Lincoln on Democracy

by Cuomo, Mario C.; Holzer, Harold

• ISBN13: 9780823223459
• ISBN10: 0823223450
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-01
• Publisher: Fordham University Press

Summary

Back in print after ten years, this unique book brings together 141 speeches, speech excerpts, letters, fragments, and other writings by Lincoln on the theme of democracy. Selected by leading historians, the writings include such standards as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, but also such little-seen writings as a letter assuring a general that the President felt safe--drafted just three days before Lincoln's assassination. In this richly annotated anthology, the writings are grouped thematically into seven sections that cover politics, slavery, the union, democracy, liberty, the nation divided, and the American Dream. The introductions are by well-known historians: Gabor Borritt, William E. Gienapp, Charles B. Strozier, Richard Nelson Current, James M. McPherson, Mark E. Neely, Jr., and Hans L. Trefousse. In addition, each section's title page displays a photograph of Lincoln from the time period covered in that section, with a paragraph describing the source and the occasion for which the photograph was made.

Author Biography

Mario C. Cuomo is the former Governor of New York. His most recent book is Why Lincoln Matters: Now More Than Ever. Harold Holzer, Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of the nation's leading authorities on Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. He served as co-chairman of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and has written, co-written, or edited 35 books.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Fordham University Press Edition	xxiii
Mario M. Cuomo
Harold Holzer
Preface	xxvii
Mario M. Cuomo
Introduction	xxxiii
Harold Holzer
A Note on the Lincoln Texts, and the Introductory Essays	xlv
``Not Much of Me'' Lincoln's ``Autobiography,'' Age 50, December 20, 1859	xlix
``The People's Business'' Lincoln and the American Dream 1832--1852
Introduction	3	(6)
Gabor S. Boritt
``No Wealthy . . . Relations to Recommend Me'' From a Message to the People of Sangamo County, March 9, 1832	9	(2)
``I Shall Be Governed by Their Will'' Announcement in the Sangamo Journal, June 13, 1836	11	(1)
``The People Know Their Rights'' From a Speech to the Illinois Legislature, January 11, 1837	12	(1)
``Injustice and Bad Policy'' Protest in the Illinois Legislature on Slavery, March 3, 1837	13	(2)
``The Political Religion of the Nation'' Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838	15	(9)
``The Wealthy Can Not Justly Complain'' Letter to William S. Wait, March 2, 1839	24	(1)
``Many Free Countries Have Lost Their Liberty'' From a Speech on the Subtreasury, Springfield, Illinois, December 26, 1839	25	(1)
```God Tempers the Wind''' From a Letter to Mary Speed, September 27, 1841	26	(2)
``The Sorrow Quenching Draughts of Perfect Liberty'' From an Address Before Springfield's Washington Temperance Society, February 22, 1842	28	(2)
``By the Fruit the Tree Is to Be Known'' Letter to Williamson Durley, October 3, 1845	30	(2)
``Useless Labour Is...The Same as Idleness'' Fragments on Labor and the Tariff Issue, December 1847?	32	(2)
``The Right to Rise Up'' From a Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Mexican War, January 12, 1848	34	(2)
``No One Man Should Hold the Power'' Letter to William H. Herndon, February 15, 1848	36	(2)
``There Are Few Things Wholly Evil, or Wholly Good'' From a Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on Internal Improvements, June 20, 1848	38	(2)
``Leaving the People's Business in Their Hands'' From a Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Presidential Question, July 27, 1848	40	(1)
``Go to Work, `Tooth and Nails''' Letter to His Stepbrother, December 24, 1848	41	(2)
``Valuable to His Adopted Country'' Resolution and Letter on Napoleon Koscialowski, February 20, 1850	43	(1)
``Resolve to Be Honest'' Notes for a Law Lecture, July 1, 1850?	44	(2)
``The Presidency... Is No Bed of Roses'' From a Eulogy of Zachary Taylor, Chicago, Illinois, July 25, 1850	46	(3)
``Principles Held Dear'' Resolutions Supporting Hungarian Freedom, Springfield, Illinois, January 9, 1852	49	(2)
``A Deep Devotion to the Cause of Human Liberty'' From a Eulogy of Henry Clay, Springfield, Illinois, July 6, 1852	51	(4)
``All We Have Ever Held Sacred'' Lincoln and Slavery 1854--1857
Introduction	55	(7)
William E. Gienapp
``We Proposed to Give All a Chance'' Fragments on Slavery, July 1, 1854?	62	(1)
```To Do for the People What Needs to Be Done''' Fragments on Government, July 1, 1854?	63	(2)
