Book SummaryAnd There Was Light, by Jon Meacham

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of And There Was Light

Abraham Lincoln is a central figure in American history: He was the 16th president of the United States, the “Great Emancipator,” the man who led the Union through the Civil War and then lost his life to a vengeful Confederate sympathizer. In And There Was Light, Jon Meacham breaks down the myths and legends that surround Abraham Lincoln, arguing that Lincoln had good intentions and accomplished great things but was still as flawed and prone to mistakes as anyone else.

Jon Meacham started his career as a journalist for a local newspaper and eventually became editor-in-chief of Newsweek magazine, a position he held from 2006 to 2010. He’s a contributing writer for The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as a contributing editor for Time magazine. However, Meacham is best known as a Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer. He’s written several best-selling books about...

And There Was Light Summary Lincoln’s Early Life: 1809-1829

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to a poor family in rural Kentucky. He was born in a small cabin on a farm called Sinking Spring. However, Meacham notes that Lincoln’s earliest memories are of a different farm, called Knob Creek, where his family lived until Lincoln was seven. In 1816, the family moved north to a settlement in Spencer County, Indiana called Little Pigeon Creek.

(Shortform note: Today, Sinking Spring and Knob Creek are both tourist attractions under the purview of the US National Park Service. The Little Pigeon Creek community in Indiana is now known as Lincoln City, in honor of President Lincoln.)

Lincoln’s family moved to Little Pigeon Creek because his father could buy land much more cheaply in that area. This also moved the Lincolns to an area where the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had made slavery illegal. So Lincoln spent this part of his childhood in an abolitionist culture, a place where most people favored outlawing (abolishing)...

And There Was Light Summary Lincoln’s Early Political Career: 1830-1849

In March of 1830 the Lincolns moved again, this time to Illinois (a Northern state). Shortly after that, Abraham Lincoln moved by himself to New Salem, Illinois; Meacham says that’s when Lincoln left behind his farming life and got involved in local politics.

Inspired by the highly political atmosphere of the time, Lincoln gave his first public speech in the early summer of 1830. He spoke about the need to clear trees and other obstacles from the nearby Sangamon River. Meacham says the speech went well: Lincoln had natural charisma; his points were well-reasoned and persuasive; and perhaps most importantly of all, he found that he enjoyed being the center of attention.

(Shortform note: Firsthand accounts of Lincoln’s speeches largely agree with Meacham. Even during his first attempt at public speaking, he was a remarkable orator and debater (although his mannerisms were rather awkward). Journals and newspapers also...

And There Was Light Summary Lincoln Runs for President: 1856-1861

Meacham explains that Lincoln joined the newly formed Republican Party in 1856. He ran for an Illinois Senate seat in 1858, but he lost narrowly to Democratic Party candidate Stephen Douglas.

(Shortform note: To highlight how remarkable it was that Lincoln lost so narrowly to Douglas, it’s worth noting that Douglas seemingly had every advantage over Lincoln. At the time, Stephen Douglas was one of the most popular and influential politicians in the country, while Lincoln only had a single term in Congress to his name and was running as a member of a brand new political party (the Republican Party). That near-loss to a relatively unknown opponent spoke to Lincoln’s charisma and his debate skills.)

Despite his loss, the political world took note of Lincoln’s debate skills; he quickly became popular among his colleagues not just in Illinois, but across the entire country. As a result of his newfound fame, the Republicans chose Lincoln as their presidential candidate in 1860, and he won the election.

In 1861, at the age of 52, Abraham Lincoln took office as the 16th president of the United States.

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And There Was Light Summary The American Civil War: 1861-1865

Meacham tells us that, after the Southern states announced they were breaking away from the Union, President Lincoln made an uncharacteristically one-sided statement: He wouldn’t compromise with the Confederacy, and he wouldn’t allow the nation to split. In other words, Lincoln didn’t recognize the states’ right to secede; he was determined to dissolve the Confederacy and bring its members back into the Union.

The Confederacy responded by making the opening move of the American Civil War: On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked a federal garrison in South Carolina called Fort Sumter. The following morning, Lincoln made another statement saying that he was prepared to meet violence with violence, and so the war began in earnest.

What Caused the Civil War?

While it’s commonly believed that the Civil War was purely about slavery versus emancipation, Lincoln stated that his one and only goal in the war was [to preserve the United...

And There Was Light Summary Lincoln’s Assassination: 1865

Lincoln had won the Civil War, but he didn’t live long thereafter.

Meacham explains that on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth—a white supremacist and a Confederate sympathizer—attacked Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shouting “sic semper tyrannis” (“thus always to tyrants”), Booth shot the president in the head from close range, then fled the theater and went on the run.

Lincoln died from the gunshot wound the following morning.

(Shortform note: Booth kept a diary during his time on the run from Union forces, which offers some insight into his mindset and his motivations. Based on his writings, Booth believed that he’d struck a decisive blow against tyranny by killing Lincoln. He considered himself a hero and expected to be lauded as such. Instead, he was shocked and bitterly disappointed to learn that the media almost universally condemned him. Furthermore, Booth showed no remorse for killing Lincoln: He wrote repeatedly that he’d done so in order to save the country from Lincoln’s “tyranny.” He also said that, while God might convince him...

And There Was Light Summary Conclusion: Lincoln’s Legacy

Broadly speaking, people remember Lincoln in one of two ways: as the Great Emancipator who saved the United States and ensured freedom for all its people, or as a tyrant who overstepped his authority and forced Northern ideology onto the South. Meacham says the truth is somewhere in the middle. Lincoln was a political moderate, a negotiator, and a peacemaker at heart, yet willing to fight passionately for what he believed in.

It’s unclear whether there was anything Lincoln could have done to prevent the Civil War, short of allowing the Union to split and the Confederacy to secede. It’s equally unclear what the outcome would have been if he’d lived long enough to enact his plans for Reconstruction. But Meacham says it is clear that Lincoln is remembered as one of the most famous and influential American presidents—the man who guided the United States through its greatest crisis to date—and that his work was left tragically unfinished.

What if Lincoln Had Survived?

The question of where the...

Shortform Exercise: Reflect on Lincoln’s Life

Now that you’ve read this account of Abraham Lincoln’s life, reflect on what you learned about Lincoln as you were growing up, and compare it to what Meacham wrote about him.

What did you learn about Abraham Lincoln when you were growing up? Was he presented as the Great Emancipator, a tyrant, or somewhere in between?