"In Lincoln and Citizenship, Steiner explores how Lincoln’s views on the obligations and privileges of citizenship changed as he progressed from frontier legislator to wartime president. . .Steiner offers a reasoned, well-researched, and succinct assessment of Lincoln’s view of citizenship, a complex concept in a rapidly changing era."—S. J. Ramold, CHOICE
"Steiner's analysis is deeply rooted in primary sources, and these sources are more accessible than ever before. . .Laudably, Lincoln and Citizenship quotes Lincoln extensively. Readers come away from this book confident in the knowledge that they have read a fair sample of Lincoln's own words regarding citizenship."—Kelley Boston Clausing, The Annals of Iowa
“Mark E. Steiner’s book offers a sophisticated examination of the way African American abolitionists and community leaders pressured President Lincoln to recognize their citizenship rights. By placing Lincoln’s views on colonization within the context of his evolving ideas about race and nation, Steiner’s analysis is an important and much-needed contribution to scholarship on Abraham Lincoln.”—Ousmane K. Power-Greene, author of Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle against the Colonization Movement
“This volume brings together in a highly useful, concise way decades of scholarship on Lincoln and citizenship and manages to add new insights and details as well. This is the starting point for any study of Lincoln and race, Lincoln and rights, and, of course, Lincoln and citizenship.”—Michael Vorenberg, author of Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment
“Steiner's welcome volume provides a crisp, lucid account of Lincoln's political evolution. Steiner reveals that Lincoln's broad ‘creedal’ conception of natural rights, grounded in the Declaration of Independence, was in tension with his narrow view of civil and political rights; Steiner then accounts for the contingent factors that moved Lincoln from the Republican party's mainstream in 1860 into its vanguard in 1865, when Lincoln issued his unprecedented call for black suffrage. With its nuanced treatment of immigration and race relations, this accessible book is both an excellent overview for students and an insightful, original contribution to Lincoln scholarship.”—Elizabeth R. Varon, author of Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War
“An attorney, law professor, immigration specialist, former associate editor of the Lincoln Legal Papers, and author of the best book on Lincoln’s legal career, Mark E. Steiner is uniquely qualified to describe and analyze Lincoln’s evolving views of citizenship. Because that subject has been inadequately treated by previous historians, this thoroughly researched, convincingly argued book is an especially welcome addition to the Lincoln literature.”—Michael Burlingame, editor of Sixteenth President-in-Waiting: Abraham Lincoln and the Springfield Dispatches of Henry Villard, 1860–1861
“In this well-written work, Steiner traces the development of Lincoln’s racial policies from a moderate antislavery position to his final support for Black voting rights. Along the way he also covers Lincoln’s thinking on other aspects of citizenship, including access to the federal courts, state racial codes, immigration, and gender. The author has made a major contribution to scholarship on the development of Lincoln’s political thought.”—Burrus M. Carnahan, author of Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War
“Mark Steiner’s book offers a comprehensive analysis of Lincoln’s changing views on the meaning of American citizenship. Lincoln and Citizenship explores the changing relationship between citizenship and suffrage. Relying on Lincoln’s words, this copiously researched study connects Lincoln’s changing views on the meaning of citizenship to the developing views of Americans.”—Charles M. Hubbard, editor of Lincoln, the Law, and Presidential Leadership
— -