Lincoln in the World

by Kevin Peraino

  15. Bailey, “America’s Emergence as a World Power,” p. 9; Carwardine, Lincoln, pp. 228, 250. Howard Jones’s studies of Lincoln and slavery in the diplomacy of the Civil War highlight the president’s success in infusing the Union effort with moral purpose at home while simultaneously removing “the major obstacle to a realistic foreign policy on both sides of the Atlantic.” (See Jones, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 87, 188.) See also Jones’s introduction to the Bison Books edition of Monaghan, p. xi. Gabor Boritt points out that Lincoln’s economic vision was intricately related to his moral sense: “For Lincoln these two grounds had always been the same: his political economy was an intensely moral science” (Boritt, Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream, p. 193). Stewart Winger observes that “Marx’s historical theory was clearly an urgent millennialist vision of world history, difficult to comprehend without the moral outrage that informed it” (Winger, Lincoln, Religion, and Romantic Cultural Politics, p. 52). For more on Lincoln and Marx, see Robin Blackburn’s recent book An Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary-source materials that also includes a 100-page introductory essay. Blackburn argues that “the Civil War and its sequel had a larger impact on Marx than is often realized—and, likewise, that the ideas of Marx and Engels had a greater impact on the United States … than is usually allowed” (Blackburn, Unfinished Revolution, pp. 1–100; the quote is on p. 5).

  16. For this sketch of Marx’s early life, I have drawn primarily on McLellan, Karl Marx: His Life and Thought (New York, 1973); McLellan, Karl Marx: Interviews and Recollections (Totowa, N.J., 1981); Gabriel, Love and Capital (New York, 2011); and Wheen, Karl Marx (New York, 1999). In this paragraph, see McLellan, Marx, pp. 1–2 (Mosel, vineyards), 17 (“disturbing the peace” and duel); and Gabriel, locs. 1143, 1383, 1402 (pistol and saber duels), 1443. The final quotation is from a letter to Marx from his father, Dec. 9, 1837, MECW, v. 1, p. 688.

  17. On Marx’s marriage, Gabriel’s Love and Capital is particularly insightful. McLellan, Marx, pp. 2–5 (Marx genealogy, father’s conversion), 15 (Earls of Argyll), 18 (physical description of Jenny). Karl Marx to Jenny Marx, Dec. 15, 1863, MECW, v. 41, p. 499; Jenny Marx to Karl Marx, [Aug. 1844,] MECW, v. 3, p. 584. See also KMIR, p. 1; and Wheen, pp. 16–17, 49.

  18. Lenore O’Boyle, “The Democratic Left in Germany, 1848,” p. 379, quoted in Gabriel, loc. 1649; McLellan, Marx, p. 46 (newspaper funding); KMIR, p. 3 (“powerful man of twenty-four”).

  19. McLellan, Marx, pp. 58, 59–61; Wheen, p. 44. See also Wheen’s forward in Marx, Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” x–xi.

  20. Wheen, pp. 75–76, 119; McLellan, Marx, p. 130; Gabriel, locs. 2489–2504.

  21. Marx and Engels, “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” in Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 473–83. See also Wheen, pp. 4–5.

  22. Gabriel, locs. 3421–58 (Switzerland to Sicily), and 3675 (171 newspapers); KMIR, p. 20 (daggers, revolvers); McLellan, Marx, p. 134.

  23. Gabriel, locs. 3857–70 (pistol, bayonets, etc.); Engels, “Marx and the Neue Rheinische Zeitung,” MECW, v. 26, p. 127; KMIR, p. 16 (“no journalist”). See also Wheen, pp. 130–46. The quotes are on pp. 131–32.

  24. On the sympathies of the Tribune see Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 793. For Dana in Europe see Wilson, Life of Charles A. Dana, pp. 62–92. The first quote is on p. 74 (“vain for barbarism”). The second quote, from the New-York Daily Tribune, Aug. 29, 1848, is in MAC, p. xv. For the first Marx-Dana meeting, see also Marx, Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” p. xvii.

  25. McLellan, Marx, pp. 226 (“Second Coming”) and 228 (“hellishly expensive”); KMIR, pp. xiv (“it’s a pity”), and 34–36 (Prussian intel report).

  26. McLellan, Karl Marx, pp. 232 (“secret propaganda society”), 236 (forming a newspaper); Engels to Marx, Feb. 13, 1851, MECW, v. 38, p. 289; Blitzer, “Introduction,” American Journalism of Marx and Engels, p. xvi (“ourselves alone”); Wheen, pp. 155 (teaching refugees), 180 (two pounds each); Blackburn, Unfinished Revolution, p. 3; KMIR, p. 43 (“electric spark”); Gabriel, locs. 4666–67 (scarf and monocle).

