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In 1862, the ardent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison summarized the events that were tearing the United States apart: “There is a war because there was an Abolition Party because there was a Republican Party. There was a Republican Party because there was an Abolition Party. There was an Abolition Party because there was Slavery.”

Garrison's stark words convey the essential truths at the heart of LeeAnna Keith's When It Was Grand. here is the full story, dramatically told, of the Radical Republicans- the champions of abolition who helped found a new political party and turn it toward the extirpation of slavery. Keith introduces us to the idealistic Massachusetts preachers and philanthropists, African American activists, and rugged Midwestern politicians who collaborated to protect escaped slaves from their former captors, create and defend black military regiments, and win the contest for the soul of their party. Keith's fast-paced, deeply researched narrative gives us new perspectives on figures including Ralph Waldo Emerson; John Brown; the gruff antislavery general John Fremont and his astute wife, Jessie Benton Fremont; and the radicals' sometime critic and sometime partner Abraham Lincoln.

Hard cover.