Summary of Eric Foner's The Fiery Trial

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Abraham Lincoln was a critic of slavery from his youth, and he grew up in a world where slavery was a prevalent presence. He had only sporadic contact with black people, slave or free, until well into his life. #2 Lincoln was born in 1809 in a one-room Kentucky log cabin. When he was seven, his family moved across the Ohio River to southwestern Indiana, where Lincoln spent the rest of his childhood. In 1830, when Lincoln was 21 years old and about to strike out on his own, his father moved the family to central Illinois. #3 Lincoln’s family owned slaves, but they were not very involved in reform movements that aimed to better the conditions of this world. They were strict Calvinist predestinarians who believed that one’s actions had no bearing on eventual salvation. #4 The Old Northwest was a borderland where Native Americans and various people of English, French, and American descent lived. The defeat of the British and their ally Tecumseh erased any doubt about who would control the region. But a new borderland quickly emerged.