  27. Wheen, pp. 159 (sold their beds), 171 (nanny); KMIR, p. 25 (“less anxious” and “nagging daily worries”); Gabriel, loc. 5447.

  28. Howe, What Hath God Wrought, p. 305 (Hegel); McLellan, Marx, pp. 240–41 (“fulcrum of world commerce”); Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Jan. 7, 1849, in MAC, p. 12 (“moneybag republicans”); Marx to Engels, Oct. 13, 1851, in MAC, p. 37 (exhibition and “gold ore”); Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Jan.–Feb., 1850, in MAC, pp. 14–15 (“center of gravity”).

  29. Marx, Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” p. xx (“blotting-paper vendor”); Marx to Engels, Dec. 2, 1854, in MAC, pp. 40–41 (second-rate thinker); Blitzer, “Introduction,” American Journalism of Marx and Engels, p. xvii (18 foreign correspondents).

  30. Marx, Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” pp. 24–27 (China), 51–53 (Greek insurrection), 72–84 (Spanish revolution), 234–37 (Indian revolt); Lincoln to Charles Wilson, June 1, 1858, CWL, v. 2, pp. 456–57 (“extensively read”); Lincoln to Greeley, June 27, 1848, CWL, v. 1, p. 493 (wrote Greeley); Blitzer, “Introduction,” American Journalism of Marx and Engels, p. xx (more than 350); Herndon to Theodore Parker, Sept. 25, 1858, and Oct. 4, 1858, in Newton, Lincoln and Herndon, pp. 220–22 (on the Trib); Gabriel, loc. 5896 (byline on “front news page”). Robin Blackburn concludes that “it is likely that [Lincoln] read quite a few of the articles Marx wrote for the Tribune” (Blackburn, Unfinished Revolution, p. 4).

  31. McLellan, Marx, p. 284 (“newspaper muck”); Wheen, p. 170 (sleeping during day); KMIR, p. 35; MAC, pp. xvii (illegible scrawl and “letters”), and xviii (“decided opinions of his own” and “appropriated all my articles”).

  32. “By the outbreak of the [American Civil War],” writes R. J. M. Blackett, “the mechanisms for molding public opinion [in Britain] had long been established. The movement against West Indian slavery, for instance, had employed a combination of meetings, lectures, pamphlets, newspapers, agents, and petitions in its effort to frame public opinion and pressure Parliament to free the slaves. The agitation around the Civil War drew on this tradition, but it was complicated by the fact that, in this instance, the issues involved matters over which the British government had no direct control.” (Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 123. See also p. 169.) See also Monaghan, p. 47.

  33. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 579–85 (“planless, knotted chaos”); McLellan, Marx, p. 263 (convenient location); Wheen, p. 265 (stole); Gabriel, loc. 5216 (“great cotton lord”); Jenny Marx to Engels, Dec. 2, [1850,] MECW, v. 38, p. 250; KMIR, pp. xv–xvi (“There’s Frederick!”).

  34. McLellan, Marx, pp. 281 (“bubbling and boiling”), 262 (“hotting up”), 260 (Chartists), and 360 (withdrawn from politics). See also Marx, Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” pp. 49–50 (on the lookout).

  35. Wheen, pp. 219–22 (windfall, Moor, and pawnshop); KMIR, pp. 37 (“princely dwelling”), 99 (horse); Gabriel, loc. 6365 (St. Paul’s view); MAC, pp. xviii (“out of the muck”), and xix (“gebothert” and “lousy Yankees”).

  36. Marx, New York Daily Tribune, Oct. 19, 1853, quoted in Wheen, pp. 187–88 (“What he aims at”); Marx, Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” pp. 150 (“idol”), 191 (“vampyres”), 192 (“industrial slaveholders”), 196 (irresponsible).

  37. Marx to Engels, Jan. 11, 1860, in MAC, p. 247.

  38. Marx to Engels, July 11, 1861, in ibid., pp. 249–50; Marx to Lion Philips, May 6, 1861, in ibid., pp. 247–48 (“last card”). See also ibid., pp. xxii–xxiii.

  39. Marx to Engels, Jan. 1, 1860, in ibid., p. 247; Franklin, Emancipation Proclamation, pp. 1–8 (behind the times); “British Empire,” New Encyclopaedia Britannica (Micropaedia), v. 2, p. 529 (Britain bans).

