The Lincoln Persuasion

List of Charts and TablesAcknowledgmentsEditor's NoteIntroduction to the Book1The Lincoln Myth Reconsidered9Lincoln's Ulterior Motives12Lincoln's Devotion to Liberty and Union16Lincoln's Principle of Action18Lincoln's Motives and Principle21The Problem of Political Conflict: Lincoln vs. Douglas26Lincoln's Principle as a Political Solution312American Political Culture: Liberal Consensus or Liberal Polarity?35American Exceptionalism: The Consensus Thesis36A Philosophical Critique: Multiple Meanings and Descriptions48The Bipolarity in American Liberalism50The Liberal Polarity: Conflicting Dispositions633Adams and Jefferson: A Shared Liberalism71Friendship, Rivalry, Friendship71The Problem of Adams's Liberalism73The Multiple Declensions of New England Culture76The Founding Synthesis78Equality and the Liberal Polarity904Adams, Jefferson, and the Slavery Paradox95The Slavery Paradox96Liberalism and the Issue of Slavery1055William Leggett: Process, Utility, and Laissez-Faire124Jacksonian Politics and Humanist Liberal Principles124Laissez-Faire: Leggett's Attenuated Republicanism127Leggett's Humanist Liberalism: Preferences and Process130Slavery1336Stephen A. Douglas and Popular Sovereignty140Jacksonian Politics and Humanist Liberalism141Douglas's Attenuated Republicanism145Preference Coordination148Slavery1507Martin Van Buren's Humanist Liberal Theory of Party154Jacksonian Democrat and Humanist Liberal155Van Buren's Humanist Liberal Theory of Party158Van Buren's Attenuated Republicanism169Slavery172Van Buren's Failure: Slavery and Preference Coordination1798John Quincy Adams191Adams's Whiggish Loyalties192Adams and Slavery196Adams's Liberalism198Reform Liberalism and Politics2059Lincoln and the North's Commitment to Liberty and Union222Douglas: Negative Liberty and a Quantitative Union223Webster: Positive Liberty and a Qualitative Union226Lincoln on Liberty and Union: A Conceptual Connection230Conclusion: Rule Ambiguity and Liberal Politics24010Lincoln's Political Humanitarianism: Moral Reform and the Covenant Tradition244Lincoln's Political Ethic245Lincoln's Protestant Ethic258Conclusion: Lincoln's Piety282Epilogue284References287Index299