``Our Republican Robe Is Soiled'' From a Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854	65	(13)
``No Peaceful Extinction of Slavery in Prospect'' Letter to George Robertson, August 15, 1855	78	(2)
``I Am Not a Know-Nothing'' Letter to Joshua F. Speed, August 24, 1855	80	(4)
``This Great Principle of Equality'' From a Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan, August 27, 1856	84	(2)
``Free Society Is Not ... A Failure'' From a Speech at Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1856	86	(2)
``A Standard Maxim for Free Society'' From a Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857	88	(4)
``Not Bloody Bullets, But Peaceful Ballots'' From a Draft of a Speech, December 1857?	92	(5)
``Another Explosion Will Come'' Lincoln and the House Divided 1858
Introduction	97	(8)
Charles B. Strozier
``Government Cannot Endure . . . Half Slave and Half Free'' The House Divided Speech, Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858	105	(9)
``The Electric Cord in That Declaration'' From a Speech in Reply to Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858	114	(4)
``Fight This Battle Upon Principle'' From a Speech in Reply to Douglas, Springfield, Illinois, July 17, 1858	118	(3)
``This Expresses My Idea of Democracy'' Definition of Democracy, August 1, 1858?	121	(1)
``Return to the Fountain'' From a Speech at Lewistown, Illinois, August 17, 1858	121	(2)
``I Claim No . . . Exemption from Personal Ambition'' Fragments for a Speech, August 21, 1858?	123	(2)
``The Moral Lights Around Us'' Extracts from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates: From Lincoln's Reply, First Debate, Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858	125	(2)
``Our Reliance Is in the Love of Liberty'' From a Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois, September 11, 1858	127	(1)
``Never Have Had a Black Woman for Either a Slave or a Wife'' Extracts from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates: From Lincoln's Speech, Fourth Debate, Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858	128	(2)
``Give to Him That Is Needy'' Fragment on Slavery, October 1, 1858?	130	(2)
```He Trembled for His Country''' Extracts from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates: From Lincoln's Reply, Fifth Debate, Galesburg, Illinois, October 7, 1858	132	(2)
``The Eternal Struggle'' Extracts from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates: From Lincoln's Reply, Seventh and Final Debate, Alton, Illinois, October 15, 1858	134	(2)
``The Fight Must Go On'' Letter to Henry Asbury, November 19, 1858	136	(5)
``Right Makes Might'' Lincoln and the Race for President 1859--1860
Introduction	141	(7)
Richard Nelson Current
``Sole Hope of the Future'' From a Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Decatur, and Springfield, February 11, 1859	148	(6)
``He Who Would Be No Slave, Must Consent to Have No Slave'' Letter to Boston Republicans, April 6, 1859	154	(2)
``Aim at the Elevation of Men'' Letter to Theodore Canisius, May 17, 1859	156	(1)
``The Moral Lights Around Us'' From a Speech at Columbus, Ohio, September 16, 1859	157	(2)
``Equality . . . Beats Inequality'' Fragment on Free Labor, September 17, 1859?	159	(1)
``Free Labor . . . Gives Hope to All'' From an Address Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859	160	(4)
``Let Us Stand by Our Duty'' From an Address at Cooper Union, New York City, February 27, 1860	164	(11)
``The Laborer Can Strike If He Wants To'' From a Speech at Hartford, Connecticut, March 5, 1860	175	(1)
``Allow the Humblest Man an Equal Chance'' From a Speech at New Haven, Connecticut, March 6, 1860	176	(1)
``I Accept the Nomination'' Letter to George Ashmun, May 23, 1860	177	(1)
``Work, Work, Work Is the Main Thing'' Letter to John M. Brockman, September 25, 1860	178	(1)
``I Rejoice with You in the Success'' Remarks at Springfield, Illinois, November 20, 1860	179	(1)
``The Tug Has to Come'' Letter to Senator Lyman Trumbull, December 10, 1860	180	(3)
``Hour of Trial'' Lincoln and Union 1861
Introduction	183	(5)
James M. McPherson
``The Principle That Clears the Path for All'' Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, January 1861?	188	(1)
``If We Surrender, It Is the End of Us'' Letter to James T. Hale, January 11, 1861	189	(1)
``With a Task Before Me'' Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1861	190	(1)
``Liberty, for Yourselves, and Not for Me'' Reply to Governor Oliver P. Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana, February 11, 1861	191	(1)
``There Is But Little Harm I Can Do'' From a Speech at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, February 12, 1861	192	(1)
``Give the Greatest Good to the Greatest Number'' From a Speech to Germans at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 12, 1861	193	(1)
