The Day Lincoln Lost

 The Day Lincoln Lost by Charles Rosenberg   432 pages

I’ve been an admirer of Abraham Lincoln and his family since I first learned of him in grade school.  I’m always up for reading anything about him, be it fiction or fact.  I admit, however, that I was a tad skeptical of the premise of this novel, that Lincoln lost the 1860 election (that premise was born strictly from reading the title). Alternative history isn’t my thing.

I wasn’t sure how this story would start, but I was hooked from the very beginning. It’s Kentucky in 1860. Twelve-year-old Lucy Battelle, a slave, is about to be sold. It’s probably a good thing given that Riverview’s current master, Ezekiel Goshorn, is quite cruel and quite inept to run a plantation.  However, Lucy has heard what happens to slaves who are sold “Down South.” So she runs away.

She runs and runs. She is discovered in one of her hiding place, but her discoverer was an abolitionist. He takes her to Springfield, Illinois, where she is to be placed on the Underground Railroad. Goshorn also makes his way to Springfield. Unfortunately she is captured.

Across town, Abby Kelly Foster, a fiery abolitionist, is making a speech about the evils of slavery. Seems everyone, almost, who was any one is Springfield was there. After the speech, the crowd bursts out into the square and create a small riot, and Lucy escapes again.

Foster is arrested on inciting a riot and is jailed. She manages to convince Lincoln to represent her, although the damage that may be caused to the upcoming presidential election and the Republican Party is high.

It’s quite interesting to watch/hear Lincoln decide what to do.  He takes the case and hope for the best. The trial becomes a circus, with the election coming closer and closer.  Then the story goes into an in-depth look that Constitution’s Twelfth Amendment, which was quiet apropos given that the United States, when I was reading this, was undergoing a crisis of leadership. The Twelfth Amendment is about the Electoral College, which I don’t really understand. Therefore given all that about the Twelfth Amendment and that Lincoln didn’t lose anything as far as the title is concerned, The Day Lincoln Lost receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.