The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln as Reflected in His Briefer Letters and Speeches

Front Cover
Stackpole Books, 2006 - Biography & Autobiography - 265 pages
  • First of America's "great communicator" presidents
  • Speeches and letters as postmaster, country lawyer, legislator, and president; his "words are as much alive today as when written or uttered"
  • This 1941 original has never been replaced or improved upon

Lincoln's words ring with great rigor, clarity, and simplicity when compared to most of today's political utterances. Here we read his witty testimonial for a brand of soap, his sharp commentaries in the "rat hole" letter to a New York firm, his family correspondence to a spendthrift brother, and letters to a bereaved daughter, an angry general, and many humorous and satirical responses to political challenges--as well as those great moments of wisdom in his speeches and letters during the critical times in his career and in America's history.

From inside the book

Contents

POSTMASTER LAWYER REPRESENTATIVE OF
1
To Judge Stephen T Logan
25
To John D Johnston
33
To George P Floyd
51
To a New York Firm
65
To O P Hall J R Fullenwider and U
74
To George Ashmun
82
To Grace Bedell
87
Final Emancipation Proclamation
155
To Fighting Joe Hooker
162
Telegram to General Daniel Tyler
169
To Ulysses S Grant
176
To PostmasterGeneral Montgomery Blair
183
To General William S Rosecrans
193
To Montgomery Blair
198
Address at the Gettysburg National Cemetery
204

Address at Springfield
93
THE PRESIDENT 18611865
101
To Gustavus V Fox
108
To MajorGeneral Hunter
114
To George B McClellan
120
To John W Crisfield
121
To August Belmont
128
Reply to Interdenominational Religious
134
To Hannibal Hamlin
141
To General Nathaniel P Banks
147
Indorsement on Document to Edwin M
210
Address at Baltimore
220
To Edwin M Stanton
227
Telegram to Ulysses S Grant
234
To PostmasterGeneral Montgomery Blair
241
To John Phillips
248
To Ulysses S Grant
254
To Thurlow Weed
261
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About the author (2006)

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Lincoln was a self-educated lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader and a state legislator in the 1830s. After a series of highly publicized debates in 1858, during which Lincoln spoke out against the expansion of slavery, he lost the U.S. Senate race to his archrival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. In 1860, Lincoln secured a Republican Party presidential nomination. His presidential election resulted in seven southern slave states to form the Confederacy before he took the office on March 4, 1861. Lincoln is regarded by historians as one of the greatest United States presidents. During his term, he created the system of national banks with the National Banking Act. This provided a strong financial network in the country. It also established a national currency. In 1862, Congress created, with Lincoln's approval, the Department of Agriculture. Lincoln was able to appoint five Supreme Court justices during his time as president. He is largely responsible for instituting the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863 became an iconic statement of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction. On April 15, 1865, six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding General Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford Theater by John Wilkes Booth, a noted actor and Confederate spy from Maryland. Lincoln was married to Mary Todd Lincoln on November 4, 1842. They had four children, all boys. Only the oldest, Robert, survived to adulthood. After Lincoln's death, Robert committed his mother, Mary, for a short time. The death of their children had a profound effect on the mental health of both Lincoln and his wife.

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