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8 LORE Artist's rendering of Abraham of Lincoln speaking inPeoria, rendering Artist's in 1854. Illinois regarding hisnewest book, Lincoln’s Selected (W.W.Writings Norton, September2014) withDavidAn interview S. Reynolds FALL 2014 impact on history. on history. impact profound his and Lincoln’s spirit ample ture to cap tries my book of him, ferent views dif these Bycommentators. representing of more recent that and contemporaries, his of that own, his perspectives: various stand under we if only understood be can think, I Lincoln, as a figure colossal So of him. views modern and time, own his in him on of comments arange coln’s works, own of Lin sampling abroad of writing: kinds three brought together that volume coln aLin been never had there Irealized book, An especially daunting task was making making was task daunting especially An moderate. to the hostile to the hagiographic the from him, toward attitudes varying and works— fictional and poems, songs, paign genres—news reports, editorials, cam different to represent Itried temporaries, Lincoln’s by con works choosing When omit. anthologies these that works nificant sig to other add and anthologies Lincoln single-volume other in contained was that everything to include sure Imade tions, selec Lincoln these making In Douglas. Stephen A. Senator with debates his from excerpts and proclamations, poems, letters, speeches, including him, by writings tant impor and fascinating but still lesser-known to outward worked Proclamation—and tion Emancipa the Union speech, Cooper the ond Address, the Inaugurals, Sec and First classics—the the with started I to Lincoln’s writings, regard With time. his since on Lincoln written been have that chapters book and articles numerous and books 14,000 more than the and poraries; contem his by to him responses countless the works; of Lincoln’svolumes collected eight the of writing: bodies enormous three from selections to make was here challenge to make your final selections. final your to make order in of material mountains through to go had have would you if as It seems parts? three of your each in to use items which to decide time-consuming WasSG: it terribly our readers your “game plan.” “game your readers our to explain Please subject. the to present way aperfect was parts three into book of the division your that Ithink Gabbard: Sara When planning this this planning When Reynolds: S. David DSR: Mountains of material, yes! The yes! of material, Mountains ------LINCOLN LORE 9 ------NUMBER 1907 Mosthistorians recognize its This letter contained the firstauto DSR: that, while had he spoken againstout the war, always he bills voted for financing American troops. Territorial disputes and questions about American impe rialism, which informed spot Lincoln’s resolutions, surround modern wars too, as we see in the Middle East, Afghani elsewhere. and stan, SG: Do historians give the 1854 “Peoria Speech” the attention deserves? it importance, is still it but as not celebrated as should it be. The speech is significant severalfor reasons. Responding Sena to Douglas’s Stephen tor Kansas-Nebraska Act, which made possible the expansion slaveryof the into western territories, Lincoln made a careful historical argu support to ment his view that America’s founders had placed slavery the on road extinctionto and that this now prin ciple was in danger being of violated. Also, the for first time publicly, Lin DSR: SG: Please comment on the 1859 Jesse to Fell. letter/autobiography biographical sketch writtenLincoln. by Jesse Fell, an friend, old had been asking infor for lifemation about Lincoln’s because grow of ing interest in the possibility a Lincoln of candidacy the After for presidency. refusing Fell’s request several times, Lincoln finally responded with this autobiographical let Lincolnter. introduced this “little sketch” himselfof with the self-effacing comment, “There it,for much of reason, the not is I coln firmly expressed moralhis opposition slavery.to declared, He “I because hate it theof monstrous injustice slaveryof itself. becauseI hate it deprives it our republican example just its influence of in world.” the The speech also outlined Lincoln’s viewson race. Unlike most people in Lin his day, coln believed that African Americans were human beings, property. not In the speech, Lincoln affirmed the humanity of blacks, even though conceded he that black people would never be accepted as equals in Amer ica,widespread to due racism and therefore shouldbe deported Liberia. to Finally, the Peoria speech is noteworthy charita its for attitudeble toward the South. Southerners, Lincolndeclares, are exactly what North erners would be in their situation, and vice versa. This compassionateoutlook anticipates his famous about “malice pronouncement toward and none” “charity all” for in the Second Inaugural Address. ------Like many antislavery Northern DSR: SG: Please explain the 1847 “.” Do you see any current support for this type of reasoning in international affairs? rarily damaging effecton his it career, for made him appear unpatriotic and nitpick Derogateding. as by opponents “spotty Lin himself later defended he coln,” insisting by launchedby President James Polk, because seemedit beto a Southern extend to ploy slavery new into western territories that wouldbe acquired from Mexico. Trying to that show the war hadoriginated not U. on S. soil—and was therefore an act Ameri of can aggression—Lincoln in December 1847 proposed a resolution before the House of Polk President requesting Representatives identifyto the exact geographical spot (the wherelocation) the war began. spot Lincoln’s resolutions nowhere got and had a tempo bill was ambiguously worded. Although Lin coln read the believed Bible, in God, and sometimes attended church, he never became churcha expressed member or definite a faith in Christ’s divinity the as or God’s Bible revealed word. ers,Lincoln opposed the Mexican War, Lincoln published a handbill stating that although belonged he church, no to had he never denied the truth the of Scriptures or had spoken with intentional disrespect of religion. distributed He his handbill among influential friends localto a it and later sent newspaper, which printed hand Lincoln’s it. President James Polk ------

