Collaborators for Emancipation

When Abraham Lincoln, a politician, and Owen Lovejoy, a Congregational minister, first met in 1854, few would have guessed they would become friends. Lincoln was a careful lawyer who disapproved of abolitionists who broke the law, while Lovejoy was a vocal antislavery campaigner who ran a station on the Underground Railroad. Despite these differences, the two developed a bond that Lincoln himself described as growing in mutual regard.

This study weighs the common view of Lincoln as a pragmatist against Lovejoy's reputation for radicalism, asking what role each man played in bringing slavery to an end. It looks at the politics, character traits, and religious beliefs of both men, following their separate life paths and the many occasions when their paths crossed. The book also considers how each influenced the other and compares the tactics and convictions each brought to the great debates over slavery and abolition and over the preservation of the Union.

The authors draw on their close familiarity with Lovejoy's writings and life, having previously edited a collection of his work. Their approach goes past politics alone to explore the religious faith and personal background that shaped the minister's outlook. Combining history and biography, the book argues that Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as a radical goal, and that Lovejoy adapted his own radicalism into the practical political methods needed to achieve it.