In this study, Paludan offers us Lincoln in the round - a complex, even contradictory personality who found greatness without seeking it and who felt deeply troubled about what he perceived as his failings as a President and person. Opinion has been divided about the "real" Lincoln - a conservative, a liberal, a great emancipator, a Union preservationist at all cost - but Paludan's Lincoln is both a constitutionalist and a liberal egalitarian who ultimately saw his efforts to preserve the Union and free the slaves as inseparably linked. Lincoln, Paludan contends, proved himself a truly great leader in a highly combustible situation. True, he was no saint and could rule with political expediency and a heavy hand. But no other President faced such awesome challenges, and none showed better how to meet them and move toward "a more perfect union." Offering fresh insights and interpretations, Paludan's study presents a new portrait of a President and nation at war. It aims to change the way we look as such things as Lincoln's evolving reconstruction plans, his restriction of civil liberties, and his handling of foreign affairs, and also to enlarge our understanding of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, which linked the President's personal feelings with the needs of the American nation.