James Oakes Interview: Examining Abraham Lincoln's Commitment to Freedom

Historian James Oakes says Abraham Lincoln is the only president whose entire term of office is consumed by war. He describes the scale of the crisis Lincoln confronted as unprecedented and that it has never been matched since.

James Oakes is one of the leading historians of nineteenth-century America. He holds a degree from Baruch College as well as M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He has been on the faculty of the Graduate Center at City College since 1997 and the holder of the Graduate School Humanities Chair since 1998. He has previously taught at Princeton and Northwestern Universities. In a series of influential books and essays, he tackled the history of the United States from the Revolution through the Civil War. His early work focused on the South, examining slavery as an economic and social system that shaped Southern life. His books include The Ruling Race (1982); Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South (1998); The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics (2007); and Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865 (2013). The latter two garnered, respectively, the 2008 and 2013 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, an annual award for the finest scholarly work in English on Abraham Lincoln or the American Civil War era.

The Apple TV+ series "Lincoln's Dilemma," features insights from journalists, educators and scholars, as well as rare archival materials, that offer a more nuanced look into the life of the Great Emancipator. Set against the background of the Civil War, "Lincoln's Dilemma" also gives voice to the narratives of enslaved people, shaping a more complete view of an America divided over issues including economy, race and humanity, and underscoring Lincoln's battle to save the country, no matter the cost. The series is narrated by award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright ("Angels in America") and features the voices of actor Bill Camp ("The Night Of") as Lincoln and Leslie Odom Jr. ("Hamilton") as Frederick Douglas.

To view the entire series please visit:
https://tv.apple.com/us/show/lincolns...

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Chapter Markers:
00:00 - Introduction
03:37 - The North as the engine: capitalism and slavery
06:49 - Lincoln’s anti-slavery politics
11:24 - The repeal of the Missouri Compromise
13:11 - State by state abolition
18:28 - Slavery in the Constitution
24:18 - Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence
33:42 - Abolition and anti-slavery movements
37:37 - Lincoln’s moral aversion to slavery
41:55 - The Dred Scott decision
47:47 - The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
52:39 - Lincoln’s changing views on racial equality
57:50 - The secession crisis
01:03:34 - The emancipation opportunity the war creates
01:07:29 - The Fugitive Slave Laws in wartime
01:09:43 - Lincoln’s “War Powers”
01:15:40 - The enslaved as “property”
01:17:46 - Self-emancipation & abolition in border states
01:29:20 - Lincoln and colonization
01:33:05 - The Emancipation Proclamation
01:37:52 - Black enlistment in the border states
01:44:35 - Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas

James Oakes, Historian
Interview Date: November 18, 2020
Interviewed by: Jackie Olive and Barak Goodman

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