Abraham Lincoln's first year was undoubtedly the most difficult of any U.S. president. When he took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, seven southern states had already seceded from the Union. "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies," Lincoln said that day. "Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."

Just over a month later, however, four more southern states joined the Confederacy, and America's Civil War began.

In this lecture, and the discussion that follows, the University of Virginia's Gary Gallagher, one of our nation's foremost authorities on the Civil War, discusses Lincoln's laser focus on preserving the Union, his overestimation of pro-Union sentiment in the South, and the lessons he learned during that painful first year.

This event was part of the Miller Center's ongoing Historical Presidency series. Elizabeth R. Varon, the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at UVA, moderated the discussion, and the Miller Center's Will Hitchcock provided the introduction.