One of the leading independent historians of the Civil War, Bordewich, author of books including The First Congress and America’s Great Debate, takes exception to the common assumption that Lincoln alone was the driving force behind the outcome of the War Between the States. Focusing on Congress, and in particular four influential members—Thaddeus Stevens, Pitt Fessenden, Ben Wade, and Clement Vallandigham—Bordewich tells the overlooked story of a dynamic legislature, one which, in addition to pushing the president to act on emancipation before he was ready to, created the forerunner of the IRS, laid the ground for the Federal Reserve, enacted the Homestead Act, passed the Pacific Railway Act, and created the Land Grant Colleges Act.
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