In 1846, Lincoln ran Congress for The lyceum address typifies Lin

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Lincoln issue to the statement. the background which caused on both the handbill itself and of Infidelity.of Please comment Handbill Replying Charges to SG You chose include to SG You the 1846 your “take” on this Address? lawyer-like speeches. What is unlike most his of later concise, mainly because seems it so by the 1838 Lyceum Address, SG : I’ve always been fascinated a skeptic even or an atheist. In response, odist preacher. Cartwright, trying rally to his Christian base, accused Lincoln being of Democrat Cartwright, Peter a famous Meth undergirds his famous more later, speeches. by the founding fathers. This same rever theence for Constitution and the founders revolutionary passions and observe to laws and the governmental process as established upon hisupon countrymen rise to above anarchic, which,contends, he erodes America’s gov ernmental and legal framework. calls He sippi—and decries this “mobocratic spirit,” lynching a black of man in St. Louis and race-related vigilante violence in Missis coln gives instances such of violence—the violence against abolitionists, church burn ings, andso In on. his lyceum speech, Lin delivered during what historians have called have historians during delivered what “the turbulent decade”—a time race of riots, tionary passions. The lyceum address was career,Lincoln feared that these institu tions were threatened by lawless, revolu tions.” Bothtions.” early and late in in his political cans devote to themselves what calls he to “the preservation our of political institu ilar theme runs through all Lin of address onward: that is, the Ameri need for coln’s major speeches,major coln’s from thelyceum were and pithy eloquent. a sim But to histo later ones, like the and the two Inaugurals, which coln’s early speeches,coln’s which tended to be rambling and discursive, as opposed

