LINCOLN***


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American History in Literature

NOTED SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN


[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN]


American History in Literature

NOTED SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Including the Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Edited with Biographical Sketches by

LILIAN MARIE BRIGGS

Assistant in the New York Public Library

With Portraits







New York
Moffat, Yard and Company
1911

Copyright, 1911, by
Moffat, Yard and Company
New York

The Quinn & Boden Co. Press
Rahway, N. J.




CONTENTS


                                         PAGE
  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH--LINCOLN             ix

  COOPER INSTITUTE SPEECH                   1

  LINCOLN’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS        35

  LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG SPEECH              51

  LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS       53

  PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION             57

  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH--DOUGLAS             61

  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE:

      _Opening Speech_                     63

      _Lincoln’s Reply_                    82




ILLUSTRATIONS


  ABRAHAM LINCOLN              _Frontispiece_

  STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS           Facing page 62




FOREWORD


This series, American History in Literature, will include only the
best-known American speeches,--those which commemorate the most
important events in the history of our country.

The biographical sketches have been included for the convenience of
the student and reader, and for the schoolboys and girls, who are
constantly seeking concise accounts of the lives of our great Americans.

This present volume, the first of the series, gives to the student and
reader Abraham Lincoln’s most noted speeches in compact form, making a
chronological anthology.

            L. M. B.




ABRAHAM LINCOLN

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH


In a little log-cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky, on the 12th of
February, 1809, was born a future President of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln.

When Abraham was seven years old, his father, Thomas Lincoln, moved
with his family to Indiana. It was a cold, dreary winter for them in
the rude shed which Abraham, knowing well how to handle an ax, had
helped his father to build. The following autumn found them in a better
cabin, but brought to Abraham the loss of his mother, Nancy Hanks
Lincoln, leaving his sister Sarah, eleven years old, to care for the
household. But the next year the little home was much changed; for a
stepmother had come, a woman of energy and thrift, who provided the
children with comforts before unknown to them. She became very fond of
Abraham and encouraged his inclination for reading and study. One year
would probably cover all the schooling he ever had, but he set to work
with a will to educate himself, sometimes walking miles to borrow a
book.

In the spring of 1830 Thomas Lincoln sold his farm in Indiana and moved
to Illinois. Abraham, though wishing to do something for himself,
remained with his father about a year longer, to see him comfortably
settled in his new home. Then, in April, he went on his second
expedition to New Orleans in a flatboat. On his return his employer
placed him in charge of a store at New Salem.

When he was twenty-three years old, he enlisted in what was called the
Black Hawk War, and was chosen captain of his company. When the war
was at an end and he returned home, he was told that the people wished
to send him to the legislature. He agreed to be a candidate, but was
not elected. All this time he did not give up the idea of becoming a
lawyer, and soon after the next election, at which he received a large
majority, he commenced the study of law.

In 1837 he left New Salem and removed to Springfield, which was ever
after his home. He was elected to the Illinois legislature four times
in succession and again in 1846, and the following year he was chosen
to be a Representative in Congress. At the close of his two years in
Congress, Mr. Lincoln returned to Springfield and applied himself to
the practice of law. But very soon he was again taking