Don Edward Fehrenbacher (August 21, 1920 – December 13, 1997) was an American historian. He wrote on politics, slavery, and

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. He won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for 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, and therefore they ...

. 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.

Biography

Born on August 21, 1920, in

Sterling, Illinois Sterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States, along the Rock River. 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 associate ...

. From 1953 to 1984 Fehrenbacher taught American history at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. 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, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...

. 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 incl ...

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: 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 England {{US-historian-stub