Download Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War AudioBook Free
In early 1860, pundits across America confidently expected the election of Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas in the coming presidential competition. Douglas, in the end, led the one party that bridged North and South. But the Democrats would separated over the issue of slavery, leading Southerners in the party to run their own presidential slate. This opened up the door for the upstart Republicans, specifically Northern, to steal the Oval Office. Dark horses Abraham Lincoln, not the first choice even of his own party, triumphed in the presidency with a record-low 39.8 percent of the popular vote. Acclaimed scholar Douglas R. Egerton chronicles the competition with a historian's willing understanding and a experienced political reporter's attention for detail. Vividly, Egerton re-creates the cascade of unexpected incidents that confounded political bosses, set North and South on the road to disunion, and put not Stephen Douglas, but his most significant rival, in the White House. We see Lincoln and his team outmaneuvering more prominent Republicans, like New York's grandiose William Seward, while Democratic conventions collapse in misunderstanding. And we start to see the gifted, flawed Douglas marking his finest hour in beat, as he strives, and fails, to save the Union. Calendar year of Meteors delivers a teeming cast of characters, trivial and major, and a breakneck narrative of the most momentous year in American record.
