"Ever since his death a century and a half ago, Abraham Lincoln has provided a lens through which we Americans examine ourselves."
Prologue, p. 13

"'I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think, and feel.'"
Chap. 1, p. 22

"The free states shared in the profits of slavery. As Lincoln experienced on his journeys to New Orleans, the slave states provided a crucial market for the produce of free western farmers."
Chap. 1, p. 35

"To Lincoln, Whig policies offered the surest means of creating economic opportunities for upwardly striving men like himself."
Chap. 2, p. 57

"Earlier in his career, Lincoln had described slavery as unjust, but never before had he referred to it as a 'monstrous injustice'."
Chap. 3, p. 86

"Much of Taney's opinion consisted of a historical discussion purporting to demonstrate that the founding fathers had not recognized black...