Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Stephen D. Engle -- Part I. Lincoln's war and the people's contest -- The passage of Lincoln's republic: Providence in progress / Orville Vernon Burton -- The President as pedagogue: teaching citizenship in time of war / J. Matthew Gallman -- Lincoln as Commander in Chief: forays into generalship / Mark Grimsley -- Part II. The war beyond the White House -- The political culture of the North: party politics of nation and state / Jennifer L. Weber -- Legalities in wartime: the myth of the writ of habeas corpus / Mark E. Neely Jr -- Emancipation in Washington, D.C.: battleground for freedom and reconstruction / Kate Masur -- Part III. The visible hand of leadership at home and abroad -- Lincoln as leader: the visible hand of the presidency / Richard J. Carwardine -- Lincoln as chief diplomat in war: perception and reality / Howard Jones -- Wartime reconstruction: constructing the union's new cornerstone / Brooks D. Simpson -- Epilogue. Lincoln's presidential legacy: the last best hope / Michael Burlingame.