01-17-44 AG Water STUDY HELPS AND QUESTIONS ABRAHAM LINCOLN This little book is founded on the compiler's conviction that the most practical and inspiring guide our history offers for developing genuinely democratic Americans is the life of Abraham Lincoln. Coupled with this conviction is a second equally strong, that the best place to study Lincoln is in his own writings. The selections here given have been chosen with three different but closely related ideas in mind: I. Abraham Lincoln's understanding of democracy, and the way he worked it out in his own life, in his relations with his fellows and with the American people. 2. His intellectual and moral development, particularly as we see it in his handling of the slavery question. 3. His English prose and the method by which it was perfected. The selections should be read with the facts of his life in mind. The pupil should be helped to put himself in Lincoln's place by such concrete questions as: 1. How old was Lincoln at this time? 2. In what town was he living? 3. How was he earning his living? 4. Who were his friends? What was his family? 5. What books was he reading? 6. What was his political party and what was its platform? 7. Was he seeking an office, and if so, what was it? Who was his opponent? These questions well answered will help the pupil to see Lincoln much as he sees other men. Biographies which will be useful are: "A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln," by John George |