Lincoln and the politics of slavery: the other Thirteenth Amendment and the struggle to save the union

Prologue : The bread pill

The antebellum context : The abolition movement and the problem of the Constitution ; Antislavery politics and the problem of the constitution ; The Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, and the problem of the Constitution

Origins of the other Thirteenth Amendment : Mutual misconceptions ; The Seward amendment ; The Corwin amendment

Debating the other Thirteenth Amendment : Reaching across the abyss ; The unfazed and the alarmed ; The amendment assessed

The abortive launch : Congress acts ; The president speaks ; The ratification fizzle

Epilogue One : James M. Ashley and the Thirteenth Amendment

Epilogue Two : John A. Bingham and the Fourteenth Amendment.