Radical and the Republican

In his book The Radical and the Republican, James Oakes compares and contrasts the positions of Fredrick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Oakes argues that while both Douglas and Lincoln opposed slavery, they used dissimilar tactics because their motivations were different. Lincoln focused on promoting national unity through the eradication of slavery ( 217) while Douglas focused on establishing freedom for blacks ( 223). Oakes strongly supports his thesis with examples of their diverging opinions of slavery’s relation to equality, the constitution, and Christianity. Although Oakes’s book includes little personal commentary, his choice of structure congruently connects Lincoln and Douglas’s accounts, enabling readers to clearly understand his point of view.
Oakes first argued that while Douglas and Lincoln both believed,“ Slavery was an affront to American values” (34) and that political action was necessary to end slavery, their motivations were initially different. Lincoln, not wanting to alienate either the North or South, merely stated that slavery was wrong because it deprived, “ …men and women…hard earned fruit of their own labor.”(58-61). While Douglas agreed with Lincoln that slavery, “ …thwarted progress and stifled individual initiative”( 34), he was more free to expand his reasons further because of his position as a reformist, “ …[ slavery] contradicted the great principles of the Declaration of Independence. It violated the sacred purpose of the constitution. It defiled the precepts of a professedly Christian nation.”( 34). Years later, Lincoln came to a very similar conclusion, but it was only after this position suited his own motivations and was presented using his own tactics such as “ strategic racism” and compromi...

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...searched and well-written of Lincoln and Douglas’s effect on African American’s current day freedom. In this book, Oakes strongly supported his thesis with examples of their diverging opinions of slavery’s relation to equality, the constitution, and Christianity. Although Oakes could have strengthened some of his arguments with less unbiased evidence or expanded on them more, this book contributes to the study of history in that it gives readers an up close and personal view of two of the men who made such a large impact in America. Oakes used this book to show how although Lincoln and Douglas’s motivations and tactics differed, their view that slavery was adverse to American life( 34) remained the same. Oakes congruent structure and reliance on personal accounts give readers from college students to scholars a fresh perspective in the lives of Lincoln and Douglas.