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The sixth South Dakota Biography Series book
"Lincoln’s identification with the American West has always been heavily inferred. He championed the West throughout his public life. The Civil War and the absence of southern representatives in the federal Congress allowed Republicans to pass the Morrill Act in 1862 and a number of other acts that helped people and commercialized the American Far West. Richard W. Etulain’s Abraham Lincoln: A Western Legacy seeks to show more explicitly Lincoln’s relationship with the West."—The Imaginative Conservative
"Etulain contends few writers have specifically focused on Lincoln and the West and his easy writing style and firm grasp of recently published secondary sources make the book highly readable. . . . The premise behind Etulain's book is intriguing."—The Annals of Iowa
"Impressively informative and a work of meticulous and original scholarship, Abraham Lincoln: A Western Legacy is an extraordinary contribution to the growing library of Lincoln Studies and an unreservedly recommended addition to the personal reading lists of students, academia, and Abraham Lincoln history buffs. Simply stated, Abraham Lincoln should be a part of every community and college/university library 19th Century American History collection."—Midwest Book Review
Best remembered as the man who carried the United States through a civil war and emancipated four million slaves, Abraham Lincoln has been the subject of nearly seventeen thousand books. While historians have chronicled his life and presidency, they rarely go beyond his assassination by John Wilkes Booth on 14 April 1865 to look at his legacy in the American West.
Abraham Lincoln: A Western Legacy reveals how the sixteenth president shaped the country beyond the Mississippi River. Having grown up on the frontier and taken part in its political development, Lincoln often turned his attention westward after becoming president. By overseeing policies such as the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railroad Act and making key political appointments, Lincoln opened American Indian lands to settlers who forever changed the landscape and laid the foundation for the region’s modern politics and identity.
Author Richard W. Etulain focuses on Lincoln’s role in remaking the West while providing a concise overview of his life. He also advances Lincoln scholarship by looking at efforts to memorialize the president in the decades following his assassination. Etulain’s original research, including his use of correspondence between local figures such as Senator Peter Norbeck and historian Doane Robinson, provides unique insight into the discussions that led to Lincoln’s immortalization on a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Abraham Lincoln: A Western Legacy is the first book in the Mount Rushmore Subseries of the South Dakota Biography Series highlighting the presidents depicted on the national memorial and other figures connected with its history.