Lincoln and His Cabinet

[Gene C]

by Clarence Edward Macartney, copyright 1931, with about 360 pages.

Interesting with the best chapters on Seward, Welles, Chase and Stanton. Seward had the longest chapter, followed by Chase and Stanton. The author does a good job pointing out their faults and talents. There were internal rivalries and a lot of then just didn't like each other.

Some quotes from the book.
- "What Welles has to say about the character of Seward must be discounted, for in almost every page of his diary there is a fling at Seward and an effort to depreciate him"
- "My young friend, said Seward, we are warned to keep to ourselves what we do not believe. It is well frequently to conceal what we do believe. There is apt to be public blame in both" Seward to Don Piatt
- This about Simon Cameron, "Although he served a longer time in the United States Senate than any man in the history of the country, he left no speech behind him. He talked much in private; in public, hardly at all."
- This about Edward Bates "Bates suffered, although not so seriously as some others, from the general Cabinet disease of depreciating and derogating their colleagues in the Cabinet. He states he has no confidence in Seward and very little in Stanton. The Blairs are men who get what they want by claiming everything. Welles is not strong or great, and Lincoln is personally unexceptionable, and so on down the list."

I was looking for a more recent book on the subject of Lincoln's Cabinet, short biographies of the men who served, and couldn't find one.
For a book that is almost 90 years old, it is a pretty good look at the men in Lincoln's Cabinet.

Mr. Macartney was a popular Presbyterian minister, who wrote mainly religious books, a few on Lincoln and the Civil War. His biography on Wikipedia includes an impressive list of his books.
I couldn't locate this book on Internet Archives, but they do have a few others that he has written. (after a quick look through that list, 'Lincoln and the Bible' looks interesting)

Available on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-cabinet-C...is+cabinet
(I didn't pay that much)