``The Majority Shall Rule'' From a Speech at Steubenville, Ohio, February 14, 1861	194	(1)
``The Ship Can Be Saved, with the Cargo'' Reply to Mayor Fernando Wood, City Hall, New York, February 20, 1861	195	(1)
``In Accordance with the Original Idea'' Address to the State Senate, Trenton, New Jersey, February 21, 1861	196	(2)
``I Would Rather Be Assassinated'' Speech in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1861	198	(1)
``Plain As a Turnpike Road'' Informal Remarks to Delegates to the Peace Conference, Willard's Hotel, Washington, February 23, 1861	199	(2)
``The Momentous Issue of Civil War'' First Inaugural Address, Washington, March 4, 1861	201	(9)
``I Hope We Have a Government and a President'' Reply to a Pennsylvania Delegation, the White House, March 5, 1861	210	(1)
``The Perpetuity of Popular Government'' Proclamation Calling Out the Militia, and Convening a Special Session of Congress, April 15, 1861	211	(2)
``We Can Not Permanently Prevent Their Action'' Letter to General Winfield Scott, April 25, 1861	213	(1)
``Suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus'' Letter to General Winfield Scott, April 27, 1861	214	(1)
``The Central Idea Pervading This Struggle'' Informal Comments on Popular Government, the White House, May 7, 1861	215	(1)
``A Polish Gentleman . . . Highly Recommended'' Letter to Secretary of War Simon Cameron, May 20, 1861	216	(1)
``This Is . . . a People's Contest'' From a Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861	217	(9)
``Allow No Man to Be Shot'' Letter to General John C. Fremont, September 2, 1861	226	(1)
``I Cannot Assume This Reckless Position'' Letter to Orville H. Browning, September 22, 1861	227	(2)
``Wanting to Work Is So Rare'' Letter to George D. Ramsay, October 17, 1861	229	(1)
``The Capacity of Man for Self-Government'' Reply to Edward, Count Piper, the White House, November 8, 1861	230	(1)
``The Struggle of Today . . . for a Vast Future Also'' From the Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861	231	(6)
``Forever Free'' Lincoln and Liberty 1862--1863
Introduction	237	(6)
Mark E. Neely, Jr.
``The Principle of the Equal Rights of Men'' Greetings to the Minister from Peru, the White House, March 4, 1862	243	(1)
``Gradual . . . Emancipation, Is Better for All'' Message to Congress, March 6, 1862	244	(2)
``Government Was Saved from Overthrow'' From a Message to the Senate and House of Representatives, May 26, 1862	246	(1)
``Our Common Country Is in Great Peril'' From an Appeal to Border State Representatives on Compensated Emancipation, the White House, July 12, 1862	247	(2)
``A Fit and Necessary Military Measure'' First Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, July 22, 1862	249	(2)
``Your Race Are Suffering'' From an Address on Colonization to a Committee of Black Leaders, the White House, August 14, 1862	251	(2)
``My Paramount Object in This Struggle'' Reply to Horace Greeley's ``Prayer of Twenty Millions,'' August 22, 1862	253	(1)
``God Wills This Contest'' Meditation on the Divine Will, September 2, 1862?	254	(1)
``The Time Has Come Now'' Remarks at Cabinet Meeting, the White House, September 22, 1862	255	(2)
``Thenceforward, and Forever Free'' Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862	257	(3)
``To Suppress the Insurrection'' Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, September 24, 1862	260	(2)
``Breath Alone Kills No Rebels'' Letter to Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, September 28, 1862	262	(1)
``A Fiery Trial'' Reply to a Quaker Prayer, October 26, 1862	263	(1)
``We Cannot Escape History'' From the Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862	264	(5)
``The Promise Must Now Be Kept'' Informal Remarks to Witnesses at the Signing of the Final Emancipation Proclamation, the White House, January 1, 1863	269	(1)
``Sincerely Believed to Be . . . An Act of Justice'' Final Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863	270	(3)
``An Instance of Sublime Christian Heroism'' Reply to the Workingmen of Manchester, England, January 19, 1863	273	(2)
``I Will Risk the Dictatorship'' Letter to General Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863	275	(1)
``Resist . . . Such Recognition'' Resolution Condemning Pro-Slavery Nations, April 15, 1863	276	(1)
``Public Safety Does Require the Suspension'' From a Letter to Albany, New York, Democrats, June 12, 1863	277	(5)
``The Decision Is to Be Made'' From a Response to Resolutions from Ohio Democrats, June 29, 1863	282	(1)
``How Long Ago Is It?---Eighty Odd Years'' Response to a Victory Serenade, the White House, July 7, 1863	283	(1)
