Product Description

The three Kentucky presidents—Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis—were profoundly shaped by their experiences in Kentucky, poised as it was on the border between the North and the South, the East and the Western Frontier. Holman Hamilton asserts that these leaders were personally and politically influenced by their connections to the state.

The contrasting traits of western frontiersman and southern aristocrat illuminate Kentucky’s heritage and affected Taylor, Lincoln, and Davis, presidents during one of America’s most troubled eras. Frontier values influenced Lincoln’s and Taylor’s views on the major issues of their time: extension of slavery, which they opposed, and preservation of the Union, which they supported. Davis’s career reflects Southern values, leading him to favor slavery’s extension and the Confederacy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2294621 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 88 pages

About the Author
The late Holman Hamilton was professor emeritus of history at the University of Kentucky. Among his writings are Prologue to Conflict: The Crisis and Compromise of 1850 and a two-volume biography of Zachary Taylor.