19. "The Man Does Not Live Who Is More Devoted to Peace Than I Am, But It May Be Necessary to Put the Foot Down Firmly": From Springfield to Washington (February 1122, 1861)
20. "I Am Now Going to Be Master": Inauguration (February 23March 4, 1861)
21. "A Man So Busy Letting Rooms in One End of His House, That He Can't Stop to Put Out the Fire That Is Burning in the Other": Distributing Patronage (MarchApril 1861)
22. "You Can Have No Conf lict Without Being Yourselves the Aggressors": The Fort Sumter Crisis (MarchApril 1861)
23. "I Intend to Give Blows": The Hundred Days (AprilJuly 1861)
24. Sitzkrieg: The Phony War (August 1861January 1862)
25 "This Damned Old House": The Lincoln Family in the Executive Mansion
26. "I Expect to Maintain This Contest Until Successful, or Till I Die, or Am Conquered, or My Term Expires, or Congress or the Country Forsakes Me": From the Slough of Despond to the Gates of Richmond (JanuaryJuly 1862)
27. "The Hour Comes for Dealing with Slavery": Playing the Last Trump Card (JanuaryJuly 1862)
28. "Would You Prosecute the War with Elder- Stalk Squirts, Charged with Rose Water?": The Soft War Turns Hard (JulySeptember 1862)
29. "I Am Not a Bold Man, But I Have the Knack of Sticking to My Promises!": The Emancipation Proclamation (September December 1862)
30. "Go Forward, and Give Us Victories": From the Mud March to Gettysburg (JanuaryJuly 1863)
31. "The Signs Look Better": Victory at the Polls and in the Field (JulyNovember 1863)
32. "I Hope to Stand Firm Enough to Not Go Backward, and Yet Not Go Forward Fast Enough to Wreck the Country's Cause": Reconstruction and Renomination (November 1863June 1864)
33. "Hold On with a Bulldog Grip and Chew and Choke as Much as Possible": The Grand Offensive (MayAugust 1864)
34. "The Wisest Radical of All": Reelection (SeptemberNovember 1864)
35. "Let the Thing Be Pressed": Victory at Last (November 1864 April 1865)
36. "I Feel a Presentiment That I Shall Not Outlast the Rebellion. When It Is Over, My Work Will Be Done.": The Final Days (April 915, 1865)
Acknowledgments
Note on Sources
Notes
Index