  40. Jones and Rakestraw, eds., “Diplomacy of the Civil War,” in American Foreign Relations since 1600: A Guide to the Literature, p. 372 (property rights); Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, pp. 4–5 (racism and fi
rst quote); Lincoln to Orville Browning, Sept. 22, 1861, CWL, v. 4, p. 532.

  41. Lincoln, “Speech at Hartford, Conn.,” Mar. 5, 1860, CWL, v. 4, pp. 5–6, 10; Lincoln, “Remarks to Committee of Reformed Presbyterian Synod,” July 17, 1862, CWL, v. 5, pp. 327; Forney, Anecdotes of Public Men, v. 1, p. 265, in RW, p. 161.

  42. Franklin, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 14 (first inaugural); Foreman, World on Fire, p. 106 (Seward to his diplomats); Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, p. 17; Marx, “The American Question in England,” Oct. 11, 1861, in Dispatches for the “New York Tribune,” pp. 266–76.

  43. Marx and Engels, Civil War in the United States, pp. 27–31; Runkle, “Karl Marx and the American Civil War,” p. 122; Kempton, “K. Marx, Reporter,” p. 2; Mott, American Journalism, p. 216 (number of newspapers).

  44. See, for example, Holzer, “ ‘If I Had Another Face, Do You Think I’d Wear This One?’ ” p. 57; Burlingame, “Lincoln Spins the Press,” p. 65; and Carwardine, “Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth Estate,” p. 9.

  45. HL, pp. 231–32, 389; and Harper, Lincoln and the Press, pp. 18, 20, 45–46 (composing rooms); Monaghan, p. 16; and Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 196 (bought a printing press); RW, pp. 483 (“Greeley is so rotten”) and 498 (pumped visiting correspondents); Welles, Diary, v. 2, pp. 111–12, entry for Aug. 19, 1864; ALAL, v. 2, p. 144 (lost sleep); Carpenter, Inner Life, p. 156 (“they ‘lie’ ”).

  46. Carpenter, Inner Life, p. 77 (pear).

  47. Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, p. 8; Jessie Benton Fremont, “The Lincoln Interview: Excerpt from ‘Great Events,’ ” in Herr and Spence, eds., Letters of Jessie Benton Fremont, pp. 264–69; Hay, Diary, p. 123, entry for [Dec. 9, 1863]. See also Donald, Lincoln, pp. 314–15; Goodwin, pp. 389–92; Oates, With Malice Toward None, loc. 5154; ALAL, v. 2, pp. 205–6.

  48. W. McCaully to Lincoln, Sept. 20, 1861, ALP, LOC; Herndon to Lyman Trumbull, Nov. 20, 1861, Trumbull Papers, LOC; Herndon, “Facts Illustrative of Mr. Lincoln’s Patriotism and Statesmanship,” p. 180; Herndon to unknown recipient, Jan. 15, 1874, in Hertz, Hidden Lincoln, p. 82 (“never ran”). See also Foner, Fiery Trial, p. 178; Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men,” pp. 87–88; RW, p. 254. The brackets in the “iron rings” quote are Fehrenbacher’s.

  49. Lester, Life and Public Services of Charles Sumner (New York, 1874), pp. 359–60, cited in RW, p. 295 (“This thunderbolt”); Statement of Emil Preetorius to J. McCan Davis, Dec. 2, 1898, Tarbell Papers, Allegheny College, cited in ibid., p. 370 (“rather be a follower”); Sumner to Lieber, Sept. 17, 1861, in Pierce, ed., Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, v. 4, p. 42 (“vain”); Sumner to Elizabeth, Duchess of Argyll, Aug. 11, 1862, Sumner Papers, Harvard University, cited in RW, p. 435 (“time is essential”).

  50. Marx, “The Dismissal of Fremont,” Die Presse, Nov. 26, 1861, in MAC, pp. 109–11. See also Marx, “Civil War in the United States,” Die Presse, Nov. 7, 1861, in ibid., pp. 87–94.

  51. Schurz, Reminiscences, v. 2, pp. 309–10; Hay, Diary, p. 23, entry for May 11, 1861; Thayer, Life of John Hay, v. 1, pp. 101–3.

