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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... letters from his wife , and worried by news that his younger boys had come down with an illness back in Springfield , Lincoln sat down on March 3 to write a long , self - indulgent letter to Mary . It was the second letter he sent home ...
... letter to the editor of The Middleport , Illinois , Press on April 6 : It is not true that I ever charged anything for a political speech in my life — but this much is true : Last October I was requested , by letter , to deliver some ...
... letter to be sent in response to any and all requests for his political opinions . Emphasizing that " his positions were well known when he was nominated , " the letter explained that the nominee " must not now embarrass the canvass by ...
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 |