Summary Of The Fiery Trial By Eric Foner

The Fiery Trial by Eric Foner is a book about Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Abraham Lincoln was perhaps one of the most influential American politicians of all time and served as the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln was born in Kentucky, where he was certainly surrounded by slavery being that one in every five people there was a slave. There was also slavery in Lincoln’s family, many of his relatives owned slaves. Such as his Uncle Isaac who owned forty three slaves at the time of his death. Slaves also regularly passed by the Lincoln farm. The main thesis of the book is that Abraham Lincoln believed slavery was immoral and unfair. The author gives many examples throughout the book to support this thesis. The book gives great insight into how Abraham Lincoln viewed Slavery and his impacts on it. The author shows us readers that Abraham Lincoln was morally anti-slavery and didn’t agree with it at all. Foner, also analyzes Lincoln’s thoughts and views toward slavery from his childhood to when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation and further. The book takes a real close look at Lincoln’s career, and his personal views as a politician and a person. The historiography of the topic is Eric Foner identifying influential people in Lincoln’s life. The author also takes into consideration Lincoln’s environment …show more content…
One of these points is that Lincoln often wavered his stance on how strict he was with slavery and the unfair treatment of African Americans. The author shows this well in chapter 7, where he shows the reader that Lincoln at first told his officers not to allow blacks into the army. However the author makes a point that this may not be exactly how Lincoln felt on the subject. Abraham Lincoln saw government as an active force for promoting opportunity and advancement which he could use to support his political views with things such as