Abraham Lincoln did not simply win a war or hold the union together. In his unwillingness to demonize those against whom he fought, in his refusal to succumb to either the hatred or self- righteousness that war can unleash, in his ultimate insistence that in the aftermath of war the nation would no longer remain half-slave and half-free, in his trust in the better angels of our nature, Lincoln displayed the wisdom and courage that sets a standard for patriotism.