1. Quoted in Earl J. Hess, Liberty, Virtue and Progress: Northerners and their War for the Union (New York: New York University Press, 1988), 29
2. Abraham Lincoln, “Message to Congress in Special Session,” July 4, 1861, in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 8 vols. (New Brunswick, NJ.: Rutgers University Press,1953–1955), 4: 421–441; Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address”, March 4, 1865, Collected Works, 8: 332–333.
3. James M. McPherson, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). McPherson’s interpretation of the war is explained at greatest length in his masterful and hugely influential Battle Cry of Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987). Critiques of McPherson’s interpretation include:
4. Michael Johnson, “Battle Cry of Freedom?”, Reviews in American History 17 (June 1989)
5. Edward L. Ayers’much-cited essay “Worrying About the Civil War” in his What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the South and Southern History (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005).