In 1994, Merrill D. Peterson published his revealing book,Lincoln in American Memory. Most appropriately, he entitled his first chapter, “Apotheosis,” and followed by tracing the deification of the Great Emancipator after his martyr’s death.¹ Whether Lincoln’s reputation was in any way comparable while he was still alive is a question that remans to be answered.

Some fifty years earlier, J. G. Randall, the famous Lincoln biographer, in an article entitled, “The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln,” concluded that his hero was largely unappreciated during his lifetime. He wrote:

For in the eyes of contemporaries Lincoln was a President who offended conservatives...

Thus, while Lincoln’s comparative lack of recognition in the East has often been asserted, he had long been a source of interest for those who watched political developments. When Springfield Republicans in January 1860 organized a Lincoln Club in order to further his quest for the presidential nomination and passed a resolution asserting that they regarded Abraham Lincoln as the “expounder and defender of sound National Republican principles,” they were not merely promoting a local celebrity.¹ Two weeks later, Lincoln heard from a Washington friend that his candidacy for either president or vice president was very much alive in that...

If Lincoln was neither totally unknown nor generally disliked prior to his inauguration, his assumption of office certainly made the country familiar with his views afterward, and while his popularity, like that of all presidents, experienced its ups and downs, a number of people were impressed with him from the very beginning.

His inaugural address, in which he disavowed any aggressive intentions and reaffirmed his support of the Constitution, was generally well received. ThePhiladelphia Inquirerconsidered it “in admirable tone and temper” and added that “no man can read it without being convinced that the new President is a...

One of Lincoln’s greatest gifts was his uncanny sense of timing. Knowing exactly when to launch a new measure so that it might be adopted, he habitually chose the proper moment to advance administration programs. As Karl Marx observed, “President Lincoln never ventures a step forward before the tide of circumstances and the call of general public opinion forbids further delay. But once ‘Old Abe’ has convinced himself that such a turning point has been reached, he then surprises friend and foe alike by a sudden operation executed as noiselessly as possible.”¹ The choice of fewer than 40 percent of...

In the year 1863, the nation—as well as the chief executive—was confronted first with defeat, and then with victory, interrupted once again by a setback, but finally ending in the victory at Chattanooga. Notwithstanding the reverses, however, Lincoln’s reputation remained favorable and rose with each new military success.

As early as January 11, the Philadelphia Union League called for the president’s renomination. In the House of Representatives, Ohio Representative John A. Bingham defended him against Vallandigham’s incessant attacks, and Wisconsin’s James Doolittle did the same in the Senate by answering Lazarus W. Powell’s complaints about military arrests: “The...

According to Nathan I. Arnold’s recollections, early in 1864 a newspaper editor asked Thaddeus Stevens to introduce him to some member of Congress friendly to Lincoln. Stevens took him to Arnold and said, “Here’s a man who wants to find a Lincoln member of Congress. You are the only one I know.” Even though Arnold disputed this assertion and responded that he knew many, the statement has been repeated through the years.¹ Yet it is far from the truth. Congressman after congressman defended Lincoln against attacks at the time, and the very fact that his renomination was correctly considered certain...

After his reelection, Lincoln enjoyed an unprecedented period of increasing popularity. The war was coming to a victorious close, so that it became ever more difficult for his opponents to charge him with inability to overcome the rebellion. Of course it all ended with his assassination, which almost immediately made him a national hero.

The praise started immediately. In the crowd listening to the president’s acknowledgement of a serenade on November 10, an old man was heard to exclaim. “God is good to us; He has again given us as a ruler a sublime specimen of his noblest work—an...