Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President"Lincoln at Cooper Union" explores Lincoln's most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address -- an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln's suitability for the presidency, and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives. Award-winning Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer places Lincoln and his speech in the context of the times -- an era of racism, politicized journalism, and public oratory as entertainment -- and shows how the candidate framed the speech as an opportunity to continue his famous "debates" with his archrival Democrat Stephen A. Douglas on the question of slavery. The Cooper Union speech, which was carefully researched by Lincoln and refers often to the Founders and authors of the Constitution, is an antislavery lecture, capped by a ringing warning to would-be secessionists in the South. It reaches its climax with the assurance that "right makes might." Long held, inaccurately, to be an appeal to the conservatives, Holzer presents Lincoln's speech as a masterly combination of scholarship, a brief for equality and democracy, and a rallying cry to the country and the Republican party. Holzer describes the enormous risk Lincoln took by appearing in New York, where he exposed himself to the country's most critical audience and took on Republican senator William Henry Seward of New York, the front-runner, in his own backyard. Then he recounts the brilliant and innovative public relations campaign, as Lincolntook the speech "on the road" in his successful quest for the presidency. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 48
... fact , it is entirely possible that had he not triumphed before the sophisticated and demanding audience he faced at New York's Cooper Union on February 27 , 1860 , Lincoln would never have been nomi- nated , much less elected , to the ...
... facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly old and familiar ; nor is there anything new in the general use I shall make of them . If there shall be any novelty , it will be in the mode of pre- senting the facts , and the ...
... facts in the contro- versy . " Sounding wounded , or at least defensive , the Register insisted of Lincoln : " No ... fact that is as self - evi- dent as his own existence .... " This speech of Mr. Lincoln is a more maturely conceived ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Chapter One Abe Lincoln Must Come | 7 |
Chapter Two So Much Labor as This | 28 |
Copyright | |
9 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President Harold Holzer Limited preview - 2004 |
Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President Harold Holzer Limited preview - 2006 |