“The Uprising of a Great People”

Chapter one explores northern evangelical devotion to the Union during the Civil War by looking at its intersection with the public words of Abraham Lincoln. His public words were often particularly attuned to evangelicals’ hearts and minds and seemingly reflected their own understanding of the Union in relation to God. The chapter reveals northern evangelicals’ belief in the supremacy of providence, while relating it to Lincoln’s own preoccupation with the divine meaning of the war. Furthermore, northern evangelicals perceived the Union in terms of an Old Testament-like covenantal relationship to God, which meant that God had been historically at work shaping a Christian-American people who were obligated to live unto him and fight to save the Union. This outlook was reflected in Lincoln’s thanksgiving and fast-day proclamations, and, consequently, mainstream northern evangelicals generally supported his vision for saving their country.