INTRODUCTION

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“NDOUBTEDLY an apology is necessary for adding another page to the overwhelming mass of books and pamphlets devoted to the genius of Abraham Lincoln. My reason is a purely personal one. For more than a quarter of a century I have been a collector of Lincolniana, and the life of Abraham Lincoln has become consciously and unconsciously a part of me. I have ever felt a deep reverence for this great soul, and I venture to hope that I may communicate this reverence to some of my fellow citizens, especially to my children.

It seems fitting to call attention once more to the genius of Abraham Lincoln, who, more than four score years after the Declaration of Independence, was the one man who held a brief for the full interpretation of that proclamation for freedom to humanity, and who after a lifetime of devotion to the principles enunciated in that sacred document was able in his Cooper Institute Speech to convince his country that if universal freedom were to be won for all people, it must be won through the preservation of the Constitution of the United States.

However far the performance may have fallen below my desires the task has been purely a labor of love. No man can speak for another; the best that any man can do is to give expression to himself. Yet it is my hope that this little book may result in a closer sympathy and a clearer understanding of the great