Lincoln Speeches (Penguin Civic Classics)

As president, Abraham Lincoln endowed the American language with a vigor and moral energy that have all but disappeared from today's public rhetoric. His words are testaments of our history, windows into his enigmatic personality, and resonant examples of the writer's art. Renowned Lincoln and Civil War scholar Allen C. Guelzo brings together this volume of Lincoln Speeches that span the classic and obscure, the lyrical and historical, the inspirational and intellectual. The book contains everything from classic speeches that any citizen would recognize—the first debate with Stephen Douglas, the "House Divided" Speech, the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural Address—to the less known ones that professed Lincoln fans will come to enjoy and intellectuals and critics praise. These orations show the contours of the civic dilemmas Lincoln, and America itself, encountered: the slavery issue, state v. federal power, citizens and their duty, death and destruction, the coming of freedom, the meaning of the Constitution, and what it means to progress.

This well-rounded selection of Abraham Lincoln's finest speeches combines the classic and obscure, the lyrical and historical, and the inspirational and intellectual to present a historical arc marking periods of the Civil War-crisis, outbreak, escalation, victory, and Reconstruction. Addressing the conflict's multiple aspects-the issue of slavery, state versus federal power, the meaning of the Constitution, civic duty, death, and freedom-this elegant keepsake collection will make a wonderful inspirational gift for professed Lincoln fans, Civil War buffs, and lovers of rhetorical genius.

Abraham Lincoln endowed the American language with a vigor and moral energy that has all but disappeared from today's public rhetoric. Lincoln's writings are testaments of our history, windows into his enigmatic personality, and resonant examples of the writer's art. The Portable Abraham Lincoln contains the great public speeches-the first debate with Stephen Douglas, the "House Divided"speech, the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural Address-along with less familiar letters and memoranda that chart Lincoln's political career, his evolving stand against slavery, and his day-to-day conduct of the Civil War. This edition includes a revised introduction, updated notes on the text, a chronology of Lincoln's life, and four new selections of his writing.

A Note on the Texts

Chronology

The Portable Abraham Lincoln

The Emergence of Lincoln

To the People of Sangamo County, Mar. 9, 1832

Letter to Mrs. Orville H. Browning, Apr. 1, 1838

Letter to Joshua F. Speed, June 19, 1841

Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Jan. 27, 1838

Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity, July 31, 1846

Letter to William H. Herndon, Feb. 1, 1848

Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln, Apr. 16, 1848

Fragment on Niagara Falls (late Sept. 1848?)

Notes on the Practice of Law (1850?)

Lincoln Becomes a Republican

Fragment on Slavery (1854?)

Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, Illinois, Oct. 16, 1854

Letter to George Robertson, Aug. 15, 1855

Letter to Joshua F. Speed, Aug. 24, 1855

Speech on the Dred Scott Decision at Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857

"House Divided" Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858

Fragment on the Struggle Against Slavery (c. July 1858)

Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858

First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Ottawa, Illinois, Aug. 21, 1858

Letter to W. H. Wells, Jan. 8, 1859

Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1859

Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 30, 1859

The Presidential Campaign

Address at Cooper Institute, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860

Letter to Cornelius F. McNeill, Apr. 6, 1860

"Whiskers" Letter to Grace Bedell, Oct. 19, 1860

Secession and the Coming of the War

Passage Written for Lyman Trumbull's Speech at Springfield, Illinois, Nov. 20, 1860

Letter to Alexander H. Stephens, Dec. 22, 1860

Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1861

Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Feb. 22, 1861

First Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1861

Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Mar. 9, 1861

Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr, 1, 1861

Letter to Secretary of State William H. Seward, Apr. 1, 1861

Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr. 25, 1861

Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr. 27, 1861

Letter to Ephraim D. and Phoebe Ellsworth, May 25, 1861

Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861

Commander in Chief

Letter to Gen. John C. Fremont, Sept. 2, 1861

Message to Congress, Mar. 6, 1862

Letter to Gideon Welles, Mar. 10, 1862

Letter to Horace Greeley, Mar. 24, 1862

Address on Colonization to a Committee of Colored Men, Washington, D.C., Aug. 14, 1862

Letter to Horace Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862

Meditation on the Divine Will (c. early Sept. 1862)

Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Sept. 24, 1862

Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 13, 1862

Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 24, 1862

Memorandum on Furloughs, Nov. 1862

Letter to Carl Schurz, Nov. 24, 1862

Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862

Message to the Army of the Potomac, Dec. 22, 1862

Final Emancipation Proclamation, Jan.1, 1863

Letter to Gen. Joseph Hooker, Jan 26, 1863

Letter to Erastus Corning and Others, June 12, 1863

Letter to Samuel P. Lee, July 4, 1863

Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, July 14, 1863

Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863

Letter to Dr. John P. Gray, Sept. 10, 1863

Approval of Sentence of David M. Wright, Oct. 7, 1863

Letter to Gen. John G. Foster, Oct. 17, 1863

Opinion on the Draft (c. mid-Sept. 1863)

Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, Oct. 12, 1863

Memorandum on Testing Diller's Powder (Nov. 2, 1863, or after)

Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Nov. 19, 1863

Letter to Gov. Edward Everett, Nov. 20, 1863

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Dec. 8, 1863

Amnesty for Emily T. Helm, Dec. 14, 1863

Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 1, 1864

Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 5, 1864

Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 1, 1864

Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 18, 1864

Letter to Albert G. Hodges, Apr. 4, 1864

Draft of Address for Sanitary Fair at Baltimore, Maryland (before Apr. 18, 1864)

Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, Apr, 18, 1864

Letter to Sen. Charles Sumner, May 19, 1864

Letter to Charles D. Robinson, Aug. 17, 1864

Fate

Memorandum on Probable Failure of Re-election, Aug. 23, 1864

Draft of Letter to Isaac M. Schermerhorn, Sept. 12, 1864

Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 1864

Letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, Nov. 21, 1864

Letter to John Phillips, Nov. 21, 1864

Reply to a Southern Woman (Dec. 6, 1864, or before)

Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865

Letter to Thurlow Weed, Mar. 15, 1865

Speech to the 140th Indiana Regiment, Washington, D.C., Mar. 17, 1865

Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, 1865

Speech on Reconstruction, Washington, D.C., Apr. 11, 1865

Memorandum Concerning Passes to Richmond, Apr. 13 or 14, 1865

Biographical List of Lincoln's Correspondents

Index