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. 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...'
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. Conclusion : power in death
Chronology of Lincoln's life.