America’s greatestAmerica’s president. in provide to order a rounded picture of literary culture, and global influence— Lincoln—including race, poli the law, tics, writing style, military leadership, death. Here,strove I bringto together works by leading historians and critics explorewho different themes relatedto on Lincolnon that have appeared since his choices from the many superb writings in the Illinois Seventh District against the 10 LINCOLN LORE only dispute between the sections, Lincoln Lincoln sections, the between dispute only The existed. it where already slavery with not interfere would North the that South the assuring by war of civil outbreak the prevent Carolina. South Harbor, Charleston of Fort in Sumter bombardment federate Con the after volunteers up 75,000 called 1861, April in he when he did indeed which forts— as such South, the in property federal defend firmly he would but that war not want he did that He insisted created. were states the all which under Constitution the and Union the not nullify did of astate rights the that he declared of secession, impossibility the as out he Pointing saw what South. the against intentions of hostile disavowal his Union and to the commitment deep his cate to intended communi were east trip on his follow. more would Lincoln’sfour speeches Union; the from seceded already had states Southern seven president, Republican ery antislav of an election of the a result As moment. historical at a perilous east trip eyes.” gray and black coarse with complexion, dark pounds; eighty and one hundred age, aver an on weighing, flesh, in “lean tall, inches four feet six nearly as himself described Lincoln letter the In me again.” “aroused which Act, Kansas-Nebraska of the passage the until he confessed, politics,” in est inter losing was “I intermittently. law, politics entered the and ticed prac for and studied himself, cated “‘ studying school in time to a short amounted which education, simple his and woods,” the in still animals wild other and bears many “with ana of region” Indi a “wild in childhood frontier, his Kentucky on the birth his humble beginnings: his sizes empha Lincoln me.” letter, the In not is of much there that suppose, Rule of Three,” after which he edu he which after of Three,” Rule different goal in mind for each? for mind in goal different a hehad that assume we Can Addresses. and Second Inaugural First Lincoln’s compare Please SG effective? Were they presentations? these for mind in purpose specific a hehave Did to Washington. Springfield from trip his during 1861 in made Lincoln elect President- which speeches of the YouSG: several cover readin DSR: DSR: FALL 2014 , The First Inaugural was intended to was Inaugural First The President-elect Lincoln made this this made President-elect Lincoln writin , and , and cipherin ’ to the ’ to the ------R. Gerald museumdirector, McMurtry, Ralph Waldo Emerson to right:Left Lincoln Springfield, leaving WaltWhitman, Sandburg visitingtheLincoln Museumwith Carl - - - said, was that one believed that slavery was was slavery that one believed that was said, unknowable to humans. unknowable remain ways God’s that conviction standing long his he communicated Instead, position. religious took no definite But Lincoln times. three prayer invoked and quotations, Biblical three contained times, fourteen God tioned 750 it long, words men only of asermon: the tone had Inaugural Second The charity. exercise and to malice put aside he declared, now time, It was God. same to the prayed Bible and same the read sections both war, the During slavery. over of a disagreement because originated had said, war, he The war. the nation’s the after wounds of healing goal the with time of but view, this points ern South and Northern the both encompassed again Lincoln Inaugural, Second the In tion. genera Revolutionary the to Americans all connected that of memory” chords tic mys “the by to Northerners tied were they that Southerners enemies.”be He reminded not “We must South, the telling by cluded con Lincoln of states. or agroup astate by not dissolved be could and perpetual was declared, Lincoln The Union, extended. be ought not and to wrong it thought was other the while ought extended, to be and right Please describe this piece. this describe Please Address.” Inaugural First of the Wisdom You “The SG: from quote DSR: This article, which appeared in the in appeared which article, This ------sacred struggle for freedom. struggle sacred North’s brought the about naturally Lincoln, in embodied as justice, principled since table, inevi were emancipation and war the both of war.” For ayear to