Lincoln's Resolute Unionist

Hamilton Gamble, Dred Scott Dissenter and Missouri's Civil War Governor

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877), Biography & Memoir, Historical
Cover of the book Lincoln's Resolute Unionist by Dennis K. Boman, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dennis K. Boman ISBN: 9780807148587
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: August 1, 2006
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Dennis K. Boman
ISBN: 9780807148587
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: August 1, 2006
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

As provisional governor of Missouri during the Civil War, Hamilton Gamble (1798--1864) worked closely with the Lincoln administration to keep the state from seceding from the Union. Without Gamble and other loyal Unionist governors, the war in the West might have been lost. Dennis Boman's full-scale account of Gamble's life tells the little-known story of a prominent frontier lawyer who became chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and boldly dissented in the infamous Dred Scott decision. Revealing how Gamble, one of the wealthiest and most renowned citizens of pre--Civil War Missouri, fought to end slavery and to protect the integrity of the Union, Lincoln's Resolute Unionist corrects prevailing notions about solidarity among the South's antebellum elite on these issues.
The slaveholding border state of Missouri figured greatly in the sectional crisis from the time of its controversial admission to the Union up through the war itself, when it was the site of internecine battles between Unionists and Confederates. The complexities of the period and of the political alliances formed then emerge clearly in Boman's biography of Gamble. A fundamental conservatism -- Gamble believed judges should interpret, not make, law -- led the southern slave owner to dissent from his colleagues' proslavery decision in Scott v. Emerson. These same principles, along with Gamble's Whig affiliation and Christian convictions, made firm his antisecessionist stance despite his proslavery predilections.
Boman provides a groundbreaking analysis of Lincoln's involvement in Missouri's affairs, including his assistance to Gamble in maintaining security and passing a state ordinance for gradual emancipation. Lincoln's Resolute Unionist brings to light in a compelling fashion the meaning -- and the drama -- of the life of a key figure at a critical time in American history.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As provisional governor of Missouri during the Civil War, Hamilton Gamble (1798--1864) worked closely with the Lincoln administration to keep the state from seceding from the Union. Without Gamble and other loyal Unionist governors, the war in the West might have been lost. Dennis Boman's full-scale account of Gamble's life tells the little-known story of a prominent frontier lawyer who became chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and boldly dissented in the infamous Dred Scott decision. Revealing how Gamble, one of the wealthiest and most renowned citizens of pre--Civil War Missouri, fought to end slavery and to protect the integrity of the Union, Lincoln's Resolute Unionist corrects prevailing notions about solidarity among the South's antebellum elite on these issues.
The slaveholding border state of Missouri figured greatly in the sectional crisis from the time of its controversial admission to the Union up through the war itself, when it was the site of internecine battles between Unionists and Confederates. The complexities of the period and of the political alliances formed then emerge clearly in Boman's biography of Gamble. A fundamental conservatism -- Gamble believed judges should interpret, not make, law -- led the southern slave owner to dissent from his colleagues' proslavery decision in Scott v. Emerson. These same principles, along with Gamble's Whig affiliation and Christian convictions, made firm his antisecessionist stance despite his proslavery predilections.
Boman provides a groundbreaking analysis of Lincoln's involvement in Missouri's affairs, including his assistance to Gamble in maintaining security and passing a state ordinance for gradual emancipation. Lincoln's Resolute Unionist brings to light in a compelling fashion the meaning -- and the drama -- of the life of a key figure at a critical time in American history.

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book The Mexican War Diary and Correspondence of George B. McClellan by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Inside the Carnival by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Freedom's Seekers by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Moroccan Households in the World Economy by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Making the Poem by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book A History of French Louisiana by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Gateway to the Confederacy by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book The Cabinetmaker's Window by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Lee's Tigers Revisited by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Galaxie Wagon by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Marital Cruelty in Antebellum America by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Eve's Enlightenment by Dennis K. Boman
Cover of the book Lee In the Shadow of Washington by Dennis K. Boman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy