Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln PresidentWinner of the Lincoln Prize 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. 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 a brilliant and innovative public relations campaign, as Lincoln took the speech "on the road" in his successful quest for the presidency. |
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... declared. Employing frank language to the man who came close to sharing the spotlight with him in New York, Lincoln insisted Republicans ought not to try attracting Democrats to their ranks by emphasizing irrelevancies like “tariff ...
... declared. Employing frank language to the man who came close to sharing the spotlight with him in New York, Lincoln insisted Republicans ought not to try attracting Democrats to their ranks by emphasizing irrelevancies like “tariff ...
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... declare slavery a wrong, nor to deal with it as such; who believes in the power, and duty of Congress to prevent the spread of it.1 That we now have a letter in which Lincoln used the word “idiotic”—for the first and only time—to warn ...
... declare slavery a wrong, nor to deal with it as such; who believes in the power, and duty of Congress to prevent the spread of it.1 That we now have a letter in which Lincoln used the word “idiotic”—for the first and only time—to warn ...
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... declared during the Lincoln-Douglas debates a year and a half earlier: “I say . . . there is no way of putting an end to the slavery agitation amongst us but to put it back upon the basis where our fathers placed it.”5 But not until New ...
... declared during the Lincoln-Douglas debates a year and a half earlier: “I say . . . there is no way of putting an end to the slavery agitation amongst us but to put it back upon the basis where our fathers placed it.”5 But not until New ...
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... declaration that “right makes might.” Truth to say, it is hard to know for sure. Lincoln once described himself as a “retailer,” not an inventor, of his funniest stories,7 and the same may be true about his serious writing. His “of the ...
... declaration that “right makes might.” Truth to say, it is hard to know for sure. Lincoln once described himself as a “retailer,” not an inventor, of his funniest stories,7 and the same may be true about his serious writing. His “of the ...
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... declare their cases before eastern audiences—and, of course, before the influential eastern press. In other words, the original invitation to Lincoln was for the hosts, above all, part of an elaborate ploy to stop Seward and help Chase ...
... declare their cases before eastern audiences—and, of course, before the influential eastern press. In other words, the original invitation to Lincoln was for the hosts, above all, part of an elaborate ploy to stop Seward and help Chase ...
Contents
Chapter Three Some Confusion in the Arrangements | |
Chapter Four Much the Best Portrait | |
Chapter Five Nothing Impressive About Him | |
Chapter Six The Strength of Absolute Simplicity | |
Epilogue | |
Acknowledgments | |
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Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President Harold Holzer Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Lincoln Papers antislavery appearance applause Astor House audience Beecher believed Bowen Brady Brady’s Briggs Brooklyn campaign candidate Charles Chicago Collected Constitution convention Cooper Institute Cooper Union address Cooper Union speech copy crowd declared deliver Democrats Douglas Douglas’s East editor election Exeter fathers who framed February 27 federal territories framed the Government Frémont friends George George Haven Putnam Hall Hampshire Harper’s Harper’s Ferry Haven Henry Herndon Herndon’s Lincoln Ibid Illinois insisted invitation James John Brown Journal later lecture letter Library of Congress Lincoln-Douglas debates Lincoln’s Cooper Union Lincoln’s speech March Mason Brayman Mathew Brady McCormick never New-York newspaper nomination Nott orator original pamphlet photograph political popular sovereignty president presidential Press and Tribune printed prohibition published reported reprints Republican party Republican Union Robert Senate Seward slavery slaves South Southern speak speaker Springfield trip votes Ward Hill Lamon Washington White William H words York Tribune