Eric Foner Quote
Lincoln, who had always craved recognition, had found his life’s purpose. The higher object of this contest, he wrote, may not be completely attained within the term of my natural life. But…I am proud…to contribute an humble mite to that glorious consummation, which my own poor eyes may not last to see. There was no mistaking that the consummation Lincoln envisioned was the eventual eradication of slavery, not simply a halt to its expansion.51
Eric Foner
Lincoln, who had always craved recognition, had found his life’s purpose. The higher object of this contest, he wrote, may not be completely attained within the term of my natural life. But…I am proud…to contribute an humble mite to that glorious consummation, which my own poor eyes may not last to see. There was no mistaking that the consummation Lincoln envisioned was the eventual eradication of slavery, not simply a halt to its expansion.51
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About Eric Foner
Foner has published several books on the Reconstruction period, starting with
Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 in 1988. His online courses on "The Civil War and Reconstruction", published in 2014, are available from Columbia University on ColumbiaX.
In 2011, Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Lincoln Prize, and the Bancroft Prize. Foner previously won the Bancroft Prize in 1989 for his book Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution - 1863–1877. In 2000, he was elected president of the American Historical Association. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.