The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

The Fiery Trial traces how Abraham Lincoln’s ideas and policies on slavery changed over his lifetime. Eric Foner begins with Lincoln’s early encounters with slavery in Kentucky and Indiana and follows him through the Illinois legislature in the 1830s, his term in Congress, his rise as a leader of the new Republican Party and his presidency during the Civil War. The book works closely from Lincoln’s own speeches and writings. Its title comes from his message to Congress of December 1862.