Letting Lincoln's eloquent voice speak for itself, editor Michael Johnson has collected more than 180 of the writings and speeches that illuminate Lincolns life and career, from his youth to his entry into Republican politics and through his presidency. Classics like the Kansas-Nebraska speech, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and the Gettysburg Address, along with less familiar writings — poignant letters to individual voters, notes to generals on military strategy, and stirring public speeches — show the development of Lincoln's thought on free labor, slavery, secession, the Civil War, and emancipation. Johnson provides historical context by weaving an engaging narrative around Lincolns own words, making this volume the most accessible collection of Lincolns writings available. Also included are 14 illustrations, relevant Civil War maps, a Lincoln chronology, reading questions, a bibliography, and an index.
Foreword
Preface
List of Maps and Illustrations
Introduction: Abraham Lincoln, Wordsmith
A Note about the Text
1. Lessons of Life
Autobiographies
Letter to Jesse W. Fell, December 20, 1859
Autobiography Written for the 1860 Presidential Campaign,
circa June 1860
Ambition
To the People of Sangamo County, March 9, 1832
Address to the Young Mens Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,
January 27, 1838
Work
Letter to John D. Johnston, December 24, 1848
Letter to John D. Johnston, November 4, 1851
Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society,
Milwaukee, Wisconson, September 30, 1859
Religion
Handbill on Religion: To the Voters of the Seventh
Congressional District, July 31, 1846
2. Becoming a Republican
Henry Clay, Whig Statesman
Eulogy on Henry Clay, July 6, 1852
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, Illinois,
October 16, 1854
Justifications of Slavery
Fragment on Slavery, possibly 1854
"Where I Now Stand"
Letter to Joshua F. Speed, August 24, 1855
The Dred Scott Decision
Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, June 26, 1857
3. Leading the Republican Party
A House Divided
"A House Divided" Speech at Springfield, Illinois,
June 16, 1858
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, August 21, 1858
Fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, September 18, 1858
Fifth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 7, 1858
Sixth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 13, 1858
Seventh Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 15, 1858
Partisan Tactics
Letter to Norman B. Judd, October 20, 1858
The 1860 Campaign for President
Address at Cooper Institute, February 27, 1860
Remarks at a Republican Rally during the Presidential
Campaign, August 8, 1860
Letter to Grace Bedell, October 19, 1860
Letter to George T. M. Davis, October 27, 1860
Remarks after Victory in the Presidential Election,
Springfield, Illinois, November 20, 1860
4. The Secession Crisis
The Limits of Compromise
Letter to Lyman Trumbull, December 10, 1860
Letter to John A. Gilmer, December 15, 1860
Letter to Alexander H. Stephens, December 22, 1860
Letter to Duff Green, December 28, 1860
Letter to James W. Webb, December 29, 1860
Letter to James T. Hale, January 11, 1861
Letter to William H. Seward, February 1, 1861
Rallying the Union
Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois,
February 11, 1861
Speech from the Balcony of the Bates House at Indianapolis, Indiana, February 11, 1861
Speech to Germans at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 12, 1861
Speech at Cleveland, Ohio, February 15, 1861
Speech in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
February 22, 1861
First Inaugural Address
First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
5. A War to Save the Union
The Fort Sumter Crisis
Letter to Winfield Scott, March 9, 1861
Letter to William H. Seward, April 1, 1861
Letter to Robert Anderson, April 4, 1861
Organizing for War
Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress,
April 15, 1861
Reply to a Baltimore Committee, April 22, 1861
Letter to Reverdy Johnson, April 24, 1861
Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861
The Aftermath of Defeat at Bull Run
Memoranda of Military Policy Suggested by the
Bull Run Defeat, July 23, 1861, and July 27, 1861
Letter to John A. McClernand, November 10, 1861
Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861
6. Marching South
"Delay Is Ruining Us"
Letter to Ambrose E. Burnside, December 26, 1861
Letter to Don C. Buell, January 4, 1862
Letter to Don C. Buell, January 6, 1862
Letter to Don C. Buell, January 7, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, January 9, 1862
Letter to Don C. Buell, January 13, 1862
Presidents General War Order No. 1, January 27, 1862
The Peninsula Campaign
Letter to George B. McClellan, February 3, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, February 8, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, March 13, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, April 9, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, May 25, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, June 26, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, June 28, 1862
Letter to William H. Seward, June 28, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, July 1, 1862
Letter to Agénor-Etienne de Gasparin, August 4, 1862
The Second Battle of Bull Run and Antietam
Meditation on Divine Will, September 2, 1862?
