Lincoln: a life of purpose and power

1. Inner power : Lincoln's ambition and political vision, 1809-54

Ambition

Political vision

Moral crisis : 1854

The religious roots of moral power

2. The power of opinion : Lincoln, the Illinois public, and the new political order, 1854-58

Lincoln, democratic politics and public opinion

Illinois public opinion and the anti-Nebraska fusion movement

The senatorial campaign of 1858

3. The power of party : winning the presidency, 1858-60

Presidential ambition : Lincoln, his party and the road to the Decatur convention

The Republican presidential nomination

The 1860 presidential campaign : the power of a righteous party

4. The limits of power : from president-elect to war president, 1860-61

In the antechamber to power : holding the party line

From Springfield to Sumter : building a united front

Strategies for 'a people's war'

'What shall I do? The people are impatient ... '

5. The purposes of power : evolving objectives, 1861-65

Reading the public

'Every indispensable means' : toward the Emancipation Proclamation

Faith and purposes

Faithfulness of purpose : emancipation, reconstruction and black citizenship

6. The instruments of power : coercion and voluntary mobilization, 1861-65

Coercion, repression and executive power

Popular mobilization : the 'power of the right word' and the agency of party

Popular mobilization : churches and philanthropic organizations

The Union army as a moral force

The election of 1864 : 'the second birth of our nation'

7. The potency of death.