The Portable Abraham Lincoln

by Lincoln, Abraham; Delbanco, Andrew; Delbanco, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780143105640
• ISBN10: 0143105647
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-27
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth with this new edition of his greatest speeches and writings 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 Lincolncontains 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.

Author Biography

Abraham Lincoln (1809-û 1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States.

Andrew Delbanco is the Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. He is the author of The New York Times Notable Books The Death of Satan, Required Reading, and The Real American Dream.

Table of Contents

The Portable Abraham Lincoln Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
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