Letter to George B. McClellan, September 8, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, September 10, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, September 12, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, September 15, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, October 13, 1862
Letter to George B. McClellan, October 24 [25], 1862
Memorandum on Furloughs, November 1862
Home-Front Politics
Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus,
September 24, 1862
Letter to Carl Schurz, November 24, 1862
Congratulations to the Army of the Potomac,
December 22, 1862
Letter to Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862
7. Toward Emancipation
Reassuring Loyal Southerners
Letter to John C. Frémont, September 2, 1861
Letter to John C. Frémont, September 11, 1861
Letter to Orville H. Browning, September 22, 1861
Message to Congress, March 6, 1862
Letter to Henry J. Raymond, March 9, 1862
Letter to Horace Greeley, March 24, 1862
Proclamation Revoking General Hunters Order
of Military Emancipation, May 19, 1862
Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor
Compensated Emancipation, July 12, 1862
Message to the Senate and House of Representatives,
July 17, 1862
Letter to Cuthbert Bullitt, July 28, 1862
Letter to August Belmont, July 31, 1862
Address on Colonization to a Delegation of Black Americans, August 14, 1862
Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862
Announcing Emancipation
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862
Letter to Hannibal Hamlin, September 28, 1862
Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862
Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863
8. A War for Freedom and Union
Emancipation and Black Soldiers
Letter to John A. McClernand, January 8, 1863
Letter to John A. Dix, January 14, 1863
Letter to Andrew Johnson, March 26, 1863
Letter to David Hunter, April 1, 1863
Letter to Edwin M. Stanton, July 21, 1863
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, August 9, 1863
Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863
Draft of a Communication to Stephen A. Hurlbut,
circa August 15, 1863
Letter to John M. Schofield, June 22, 1863
Letter to Stephen A. Hurlbut, July 31, 1863
Letter to Salmon P. Chase, September 2, 1863
The Decisive Summer of 1863
Letter to Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863
Memorandum on Joseph Hookers Plan of Campaign
against Richmond, circa April 6-10, 1863
Letter to Joseph Hooker, May 7, 1863
Letter to Joseph Hooker, June 5, 1863
Announcement of News from Gettysburg, July 4, 1863
Letter to Henry W. Halleck, July 6, 1863
Response to a Serenade, July 7, 1863
Letter to Henry W. Halleck, July 7, 1863
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, July 13, 1863
Letter to George G. Meade, July 14, 1863
Letter to Oliver O. Howard, July 21, 1863
Letter to Henry W. Halleck, September 19, 1863
Politics of War and Freedom
Letter to the Workingmen of Manchester, England,
January 19, 1863
Letter to Erastus Corning and Others, June 12, 1863
Letter to Montgomery Blair, July 24, 1863
Letter to Horatio Seymour, August 7, 1863
Letter to James C. Conkling, August 26, 1863
Opinion on the Draft, September 14?, 1863
The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
9. Defending a New Birth of Freedom
War without End
Speech to Ulysses S. Grant, March 9, 1864
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, April 30, 1864
Planning Reconstruction
Letter to Nathaniel P. Banks, August 5, 1863
Letter to Andrew Johnson, September 11, 1863
Letter to Nathaniel P. Banks, November 5, 1863
Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1863
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction,
December 8, 1863
Letter to Alpheus Lewis, January 23, 1864
Letter to Michael Hahn, March 13, 1864
Proclamation Concerning Reconstruction, July 8, 1864
The Political Campaign for Union, Freedom,
and War
Remarks at Closing of Sanitary Fair, Washington, D.C.,
March 18, 1864
Reply to New York Workingmens Democratic Republican Association, March 21, 1864
Letter to Edwin M. Stanton, July 27, 1864
Letter to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864
Letter to Mrs. Horace Mann, April 5, 1864
Speech at Great Central Sanitary Fair, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, June 16, 1864
Letter to Horace Greeley, July 9, 1864
To Whom It May Concern, July 18, 1864
Letter to Charles D. Robinson, August 17, 1864
Interview with Alexander W. Randall and Joseph T. Mills,
August 19, 1864
Speech to 166th Ohio Regiment, August 22, 1864
Memorandum Concerning Lincolns Probable Failure
of Re-election, August 23, 1864
Glorious Victories
Order of Thanks to David G. Farragut and Others,
September 3, 1864
Order of Thanks to William T. Sherman and Others,
September 3, 1864
Proclamation of Thanksgiving and Prayer,
September 3, 1864
Letter to Eliza P. Gurney, September 4, 1864
Letter to Philip H. Sheridan, October 22, 1864
Speech to 189th New York Volunteers, October 24, 1864
A Vote for Union, Freedom, and War?
Letter to Isaac M. Schermerhorn, September 12, 1864
Letter to William T. Sherman, September 19, 1864
Response to a Serenade, November 10, 1864
Letter to Lydia Bixby, November 21, 1864
10. "To Finish the Work We Are In"
The War Continues
Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1864
Letter to George H. Thomas, December 16, 1864
Letter to William T. Sherman, December 26, 1864
Letter to Edwin M. Stanton, January 5, 1865
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, January 19, 1865
Toward Peace and Freedom
Letter to William H. Seward, January 31, 1865
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, February 1, 1865
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, March 3, 1865
Resolution Submitting the Thirteenth Amendment
to the States, February 1, 1865
Response to a Serenade, February 1, 1865
Message to the Senate and House of Representatives,
February 5, 1865
"That This Mighty Scourge of War May
Speedily Pass Away"
Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
Letter to Thurlow Weed, March 15, 1865
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, March 9, 1865
Speech to 140th Indiana Regiment, March 17, 1865
Letter to John A. Campbell, April 5, 1865
Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, April 7, 1865
Response to a Serenade, April 10, 1865
Last Public Address, April 11, 1865
Appendixes
An Abraham Lincoln Chronology (1809-1865)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index