Join celebrated historian and author Dr. Jonathan Earle for a conversation with award-winning journalist David von Drehle about Earle’s new book, He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860, a bold new analysis of one of the most pivotal elections in American history.
When John Brown’s men stormed Harpers Ferry in the fall of 1859, the compromises that had held the country together for decades came undone. The 1860 election was no longer about who would be president — it was about how soon war would follow the inauguration.
Drawing on long-neglected documents, Earle captures the full drama of the race: how Lincoln outmaneuvered Democrat Stephen Douglas and presumptive Republican favorite William Henry Seward. Lincoln and his circle ran a brilliant campaign, harnessing Northern anger, rising antislavery sentiment, and deep fractures within both the Democratic Party and the country itself. His platform lived in his speeches — a vision of how the nation might endure the coming crisis—but behind the commanding rhetoric ran a sophisticated, strikingly modern political machine.
This program is offered in conjunction with semiquincentennial exhibition, Everyday Democracy: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in Johnson County.
This program is proudly offered in partnership with Johnson County Library. Books sales are generously provided by Rainy Day Books.