  52. Schurz, Reminiscences, v. 1, pp. 139–40.

  53. KMIR, p. 28 (“pigmy-struggles” and teenage girls); Marx to Lion Philips, May 6, 1861, in MAC, pp. 247–48; McLellan, Marx, pp. 287–88; Blitzer, “Introduction,” American Journalism of Marx and Engels, p. xxiii; MAC, p. xix (“jackass”). See also Dana, Recollections, pp. 1–2.

  54. Marx to Engels, Feb. 13, 1860, MECW, v. 41, p. 47 (“stone-broke”); Marx to Engels, Jan. 18, [1861], ibid., v. 41, p. 247 (“Job”); Marx to Engels, June 18, 1862, in ibid., v. 41, p. 380 (“indescribable”); Marx to Engels, Aug. 20, [1862,] in ibid., v. 41, p. 411 (“green”). See also Wheen, pp. 241 (“stone-broke”), 245 (lemonade and castor oil), and 254 (“start some sort of business”); Gabriel, locs. 7092 and 7309; MAC, p. xx (“Hemmorrhoidarius”); KMIR, p. 40 (smallpox); McLellan, Marx, p. 321 (“pawnbrokers”).

  55. Gabriel, locs. 7364, 7106; KMIR, p. 102; MAC, p. xxii (Tussy recollection); Marx to Engels, May 6, 1862, in ibid., p. 258 (“painfully miss”); Marx to Engels, Apr. 28, 1862, in ibid., p. 257 (“correct views”). See also ibid., p. xx (conservative Die Presse).

  56. Sanford to Seward, May 12, 1861, “Private,” Despatches from U.S. Ministers (Belgium), NARA; Schurz to Seward, Sept. 14, 1861, no. 18, Despatches from U.S. Ministers (Spain), NARA; Donald, Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man, pp. 16–17 (war powers); Wilson, ed., Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 12. See also Ferris, Desperate Diplomacy, p. 184; Adams, Great Britain and the American Civil War, v. 2, p. 91; ALAL, v. 2, pp. 333–34; and Burlingame, Inner World, p. 175.

  57. Hale, Memories of a Hundred Years, v. 2, p. 191; Guelzo, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 69.

  58. Adams, Great Britain and the American Civil War, v. 2, pp. 80–82 (could spook aristocrats); Guelzo, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 225 (Indian Mutiny); “Indian Mutiny,” New Encylopaedia Britannica (Micropaedia), v. 6, pp. 288–89; McClellan to Lincoln, July 7, 1862, ALP, LOC; and ALAL, v. 2, p. 320 (“conservative policy”); Lincoln, “Annual Message to Congress,” Dec. 3, 1861, CWL, v. 5, p. 49 (“violent and remorseless”).

  59. Hale, Memories of a Hundred Years, v. 2, pp. 193–95; Donald, Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man, p. 51; Guelzo, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 94; Donald, Lincoln, p. 346 (didn’t consult Seward).

  60. See, for example, New York World, Mar. 8, 1862, and Providence Journal, Mar. 8, 1862, both in ALAL, v. 2, p. 339; Lincoln to Greeley, Mar. 24, 1862, CWL, v. 5, p. 169; Foner, Fiery Trial, p. 196 (New York Tribune and “thunderbolt”).

  61. Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, p. 32; Lincoln, “Proclamation Revoking General Hunter’s Order of Military Emancipation,” May 19, 1862, CWL, v. 5, pp. 222–23.

  62. [Hay,] Missouri Republican, Apr. 27, 1862, in Burlingame, ed., Lincoln’s Journalist, pp. 253–54; and [Hay,] Missouri Republican, May 23, 1862, in ibid., p. 265; Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, p. 33 (Sumner); Franklin, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 23; and CWL, v. 5, p. 325n1 (Congress adjourns).

  63. Lincoln, “Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor Compensated Emancipation,” July 12, 1862, CWL, v. 5, p. 318.

  64. Welles, Diary, v. 1, pp. 70–71.

  65. Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, p. 35; Jones, Lincoln, p. 109.

  66. Hay to Mary Jay, July 20, 1862, in Burlingame, ed., At Lincoln’s Side, p. 23; Carpenter, Inner Life, pp. 21–22; Welles, “History of Emancipation,” pp. 844–45. See also Guelzo, Emancipation Proclamation, pp. 117–18; Franklin, Emancipation Proclamation, pp. 39–43; ALAL, v. 2, pp. 362–64.

  67. Meeting notes, July 22, 1862, Stanton Papers, LOC (“break up our relations”); Carpenter, Inner Life, pp. 21–22; Guelzo, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 123; Wert, Jeffry D., “Seven Days’ Campaign, Va.,” Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War, Faust, ed., pp. 667–68. See also “Peninsula Campaign,” in ibid., p. 571 (size of McClellan’s force, etc.).