``My `Public-Opinion Baths''' Remarks to a Visiting Journalist, the White House, July 25, 1863	284	(1)
``Those Who Shall Have Tasted Actual Freedom . . . Can Never Be Slaves'' From a Letter to Stephen A. Hurlbut, July 31, 1863	285	(1)
``Better Prepared for the New'' From a Letter to Nathaniel P. Banks, August 5, 1863	286	(2)
``You Say You Will Not Fight to Free Negroes'' Letter to James C. Conkling, August 26, 1863	288	(4)
``The Boundless Field of Absolutism?'' Draft Letter to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, September 2, 1863	292	(1)
``Has the Manhood of Our Race Run Out?'' From an Opinion on the Draft, September 14, 1863?	293	(3)
``I Do Not Intend to Be a Tyrant'' Informal Comments to and About Radical Republicans, September 30 and October 28, 1863	296	(5)
``For Us the Living'' Lincoln and Democracy 1863--1865
Introduction	301	(6)
Hans L. Trefousse
``New Birth of Freedom'' The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863	307	(1)
``You Will Not Find That to Be an Obstacle'' Informal Remarks to a Lieutenant, the White House, 1863?	308	(1)
``The New Reckoning'' From the Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1863	309	(2)
``I Have Never Interfered . . . in Any Church'' From a Letter to Oliver D. Filley, December 22, 1863	311	(1)
``Common Looking People Are the Best in the World'' Informal Comments to His Secretary, the White House, December 23, 1863	312	(1)
``Universal Amnesty . . . with Universal Suffrage'' From a Letter to General James S. Wadsworth, January 1864?	313	(1)
``Keep the Jewel of Liberty'' Letter to Michael Hahn, March 13, 1864	314	(1)
``Let Not Him Who Is Houseless Pull Down the House of Another'' From a Reply to the New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association, the White House, March 21, 1864	315	(1)
``Never Knew a Man Who Wished to Be . . . A Slave'' Fragment on Slavery, March 22, 1864	316	(1)
``If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong'' Letter to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864	316	(3)
``The Limb Must Be Sacrificed'' Informal Remarks on U.S.-British Relations to George Thompson and Others, the White House, April 7, 1864	319	(1)
``A Good Definition of the Word Liberty'' From an Address at ``Sanitary Fair,'' Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864	320	(1)
``So That They Can Have the Benefit'' Letter to Senator Charles Sumner, May 19, 1864	321	(2)
``May I Have to Answer for Robbing No Man'' Response to a Delegation of Baptists, May 30, 1864	323	(1)
``A Fitting, and Necessary Conclusion'' Reply to the Committee Notifying President Lincoln of His Renomination, the White House, June 9, 1864	324	(1)
``The People's Business'' Informal Remarks on the Election, the White House, August 1864	325	(1)
``I Should Deserve to Be Damned'' Conversation with Wisconsin Politicians, the Soldiers' Home, Outside Washington, August 1864	325	(2)
``Kindly Paying Attention'' Letter to John McMahon, August 6, 1864	327	(1)
``Any One of Your Children May Look to Come Here'' Speech to the 166th Ohio Regiment, the White House, August 22, 1864	328	(1)
``My Duty to Co-operate'' Memorandum on His Chances for Reelection, August 23, 1864	329	(1)
``The Purposes of the Almighty Are Perfect'' Letter to Eliza P. Gurney, September 4, 1864	330	(1)
``Struggling to Maintain Government, Not to Overthrow It'' From a Response to a Serenade, the White House, October 19, 1864	331	(1)
``Discharge Him at Once'' Letter to the Governor of Kentucky, November 10, 1864	332	(1)
``The Election Was a Necessity'' Response to a Serenade, the White House, November 10, 1864	333	(2)
``Not the Sort of Religion Upon Which People Can Get to Heaven'' Story Written for a Newspaper, December 6, 1864	335	(1)
``The Voice of the People'' From the Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1864	336	(2)
``Neither Slavery Nor Involuntary Servitude . . . Shall Exist'' Resolution Submitting to the States the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, February 1, 1865	338	(1)
``A King's Cure for All the Evils'' Response to a Serenade, the White House, February 1, 1865	339	(1)
``With Malice Toward None'' Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865	340	(3)
``I Have Always Thought That All Men Should Be Free'' Speech to the 140th Indiana Regiment, Washington, March 17, 1865	343	(1)
``A Righteous and Speedy Peace'' His Last Public Address, the White House, April 11, 1865	344	(5)
``A Union of Hearts and Hands'' From His Last Letter, to James H. Van Alen, April 14, 1865	349	(2)
Afterword: The Abraham Lincoln Association	351	(4)
Frank J. Williams
Lincoln, the Nation, and the World: A Chronology, 1809--1865	355	(36)
Acknowledgments	391	(4)
Biographies of the Editors and Contributors	395	(6)
Index	401