Abstract Writing of Abe Lincoln after the Civil War, Frederick Douglass foreshadowed a natural divergence when evaluating the 16th president. ‘Viewed from the genuine abolitionist ground’, observed Douglass, ‘Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country … he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined’. Douglass himself concluded that ‘Great Emancipator’ had largely failed to imagine anything approaching a biracial America, remaining ‘pre-eminently the white man’s President’. Taking their cue from Douglass, scholars in our own time have largely concurred. A central tenet of Civil War history since the 1950s has revolved around the notion of a great chasm dividing the ‘dull and indifferent’ Lincoln from the zealous and idealistic abolitionists. Only recently, almost coterminous with the ascension of Barack Obama to American presidency, this divide seems to have shrunk and the evaluation of the radicals and the reformer president shown signs of what I call ‘convergence’. Prominent historians now view the radicals and the Republican leader more synoptically. Hollywood has reinforced the new Lincoln in the public eye. Stephen Spielberg has joined the scholars in giving us a Lincoln for the Age of Obama. How long this convergence view will last is open for debate, with the Trump era already reminding Americans that the stark divisions of the present suggest fundamental rifts in the past.

中文翻译：

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奥巴马和斯皮尔伯格时代的安倍·林肯

内战之后，安倍·林肯的抽象著作，弗雷德里克·道格拉斯（Frederick Douglass）在评估第16任总统时就预示了自然分歧。道格拉斯先生说：“从真正的废奴主义者角度来看”。林肯显得迟钝，寒冷，迟钝和冷漠。但是用他的国家的情感来衡量他……他敏捷，热情，激进和坚定”。道格拉斯本人得出的结论是，“伟大的解放者”在很大程度上未曾想到有什么东西正在接近种族混血的美国，而仍然“以白人总统为首”。从道格拉斯那里获得线索，我们这个时代的学者在很大程度上达成了一致。自1950年代以来，南北战争历史的中心宗旨一直围绕着巨大的鸿沟概念，将“沉闷而冷漠的”林肯与热心而理想的废奴主义者分开。直到最近 与巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama）升任美国总统职位几乎相伴，这种分歧似乎已经缩小，对激进分子和改革派总统的评价也显示出我称之为“趋同”的迹象。著名的历史学家现在更顺应地看待激进分子和共和党领袖。好莱坞在公众眼中强化了新的林肯。史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格（Stephen Spielberg）与学者一起为我们提供了奥巴马时代的林肯。这种融合观点将持续多久尚待辩论，特朗普时代已经使美国人想起，目前的鲜明分歧暗示了过去的根本裂痕。著名的历史学家现在更顺应地看待激进分子和共和党领袖。好莱坞在公众眼中强化了新的林肯。史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格（Stephen Spielberg）与学者一起为我们提供了奥巴马时代的林肯。这种融合观点将持续多久尚待辩论，特朗普时代已经使美国人想起，目前的鲜明分歧暗示了过去的根本裂痕。著名的历史学家现在更顺应地看待激进分子和共和党领袖。好莱坞在公众眼中强化了新的林肯。史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格（Stephen Spielberg）与学者一起为我们提供了奥巴马时代的林肯。这种融合观点将持续多久尚待辩论，特朗普时代已经使美国人想起，目前的鲜明分歧暗示了过去的根本裂痕。