Boss Lincoln

By: Matthew Pinsker

Published by W. W. Norton, Incorporated, 2026-02-10

<p>We know Lincoln for his hymn to democracy in the Gettysburg Address and as the president who had to steady his hand when signing the Emancipation Proclamation. But there was another dimension to Lincoln, less visible but no less central to his character and leadership: Lincoln was a master of party politics. Schooled in the rough-and-tumble of Illinois elections, he rose to state party boss of the Whigs. Through personal cajoling, newspaper connections, and letters headed "Private and Confidential," he offered and demanded party loyalty. He helped to build the antislavery Republican party, and during the Civil War assembled a new coalition of conservatives and radicals who supported emancipation, won him reelection under the Unionist party banner, and achieved victory in the war.</p>