In a time of deep political division and upheaval in the United States, one biographer is looking to the past for insight into navigating the current “political cesspool.” Nigel Hamilton, bestselling biographer of American presidents like JFK and FDR, recently published a new book called Lincoln vs Davis: The War of the Presidents. The dual biography explores the bitter contest between Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis that determined the nation’s fate during the Civil War.
Hamilton began the project in 2019, in the midst of Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency, and saw disturbing parallels emerge. “We’re pretty much facing the same situation as Lincoln over 160 years ago,” Hamilton noted in an interview. “He wins an election and the results of the election are not accepted by half the country, and they actually resort to armed insurrection.” The echoes of that schism could be heard on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to overturn the 2020 election results.
As America grapples with the fallout of yet another bitterly divisive election in 2024, Hamilton’s book offers a timely examination of how Lincoln managed to hold the country together against seemingly impossible odds. His approach to profiling both presidents simultaneously is unique, allowing readers to view the evolving conflict from both sides.
From Mexican War Hero to Confederate Rebel
Hamilton’s portrait of Jefferson Davis may surprise those used to viewing the Confederate leader as a villainous traitor. Before the Civil War, Davis was a decorated soldier in the Mexican-American War, a respected US Senator from Mississippi, and a capable Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. His experience and political connections allowed him to outmaneuver the greener Lincoln in the early years of the war.
It’s like recording a boxing match…Lincoln’s standing in boxing shorts and he’s got his fists up and he’s facing Jefferson Davis. The conflict between them really is like watching two boxers, one of whom is virtually untrained, who’s very gangly, though he has his own talents, and the other one has been trained to be a boxer, who’s extremely competent, and damn nearly wins the war within a year and a half.
Nigel Hamilton
Ultimately though, Davis’s hubris proved his undoing, particularly in his failure to rein in the overly ambitious tactics of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Once Lee brought the fight onto northern soil, the Confederacy lost the moral high ground, giving Lincoln the opening he needed.
The Emancipation Gambit
Lincoln’s greatest strength, Hamilton argues, was his ability to hold together a divided cabinet and nation long enough to make his boldest move – the Emancipation Proclamation. By reframing the war as a noble fight to end slavery, Lincoln kept European powers from throwing their weight behind the Confederacy, despite their hunger for southern cotton. It was a risky political gambit, but one that altered the course of the war and American history.
Hamilton sees Lincoln’s story as a powerful reminder that progress is never guaranteed. “I suppose because I’ve written so much about World War II, about German history and European history, and now the Civil War, I think those people who think that there is an inevitable line of progress and democratic improvement and so forth, they’re wrong,” he reflected. “In that sense, you know, that’s what is so moving about Lincoln, is that he sees what’s always at stake.”
Lessons for a Divided Nation
As Americans process the outcome of another contentious election, Lincoln vs Davis provides vital context and hard-won wisdom from one of the darkest chapters in America’s past. While the specific issues and players may change, the fundamental challenges to the nation’s democratic ideals remain hauntingly familiar. By better understanding how Lincoln threaded the needle and pulled the country back from the brink, modern leaders and citizens alike can find inspiration for navigating the current political morass with integrity and resolve.
The political cesspool is deeper, broader, filthier and more feculent than ever.
Adam Gurowski, Polish emigre in the Lincoln State Department, 1862
Over 150 years later, those words still resonate. But as Lincoln’s improbable triumph over Davis demonstrates, even the foulest cesspools can be drained with principled leadership, moral courage, and an unwavering commitment to the greater good. In revisiting their battle for America’s soul, Hamilton has crafted an essential guide for wading through the muck.
