Lincoln’s road to freedom

The long and turning path to the abolition of American slavery has often been attributed to the equivocations and inconsistencies of antislavery leaders, including Abraham Lincoln. But James Oakes’s brilliant history of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies reveals a striking consistency and commitment extending over many years.

The linchpin of antislavery for Lincoln was the U.S. Constitution. Lincoln adopted the view that the Constitution made freedom the rule in the U.S., slavery the exception. Where federal power prevailed, so did freedom. Where state power prevailed, Lincoln used every tool available to undermine the institution.

This eye-opening book offers a fresh, powerful, and concise statement of Lincoln's roadmap to abolition.

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