Jonathan W. White's A House Built by Slaves steps into the debate about Abraham Lincoln’s attitudes and policies toward African Americans. What was Lincoln’s disposition toward African Americans? Did he think of them as moral, political, or social equals? Did he move too slowly in issuing his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863? Where did Lincoln stand in the vanguard of antislavery and abolitionist advocates, and did he change his views over time?