undo seems Emerson, day one midsummer world of mischief,…as a undo magistrate of agood virtues “the and rectitude,” with works Nature “because nature, with aligned was blacks enslaved of of millions freeing the wrote, Emerson virtuous, everything interests.” Like versal uni and of catholic direction the in forward “step or acrucial so, once acentury happen that into of affairs” thought “jets rare of the act,” one “a poetic as Proclamation cipation Eman the described philosopher, leading South. the toward attitude but firm gracious his Union and the and Constitution to the fidelity unshakable his by exemplified ness, decisive and calmness, coln’s judiciousness, took noteLin of essayist The its courage.” as well as sagacity for “its Inaugural the praised York New the Tribune newspaper Republican Dictator: A Copperhead’s Perspective.” Perspective.” ACopperhead’s Dictator: Absolute as “Lincoln and Lincoln” Tyrant the by Issued Proclamation the on on“Lines comment Please diatribes. anti-Lincoln several include you accuracy, historical for required As SG: President’s Proclamation.” Emerson’s “The Describe SG: DSR: Ralph Waldo Emerson, America’s Waldo America’s Emerson, Ralph - - - - - , LINCOLN LORE 11 ------NUMBER 1907 Like Whitman, Sandburg appeared in followed 1926, DSR: I certainly agree. As a politician, coln. Sandburg renders Lincoln’s life in encyclopedic lively, a narrative that is based fact on times, but, at he avoided thehe “enemy” word inhis speeches. In death Lincoln became the Martyr Chief, admired by many hisof former foes. In life and death Lincoln had,in Whitman’s view, accomplished the cleansing and uni fying mission had he designed for his own all-encompassing poetry. SG: reliable How is in his treatment of ? was a poet responding Lincoln. to Both poets wrote colorfully andpas aboutsionately this figure for who, them, embodied America’s highest democratic ideals. Sandburg pro ducedfull-scalea Lincolnbiogra phy—his two-volume The Prairie Years Years War Theby his four-volume Sandburg’s biography won in 1939. a Pulitzer Prize and had a lasting influenceon popular viewsof Lin Guelzo points that out Lincoln in DSR: DSR: SG: Richard N. Current refers to Abraham Lincoln as “The Master Politician.” Do you agree? SG: Allen Guelzo subtitles his book on the Lincoln/Douglas Debates as “The Debates that Defined America.”Please comment. era and the Age of Terror. era and the Age Terror. of Lincolnskillfully built the Whig Party in Illinois navigating before his way the to Republicannomination for president in 1860. Although did he campaign not for is sentimental and embellished. Some of his sources are unreliable unidentified. or Historians today fault him with occasional inaccuracy. Nonetheless, Sandburg’s books remain a landmark in Lincoln biography. his debates with A. Stephen Douglas raised the possibility that there could be a moral Americancore to Douglas, . For slaverywas a neutralinstitution that was bythe condoned Constitution and that could be down or voted up by individual states. For Lincoln, slavery was a gross injustice that contradicted America’s egalitarian ideals. moralLincoln’s redefinitionof America, Guelzo suggests, guided the North during the Civil and influenced War American pol icyin later periods, such as the Cold War - - - - - There was good Waltreason that —tensions over slavery, sensational DSR: to theto assassination, including your own chapter titled “My Captain.” shown kindness the to South during the war—Whitman instance, noted, for that in the murder Lincoln of Theatre in Ford’s by the white-supremacist actor Wil John kes Booth, and the upwelling confusion of and grief that followed. death, In Lincoln’s Whitman declared, “there the to is a cement people,whole underlying, subtler, more than anything in writtenconstitution, courts or armies.”or The reminiscence of Lincoln’s death, noted, he “belongs these to States in their entirety— the not North the but only, South—perhaps belongs most and tenderly devotedly the to Lincoln South.” had been born in Kentucky, so that Whitman called him Southern “a contribution,” and had he Abraham Lincoln” over and over again in the last dozen years his of life. was He fix death, purging, [Lincoln’s] of illuminat ing all.” The assassination,he declared, had unequaled influenceon shapingthe of the Republic. Many violent, contradictory cul tural elements Whitman had tried harness to and redirect in his poetry volume Leaves of Grass ism, crowd participation theaters, at acting style, and violence—found mob their outlet Whitman gave a speech “The on Deathof what calledated he on “the tragic splendor - - - - -

