The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln

About this book

This collection gathers the speeches, letters and state papers of Abraham Lincoln, from his early years in Illinois politics to his death in 1865: the 'House Divided' speech of 1858 and the debates with Stephen Douglas, the Cooper Union address that made him a national figure, his inaugural addresses, the Emancipation Proclamation, the brief Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural with its promise of 'malice toward none' and 'charity for all', and hundreds of letters to generals, politicians and grieving families.

Context and significance

Lincoln, largely self-taught, became one of the greatest writers of English prose among statesmen, and these texts show his thought developing on slavery, union and democracy. The edition, by Arthur Brooks Lapsley, includes an introduction by Theodore Roosevelt and essays by Carl Schurz and Joseph Choate. The war he led is told by his general in the Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, and the novel he is said to have credited with starting it is Uncle Tom's Cabin.

About the author