The origins of anti-Lincoln rhetoric

A Civil War reader is well steeped in the North's anti-Lincoln rhetoric; it follows certain themes and favors certain phrases.

I've recently met these "old friends" as I began wending my way through The Anti-Federalist Papers. What a surprise! In The Anti-Federalist Papers, authored during the twilight of the Confederation, you might say the language is Jeffersonian (i.e. Democrat) and surprisingly close to the formulations deployed against Lincoln in the ACW.

In parallel, I've started The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, a book I needed to read years ago.

The anti-Lincoln catchphrases and concepts are here too - in spades - not only in Democratic Party oratory against federalist greed and privilege, but in Whig formulas attacking Democrat "tyrrany."

It's pleasant, time travelling with friends. I'll let you know who else I meet.