Don Edward Fehrenbacher (August 21, 1920 – December 13, 1997) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. He wrote on

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studie ...

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, and

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. He won the 1979

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

for '' The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics'', his book about the

Dred Scott Decision ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; thu ...

. In 1977 David M. Potter's '' The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861'', which he edited and completed, won the Pulitzer Prize. In 1997 he won the

Lincoln Prize The Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, founded by the late Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman in partnership with Gabor Boritt, Director Emeritus of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, is administered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute for Ameri ...

Biography

Born on August 21, 1920 in

Sterling, Illinois Sterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,782 at the 2020 census, down from 15,370 in 2010. Formerly nicknamed "Hardware Capital of the World", the city has long been associated with manufacturing an ...

. From 1953 to 1984 Fehrenbacher taught American history at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. Fehrenbacher died in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the 2020 census. Stanford is an unincorporated area of ...

. He was survived by his wife Virginia, three children, numerous grandchildren, a sister, Shirley, and two brothers, Robert and Marvin. His posthumous book, ''The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States government's Relations to Slavery'' (completed and edited by Ward M. McAfee), won the Avery O. Craven Award from the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...

in 2002.

Publications

1957 - ''Chicago Giant: A Biography of "Long John" Wentworth''
1962 - ''Prelude To Greatness: Lincoln In The 1850s''
1964 - ''A Basic History of California''
1964 - ''Abraham Lincoln: A Documentary Portrait Through His Speeches and Writings''
1968 - ''

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

: An Illustrated History''
1968 - ''Changing Image of Lincoln in American Historiography''
1969 - ''Era of Expansion 1800-1848''
1970 - ''The Leadership of Abraham Lincoln''
1970 - ''Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War, 1840-1861''
1970 - ''Leadership of Abraham Lincoln (Problems in American History)''
1976 - ''The Impending Crisis'' (completed and edited by)
1978 - ''Tradition, Conflict and Modernization (Studies in Social Discontinuity)''
1978 - '' The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics''
1979 - ''The Minor Affair: An Adventure in Forgery and Detection''
1980 - ''The South and Three Sectional Crises''
1981 - ''Slavery, Law, and Politics: The Dred Scott Case in Historical Perspective''
1987 - '' Lincoln in Text and Context: Collected Essays''
1989 - ''Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858''
1989 - ''Lincoln: Speeches and Writings: Volume 2: 1859-1865''
1989 - ''Constitutions and Constitutionalism in the Slaveholding South''
1995 - ''Sectional Crisis and Southern Constitutionalism''
1996 - ''Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln'' (compiled and edited with Virginia)
2001 - ''The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States government's Relations to Slavery'' (completed and edited by Ward M. McAfee)

References

External links

Don Edward Fehrenbacher Papers, 1928-1997
11.25 linear ft.) are housed in th

a
Stanford University Libraries
1920 births 1997 deaths Pulitzer Prize for History winners Stanford University alumni Stanford University Department of History faculty Lincoln Prize winners 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History People from Sterling, Illinois Historians from Illinois 20th-century American male writers American expatriates in the United Kingdom {{US-historian-stub