Assesses President Lincoln's leadership in the one hundred days preceding the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, a period characterized by mounting deaths on the battlefield and heated national debates.

September 22, 1862: Lincoln tells a story -- Toward emancipation -- Messages and measures -- A new departure -- Movement -- Judgments -- The reactions of scholars and soldiers -- Intervention and election fever -- "We cannot escape history" -- Standing firm -- Jubilee -- "Men of color, to arms!" -- "It can not be retracted" -- Emancipation triumphant -- April 4, 1865: Lincoln visits Richmond.