Lincoln is performed for college students and others interested in Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War period 1850 to 1865. Ihe play deals with characters and events that brought about the war, i.e. slavery, Dred Scott decision, John Brown, the raid at Harper's Ferry, and the southern argument for secession. It features politics and the war and Lincoln as commander-in-chief. Mostly, it explores the character of Lincoln, "whose everlasting melancholy runs like a deep stream under the funny stories." (Benet) Lincoln is composed of thirteen scenes woven together and presented in a seamless narrative. Seven of the scenes highlight passages from John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet, which are quoted verbatim. They form the spiritual core of the work.