Lincoln in the Divided House

Frontier lawyer of unusual gravity who wins the presidency of a fracturing union; refuses to recognize secession; prosecutes the war while writing letters of personal condolence to widows; signs the Emancipation Proclamation as a military and moral act; reelected in the war's middle; assassinated at the moment of victory. Failure mode: Wartime decisions wrestled in the letters; suspension of habeas corpus. Restoration path: Hold the union and free the slaves at once; write the personal letter; meet vindictive policy with charity for all. Markers: takes power of a fracturing union; refuses to legitimize the break; writes personal grief letters mid-war; emancipates inside the war; killed at the moment of victory — Lincoln in the Divided House, American, 1861-1865 (History)