the confidence of his sub-
jects. Hours were spent with farmers,
the garage man, the local
barber, the ministers, the banker, the
storekeeper, the school
teachers, and countless other folk who
made the warp and woof
of the village. All were questioned and
drawn out in conversa-
tion. There is scarcely a facet of
Plainville life which Mr. West
hasn't carefully searched and reported.
He takes the Plainville
citizen from the "cradle to the
grave."
The hook, of course, is written
primarily for the anthropolo-
gist, the social scientist, the
geographer, the historian, and those
general readers interested in rural
people. It also touches on
related fields of psychology, rural
economics, and folk-lore. West
198
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
paints the Plainville canvas in a candid
style, portraying the con-
stant dissonance emerging from the
community's attempt to rise
to the harmony of modern times.
The author tells the reader that
"education" is Plainville's
greatest need. "Since there are millions of 'Plainvillers' in
America, the problem of Plainville is
the problem of America."
R. C. W.
The Adena People. By Win. S. Webb and Charles E. Snow.
University of Kentucky Reports in
Anthropology and Archae-
ology. Vol. VI. (Lexington, University of Kentucky, 1945.
369p. Illus. $3.00.)
The Adena Indians who lived in the Ohio
Valley region per-
haps one thousand years ago were a
people of medium stature
with broad heads which were flattened in
back. This flattening
resulted from the practice of the people
of binding the heads of
their babies to a cradle board. These
people buried their rulers
or important personages in log tombs,
but cremated the remains
of the common people. Burials were
commonly made on the
floors of houses and covered with small
mounds. The houses
were then destroyed by burning, and
larger mounds were erected
over the entire house area. These
Indians apparently practiced
agriculture to a considerable extent,
raising corn, sunflower seed,
squash and tobacco. They made pottery,
used copper for orna-
ments and wove cloth from vegetal fibers
using a number of
weaving techniques.
All of these facts, and many others, are
brought out by the
authors of the latest archaeological
publication of the University
of Kentucky. Webb and Snow present a
comprehensive picture
of the Adena Culture as it occurs in
Kentucky and attempt to
establish the theory that this culture
was ancestral to the Hopewell
Culture of Ohio. It is the first general
account of the Adena
Culture to appear since Greenman's
analysis of 1932, and contains
a great deal of new information
resulting from recent explora-
tions and research. For the first time a
complete study of the
Adena skeletal material has been made
and the results presented
to the public in a series of charts,
tables and photographs. Snow
BOOK REVIEWS 199
also measured and observed all of the
Ohio Hopewell skeletal
material preserved in the Ohio State
Museum and in other insti-
tutions. This study shows that Hopewell
Man was basically a
tall, long-headed individual of a type
genetically distinct from
Adena Man. About fifteen percent of the
Hopewell skulls, how-
ever, were similar to the Adena in being
broad or round headed.
The authors interpret these facts to
indicate that the Adena
Peoples mixed with the Hopewell Peoples
and that the resultant
culture was not only mixed physically,
but that it came mainly
from Adena sources. A considerable part
of the volume is de-
voted to assembling material pertaining
to the Hopewell Culture
in an effort to show that it developed
from the Adena Culture.
Some of the Kentucky Adena sites
contained objects of Hopewell
type which seems to show that Early
Hopewell was contempo-
raneous with Late Adena. The volume also
includes a section by
James B. Griffin on Adena pottery and
its relationship to Hope-
well pottery and to pottery of other
cultures in the southeastern
United States. His ceramic studies do
not support some of the
conclusions of the main authors.
The authors hold that the Adena People
migrated from Cen-
tral America or Mexico, bringing with
them the general Adena
assemblage of traits, and that in Ohio
they became mixed with
the Hopewell Peoples and that the
culture that resulted was
basically Adena in origin. The reviewer
does not accept these
conclusions as established, for many of
the basic Adena traits
seem to be of Northern Woodland origin
as Griffin points out
for the pottery complex. The Adena and
Hopewell cultures have
certain traits in common, but that the
Hopewell Culture owes its
basic traits to Adena and that it grew
out of Adena is a theory
that has not been proved by the authors.
Although the volume is marred by
numerous typographical
errors, by errors of fact and interpretation,
and by repetition of
material, it is a valuable contribution
to the archaeology of the
region for it offers a new over-all
picture of the Adena Culture.
It is a book which will be a standard
reference for archaeologists
as well as one which will offer much of
interest to the general
reader. R. G. M.
BOOK REVIEWS
Lincoln the President: Springfield to
Gettysburg. By J. G. Ran-
dall. (New York, Dodd, Mead &
Company, 1945. 2v. $7.50.)
Although biographies of Abraham Lincoln
have been written
in great profusion, this work, based on
documentary sources and
a reevaluation of previously published
materials, offers what might
be termed a "revisionist"
point of view, or more properly, a res-
toration of historical truth. The
author, conceiving his purpose
as both biography and history, has
employed the laboratory
technique of modern historians in
challenging certain myths and
misconceptions surrounding Lincoln and
the Lincoln era.
The author traces the career of Lincoln
from his early days
in Springfield to Gettysburg. Against a
background of the political,
social, and economic conditions of the
period, the author rapidly
reviews Lincoln's service in the
Illinois legislature (1834-41), out-
lines his undistinguished service in
Congress (1847-49), restudies
his life with Mary Lincoln, and sketches
his success as a practicing
attorney. It is shown that Lincoln's
backwoods setting and rail-
splitting were of much less significance
than his cultural associa-
tions. Because of his aristocratic
marriage and his partnership
with the socially prominent John Todd
Stuart, his political oppo-
nents soon labeled him as a candidate of
"pride, wealth, and family
distinction." Indeed, by the
forties and fifties he was one of the
outstanding lawyers in Illinois
rendering service to, and collecting
substantial fees from such concerns as
the Illinois Central Railroad.
Lincoln's retirement from Congress and
his return to the
practice of law marked a period of
political frustration in his
career. The revival of the sectional
controversy, occasioned by the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, made
him the logical oppo-
nent of Stephen A. Douglas for the
Illinois senatorship. In dis-
cussing Lincoln's oratorical contest
with Douglas, Mr. Randall is
inclined to believe that Douglas'
popular sovereignty doctrine was
the correct solution of the territorial
problem. The debates, it ap-
pears, added little to a clarification
of the sectional issue.
189