Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America by Steve Inskeep

Penguin Press, 351 pp.

By Lindsay M. Chervinsky

There are over 15,000 books on Abraham Lincoln—more than any other figure in American history. Perhaps this unparalleled product reflects Lincoln’s pivotal role in the nation’s biggest crisis, or his rags to riches life story with an untimely demise. Most likely, however, the constant publications on Lincoln speak to the nearly uncapturable nature of his personality, political genius, and character.

Many recent scholars have narrowed their scope to just one portion of Lincoln’s life to bring forward new understanding. Ted Widmer described just thirteen days in Lincoln’s life in minute detail in Lincoln on the Verge, Jon Meacham grounds his biography of Lincoln, And There Was Light, in the president’s religious and moral convictions, and Fergus Bordewich explores Congress’s relationship with Lincoln in Congress at War.

In Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America, Steve Inskeep analyzes the sixteenth president through his interactions and relationships with others, encouraging the reader to view Lincoln as he would have been seen by his contemporaries. He acknowledges Lincoln’s elusive character as a defining principle and offers new insight by placing our focus on the president’s contemporaries.

Inskeep offers sixteen interactions, carefully selected from childhood to death, to offer a comprehensive and chronological study of Lincoln’s life. The interactions demonstrate Lincoln’s embrace of a political identity—whether it was navigating the hierarchies of a local band of ne-er-do-wells as a teenager or the cast of characters in a congressional boarding house. He both loved politics and used them to pursue tangible aims. Throughout his political life, Inkseep argues, Lincoln held two foundational principles. First, Lincoln had no anti-slavery origin story, he was convinced of the immorality of slavery from the beginning. Whereas his firm sense of right and wrong never wavered, Lincoln’s astute grasp of the political scene permitted an evolution on the measures needed to combat the wretched institution.

These measures were grounded in his second foundational principle: humans were motivated by self-interest. This slightly fatalistic view of mankind did not preclude Lincoln from seeing the very best in individuals or working to change their hearts and minds. The key, Lincoln insisted, was encouraging Americans to align their self-interest with morality. Lincoln deployed this approach to gradually nudge northern populations to oppose slavery and then support emancipation, by demonstrating how slavery’s ongoing existence would harm their livelihoods, their farms, and their families.

Inskeep anchors the volume with well-known characters, like Stephen Douglas, Frederick Douglass, and Mary Lincoln, while sprinkling in others, like William Florville, Cheyenne Chief Lean Bear, and George H. Pendleton, who are less expected. The selections include women, formerly enslaved Black men, Native Americans, Democrats, and Confederates. The variety and diversity are not just a good optics choice. By positioning Lincoln vis-à-vis people with different backgrounds, partisan values, and social standings, Inskeep reveals Lincoln’s political savvy, pragmatism, fundamental decency, shortcomings, and limitations.

Each chapter weaves the story of the interaction with a broader narrative about what else is happening at the time. For example, in chapter twelve, Inskeep depicts a delegation of eleven Native leaders, including Lean Bear, that visited the White House in 1863. As context for the meeting, Inskeep describes the previous treaties signed between the U.S. government and Native nations, the violations inflicted on Native sovereignty and land by white settlers, and the ongoing violence in the West. The chapter culminates in the unprovoked death of Lean Bear and the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado—offering an important reminder that for all of Lincoln’s success defeating the Confederacy and winning the Civil War, he proved unable to contain the racially-motivated violence in the West.

Not all the chapters are created equal. The earlier chapters on Lincoln’s formation and political campaigns are spirited and thoughtful. The chapters on Joshua Giddings, Owen Lovejoy, and Joseph Gillespie are among the best. They depict Lincoln’s careful and shifting positions on anti-slavery, Republican radicalism, and nativism espoused by Know-Nothings, a political party hostile to immigration and opposed to expanded citizenship. Whereas Lincoln was willing to move slowly on slavery and distance himself from radical abolitionists for political gain, he refused to offer lip service to Know-Nothing voters, even when it harmed his electoral chances.

Other chapters, including the chapters on William Florville and Mary Lincoln were less developed. The lack of depth in the Florville chapter can be easily understood as the product of the relatively sparse source material left behind by the formerly enslaved barber who shaped Lincoln’s infamous beard. While I applaud Inskeep’s effort to introduce Florville to the American people, he doesn’t offer much on Florville and Lincoln, like so many of the other chapters. As a results, readers are left with a general sense that Florville is a stand-in for Lincoln’s relationship with free Black men. I would have rather read a more detailed chapter about Lincoln’s relationship with a free person of color, like dressmaker Elizabeth Keckly or valet William Slade. These figures are better known to historians, but might have offered more to the average reader.

I also wish the book did not end with the Mary Lincoln chapter. Inskeep argues that much of Lincoln’s life was defined by difficult relationships. Whether his relationship with “difficult men trained him to handle his marriage, or if his marriage trained him to handle difficult men,” is the central crux of the chapter, without ever really asking what it must have been like to be married to an equally difficult Lincoln. Of course, Mary had to be included in the volume, but by placing Mary last in the list of interactions, Inskeep emphasizes her White House years, repeating many of the same stereotypes about erratic behavior, excessive spending, and public displays of temper. While these aspects of the Lincoln marriage are accurate, they also obscure her role in their partnership, her shared passion for politics, and her years of dedicated striving to bolster his career. Placing Mary’s chapter earlier in the volume might have facilitated a more nuanced portrait of their marriage, rather than focusing on the sad end.

The chapter on Jessie Benton Frémont, like Inskeep’s previous publication, Imperfect Union, offers an interesting contrast to the Mary Lincoln chapter. Inskeep fairly depicts Frémont as a feisty, strong-willed woman who chafed at the narrow social and political options available to her. She was opinionated, flawed, ambitious, and loyal to her family. Just like Mary, her contemporaries often labeled her “difficult” when she exceeded the bounds of female gentility.

While I’ve only read the smallest fraction of the 15,000 publications on Lincoln, I’ve never encountered an approach like Inskeep’s and I appreciated the creativity. The volume is accessible, moves quickly, and is sharply written with snappy and lively prose. Under Inskeep’s skillful navigation, the reader will never get bored or wander. Differ We Must would make an excellent first read on Lincoln or for history buffs sinking their teeth into the nineteenth century. Regardless of the reader’s familiarity with this time period, Differ We Must offers a useful corrective to the cult of Lincoln. By considering Lincoln through the eyes of those that knew him, Inkseep counters the sense of inevitability that often surrounds the Civil War narrative. Inskeep cuts through the myth-making and offers a real, human Lincoln, rather than a transcendent savior, that is much more useful for the nation and our current moment.  

Lindsay M. Chervinsky, Ph.D. is a presidential historian and author and editor of several award-winning books, including The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution (2020) and the forthcoming Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic (2024).