  68. Seward, Seward at Washington, 1861–1872, p. 118.

  69. Gasparin to Lincoln, July 18, 1862, ALP, LOC; Lincoln to Gasparin, Aug. 4, 1862, CWL, v. 5, pp. 355–56.

  70. Tappan to Lincoln, Nov. 22, 1862; Dahlgren to Lincoln, Jun. 12, 1862. Both letters in ALP, LOC. I have slightly altered the punctuation in the Dahlgren letter for clarity.

  71. Hale, Horace Greeley, p. 260 (“Hell”); Phillips, Speeches, Lectures, and Letters, pp. 450, 457; Laugel, Diary, entry for Sept. 13, 1864, reprinted in The Nation, v. 75, no. 1933, p. 48; Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, p. 165. See also ALAL, v. 2, pp. 397, 400, 638.

  72. Marx, “A Criticism of American Affairs,” Die Presse, Aug. 9, 1862, in MAC, pp. 210–12; Marx to Engels, Aug. 7, 1862, and Marx to Engels, Sept. 10, 1862, both in ibid., pp. 260–61.

  73. Undated clipping, Nicolay Papers, LOC, quoted in RW, p. 269.

  74. Lincoln to Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862, CWL, v. 5, pp. 388–89. The excerpts from Greeley’s original letter are included in t
he annotation to this entry.

  75. My thinking about Lincoln’s response to Greeley’s “Prayer” was influenced by a conversation over dinner in Springfield with the current dean of Lincoln scholars, Michael Burlingame. I am indebted to Professor Burlingame for generously sharing his thoughts on the subject. See also Trefousse, Lincoln’s Decision for Emancipation, pp. 41–43; ALAL, v. 2, p. 403; and Foner, Fiery Trial, p. 229.

  76. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 528–33 (2nd Bull Run); Rice, ed., Reminiscences, p. 124.

  77. [Hay,] Missouri Republican, Sept. 5, 1862, in Burlingame, ed., Lincoln’s Journalist, pp. 299–302 (“gloomier city”); Hay, Diary, p. 38, entry for Sept. 1, 1862 (“whipped again”); Bates postscript on Edwin M. Stanton, Salmon P. Chase, Caleb B. Smith, and Edward Bates to Lincoln, Sept. 2, 1862, ALP, LOC.

  78. The best figures on French and British cotton supplies are in Jones, Blue and Gray Diplomacy, pp. 77 (two hundred thousand Frenchmen etc.), 163 (crisis levels), and 208 (three quarters). See also Foner, British Labor and the American Civil War, pp. 5 (three quarters), 8, and 47 (New York Times, Sept. 12, 1862); Adams to Seward, no. 221, Sept. 12, 1862, FRUS 1862, pp. 189–90; Adams to Seward, no. 225, Sept. 25, 1862, ibid., pp. 198–99.

  79. Palmerston to Russell, Sept. 14, 1862, and Sept. 23, 1862, Russell Papers, BNA; Walpole, Life of Lord John Russell, v. 2, pp. 360–61; Bancroft, v. 2, p. 304.

  80. [Hay,] Missouri Republican, Sept. 11, 1862, in Burlingame, Lincoln’s Journalist, pp. 305–7.

  81. Lincoln, “Reply to Emancipation Memorial Presented by Chicago Christians of All Denominations,” Sept. 13, 1862, CWL, v. 5, pp. 419–25.

  82. Franklin, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 46 (fourteen-hour, etc.); Lamon, Recollections, p. 289; McClellan quoted in McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 545 (“masterpiece”); Seward to Adams, [Circular,] Sept. 22, 1862, FRUS 1862, p. 195.

  83. Jones, Abraham Lincoln, p. 109; Adams, Great Britain and the American Civil War, v. 2, p. 41 (carefully awaiting); Palmerston to Russell, Sept. 30, 1862, Russell Papers, BNA (“like bulldogs”); Palmerston to Russell, Oct. 2, 1862, Russell Papers, BNA (“full of difficulty”); Palmerston to Russell, Oct. 8, 1862, Russell Papers, BNA (“fresh wind”); Palmerston to Russell, Oct. 22, 1862, Russell Papers, BNA (“decided turn”). Allen Guelzo argues that as a tool of foreign relations, emancipation was the “worst method … at the worst time.” (Guelzo, Emancipation Proclamation, p. 9.)