Was Lincoln a dictator, albeit benign? Was he a revolutionary nationalist, casting aside constitutional forms and procedures and paving the way for a twentieth-century "imperial presidency"? Or was he a constitutional chief executive who, even in the nation's darkest hour of crisis, operated within the limits imposed by the Founding Fathers? Was Reconstruction a revolutionary repudiation of the Constitution, or a legitimate amendment thereof?

This book, by one of the nation's leading constitutional historians, analyzes the nature and tendency of American constitutionalism during the nation's greatest political crisis. In a series of related essays, Herman Belz combines detailed narrative with probing judicial analysis of the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, his exercise of executive power, and the application of the equality principle which would become a central issue during Reconstruction.