xviii, 352 pages ; 21 cm

"As a staunch defender of national unity, a successful war-leader, and the emancipator of the slaves, Abraham Lincoln lays compelling claim to being the greatest of America's presidents." "This fresh political biography examines Lincoln both as a rising politician and as president, and focuses on the sources of his authority and achievement. It reveals his political talents and serious moral purpose but shows, too, how in pursuing office he depended on public opinion and the machinery of party. As war-leader, he saw the limits as well as the possibilities of power, and looked beyond the government to other engines of support, including the churches, the humanitarian agencies, and the volunteer Union army."--Jacket

"Winner of the 2004 Lincoln Prize"--Cover

Includes bibliographical references (pages 320-329) and index

Inner power : Lincoln's ambition and political vision, 1809-54 ; Ambition ; Political vision ; Moral crisis : 1854 ; The religious roots of moral power -- 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 -- 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 -- Confronting 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 ... ' -- 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 -- 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'. -- Conclusion : power in death -- Chronology of Lincoln's life

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