How do people think of Abraham Lincoln today? What if his life hadn’t been cut short?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In And There Was Light<\/em>, Jon Meacham breaks down the myths and legends surrounding America’s 16th president. He seeks to present a fair and honest account of Abraham Lincoln’s life and concludes with what he believes is a balanced view of the president’s legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continue reading to learn about the weighty and complex issues entailed in Abraham Lincoln\u2019s legacy\u2014and decide for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Broadly speaking, people think of Abraham Lincoln in one of two ways: as the Great Emancipator who saved the United States and ensured freedom for all its people or as a tyrant who overstepped his authority and forced Northern ideology onto the South. Meacham says the truth of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy is somewhere in the middle. Lincoln was a political moderate, a negotiator, and a peacemaker at heart, yet willing to fight passionately for what he believed in.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s unclear whether there was anything Lincoln could have done to prevent the Civil War, short of allowing the Union to split and the Confederacy to secede. It\u2019s equally unclear what the outcome would have been if he\u2019d lived long enough to enact his plans for Reconstruction. But Meacham says it is<\/em> clear that Lincoln is remembered as one of the most famous and influential American presidents\u2014the man who guided the United States through its greatest crisis to date\u2014and that his work was left tragically unfinished.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAbraham Lincoln\u2019s Legacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n