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. |
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... hand - to - hand con- flict for even the meagerest . . . standing room " to hear politicians hold forth , as one journalist of the day observed with astonishment . Speeches and debates might inspire raucous parades , banner - waving ...
... hand side ; his chin , projecting far and sharp , curved upward to meet a thick lower lip which hung downward ; his cheeks were flabby , and the loose skin fell in wrinkles , or folds ; there was a large mole on his right cheek and an ...
... hands behind his back , holding his left hand firmly with his right . A youngster who watched Lincoln debate Douglas agreed that " his gesticulations were few , though now and then his long index finger did valiant service . " 22 Nor ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Chapter One Abe Lincoln Must Come | 7 |
Chapter Two So Much Labor as This | 28 |
Copyright | |
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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 |