Carwardine, Richard: Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 596pp., 2025. $35
Richard Carwardine is Emeritus Rhodes Professor of American History and Distinguished Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford. He has written two books dealing with Lincoln: Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America and Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power which we reviewed very favorably in one of our early, hard copy journals. This work is the result of extensive research conducted over many years. The author had to read every published sermon of the period that touched on the war (issued both in the Union and the Confederate States), the texts of all the Presidential Proclamations declaring national days of Thanksgiving and Fasting & Humiliation, Congressional and public speeches, political pamphlets and imprints, Civil War soldier letters, letters written to Lincoln, letters written by Lincoln, memoirs and reports of personal meetings with the President as well as editorials in sectarian religious newspapers. It’s an exhaustive list, evidenced by seventy-eight pages of notes and forty-five pages of bibliography. As reviewer Joan Waugh declares: “Righteous Strife will stand as the authoritative volume on the fascinating and impactful debate between and among Christian denominations during the bloody American Civil War.”
Authoritative it truly is. The first two chapters span the period from the debate over the Constitution to the outbreak of the Civil War. While the Founding Fathers adopted the “Establishment Clause” separating Church & State, they nevertheless were, for the most part, men of deep religious conviction. Religious sects proliferated in the ensuing years as the population expanded, augmented by immigration, into various regions of the country, each of which imparted unique characteristics. These sects, and their offshoots, are itemized and given historical context. Keeping track of them all can be daunting and confusing, though aided by a “Select Glossary of Terms” that follows the main text. Still, toggling back and forth between the two interrupts one’s attention and flow of thought.
A recurring theme in the book is the wide-spread belief that events were controlled by “Providence” who would dictate a favorable outcome to the war, consistent with Biblical morality and the guiding principles of the Founding Fathers. This would lead to a “millennial” period where America would realize its potential and ideals, serving as an example for the rest of the world. To illustrate, consider this excerpt titled “The ‘Half Way’ Clergyman: The President as an Agent of Providence”.
Lincoln’s allies as the champions of a renewed Union included legions who grounded their civic loyalty in religious faith. As president, Lincoln was peculiarly, even uniquely, privy to the rich complexity and ideological range of the nation’s Judeo-Christian traditions. His formal meetings, informal encounters, and correspondence involved exchanges with men and women of all types and vocations. Among the myriad political and military leaders, ministers of religion, bankers, newspaper editors, writers, farmers, and plain working people whose communications swelled the White House mailbag, or who called in person, were hundreds whose religious convictions, forcefully expressed, gave meaning to the nation’s battle for survival. They looked to a president who, they had good reason to believe, following the emancipation edict, recognized his role and duties as an agent of Providence. Throughout the final two or so years of the war Lincoln’s faith in the omnipotent God became the common drumbeat of his well-publicized proclamations, public remarks, and private interviews. His religious convictions did not make him the born-again Christian that many believed he was or wished him to be. Like the majority of those who then attended Protestant worship, he was a church “adherent” but did not claim the experience of conversion that entitled those “blessed with the Holy Spirit” to enter into full church membership. Even so, the president was widely honored as a man of God whose faith made him the perfect instrument of the Almighty.
Lincoln is represented in an objective, even-handed manner, while chronicling his journey and development as Chief Magistrate. There is no reluctance to relate statements, policies and decisions that, in hindsight, do not reflect well on him. Public and private criticism or praise are detailed with equal measure. Some opinionated critics eventually moderated their views, seemingly in concert with the course of events and reassessment of Lincoln’s leadership abilities.
Inasmuch as our own personal interest is presidential campaigns, we did not find the subject matter of great interest. It was good to learn more about the personal history of Clement Vallandigham, of whom we knew little about. We enjoyed the illustrations, although they could have been larger to show greater detail. The nominating conventions of 1864 are well-covered and we have to tip our hat to anyone who, like the author, is throughly versed in the incendiary publications of Feeks, and Bromley & Company of New York.
While religion and religious thought permeated Civil War-era America, we feel other factors played a key role in events and are worthy of further study. The first “thesis” that comes to mind is “The Pervasive Strain of Violence” in America… violence that sometimes intersected with religion, but not always. Examples include: the Whiskey Rebellion, the rise of the Know-Nothings (anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant), Bleeding Kansas, violence extended at political rallies where dissenting voices occasionally led to murder with impunity, the Draft Riots of 1863 and the January 6th riot at the Capitol. The second “thesis” is determining the ongoing vestiges of racism. This did not end with the Civil War. Race riots in Wilmington, North Carolina, Springfield, Illinois and Tulsa, Oklahoma are prominent examples. These are topics we look forward to seeing covered in future historical works.