is only not my favorite book “Lines the on Proclamation,” a poem

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comment on Whitman’s reaction America in its totality. Please the pictureyou give 19th of Century about Whitman my but favorite for America SG: Your book Whitman’sSG: Walt Your cious” manner. Lincoln used his presidential war powers in what the writer calls a “despotical and atro view the on part Copperheads—North of ern Democrats opposed who the war—that Absolute Dictator,” expressedAbsolute Dictator,” the common satanicother The leader. piece, “Lincoln as North, mentioned God in Constitution, its considered itself truly Christian, as opposed theto “infidel”North, itswith allegedly us that the Confederacy, which, unlike the clime” than the North. The poem reminds ine, blood” “the into noblest, fairest land earth” on Christian more “a South), (the which, says was the author, only a “coward hireling band” rap that “murder, brought to pray for the prayto for success the of Army, Union “maniac-tyrant” encouraged who his people Lincoln issued during the war. The poem rails against Lincoln, describing him as a a National Fast Day,” one of several of one proca National Day,” Fast lamations prayer of thanksgiving or that Lincoln’s1863 “Proclamation Appointing written Rebel” by “a and published in a Con federate newspaper, was a bitter response to 12 LINCOLN LORE FALL 2014 LINCOLN LORE 13 ------, . NUMBER 1907 David S. Reynolds is the McPherson demonstrates ABOUT THE AUTHOR David S. Reynolds S. David DSR: was a hands-on commander-in- chief. read He books military on strategy and kept a vigilant watch developmentson the on battlefield. time spent more He in the tele graph office sendingand receiv ing military dispatches, than anywhere else except the . shaped He the aggressive tactics Generals of Grant, Sher man, and Sheridan, whose cam paigns destroyed the Confederacy and brought about its uncondi tional surrender. as unfeasible.In his private rela tions with African Americans, he did exhibit not racism. Frederick Douglass, with met who Lincoln often during the war, said, “In all interviewsmy with Lincoln, Mr. I was impressed with his entire freedom from popular prejudice against the Shortly race.” colored hisbefore death, Lincolnwrote that believed he the right vote to should be extended blacks to who were “very intelligent” had who or served in the army—the Union first African-Americanendorsementof suffrageU. president.S. by a SG: What was James McPherson’s view of Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender? that although Lincoln wanted peace, knew he could it be achieved only through a hard war. Lincoln Center. HeCenter. is the author of Walt andAmerican Studies at the City I’m working I’m Penguin a book on for Distinguished Professor of English English of Professor Distinguished University Graduate of New York Waking Giant: America in the Age of John Brown, Abolitionist Jackson Brown, , andJohn Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography DSR: SG: What is the subject yourof next book? in which I place Lincoln in his times by dis cussingunexplored connections between him and his cultural and social contexts. - - - - thatreveal an evolution in Lin the Emancipation Proclamation in January Lincoln1863, ceased his public support of colonization, a plan had he regard to come words “nigger” and “darky,” and enjoyed he blackfaceminstrel points shows. Foner But race that pronouncements on out Lincoln’s became progressive more as time passed. Early on, in the 1850s, though voiced he his opposition slavery, to spoke he quite conser vatively about alleged differences between whites and blacks that thought he would prevent them from living equal on terms in America. also He publicly endorsed colo nization, the ship or to blacks movement Liberiato elsewhere. or after But issuing from different The sectionsFoner’s of Eric Fiery Trial viewscoln’s race. of Lincoln never fully over came the racial attitudes prevalent among whites his of era. In conversation, used he the

- - - Left page: Artist unknown, Lincoln Douglas debate Lincoln Artist unknown, Left page: where he City 1860, in February York in New Lincoln Right page: . by Photo Union. at Cooper his speech gave ------

Holzer argues convinc My book contains My selected passages

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writing on Lincoln and Race? SG: you present do How Eric Foner’s

Please comment. that made him president. the Address as the speech described a cursory glance until was generally given only Address at that the story the of story. For so long,story. I think For important in the Lincoln SG: Languageis so

ingly that the address that Lin us…do ourus…do duty as we understand it”). faith..and in that faith”), and humility (“let firmness(“right makes might,” “let us… dare religious ”), resonance (“Let us have coln’s great statements,coln’s this combines one that faithlet us, the to end, dare ourdo to duty as we understand Like many it.” Lin of slavery be to morally wrong, said, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in oration,in which Lincoln, having declared speech was direct, logical, and forceful, with dramaticrhetorical flourishes, such its as per principles. Stylistically, the Cooper Union ously revolutionary, was actually conservative in fundamental adherence its the to nation’s Party, labelled as opponents by its danger making this case persuasively, Lincoln demonstrated that the Republican wardexpansion slavery. of By as the signers the of Constitu tion, stood opposed the to west historical evidence thatAmeri founders, identified he whom ca’s speech, in which presented he dent. Lincolndent. electrified New the audience 1,500 of withYork his 1860, ledhis to becoming presi coln delivered at New York’s colndelivered New at York’s CooperInstitute February on 27,

of governmentof jobs. avoided He trusively. ers, real potential, or with offers extreme statements, and knew he manipulate to how others unob He regularly rewarded support wire-puller and party manager. American.Besides having popu list appeal, Lincoln was an adroit rough-hewn IllinoisRailsplit the quintessentialter, self-made made much his of image as the himself—presidential candidates candidates himself—presidential did do that not then—his backers