| Preface to the Fordham University Press edition | |
| Preface | |
| Introduction | |
| "Not much of me" : Lincoln's "autobiography," age 50, December 20, 1859 | |
| "The people's business" : Lincoln and the American dream, 1832-1852 | |
| Introduction | p. 3 |
| No wealthy ... relations to recommend me | p. 9 |
| I shall be governed by their will | p. 11 |
| The people know their rights | p. 12 |
| Injustice and bad policy | p. 13 |
| The political religion of the nation | p. 15 |
| The wealthy can not justly complain | p. 24 |
| Many free countries have lost their liberty | p. 25 |
| 'God tempers the wind' | p. 26 |
| The sorrow quenching draughts of perfect liberty | p. 28 |
| By the fruit the tree is to be known | p. 30 |
| Useless labour is ... the same as idleness | p. 32 |
| The right to rise up | p. 34 |
| No one man should hold the power | p. 36 |
| There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good | p. 38 |
| Leaving the people's business in their hands | p. 40 |
| Go to work, 'tooth and nails' | p. 41 |
| Valuable to his adopted country | p. 43 |
| Resolve to be honest | p. 44 |
| The presidency ... is no bed of roses | p. 46 |
| Principles held dear | p. 49 |
| A deep devotion to the cause of human liberty | p. 51 |
| "All we have ever held sacred" : Lincoln and slavery, 1854-1857 | |
| Introduction | p. 55 |
| We proposed to give all a chance | p. 62 |
| 'To do for the people what needs to be done' | p. 63 |
| Our Republican robe is soiled | p. 65 |
| No peaceful extinction of slavery in prospect | p. 78 |
| I am not a know-nothing | p. 80 |
| This great principle of equality | p. 84 |
| Free society is not ... a failure | p. 86 |
| A standard maxim for free society | p. 88 |
| Not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots | p. 92 |
| "Another explosion will come" : Lincoln and the house divided, 1858 | |
| Introduction | p. 97 |
| Government cannot endure ... half slave and half free | p. 105 |
| The electric cord in that declaration | p. 114 |
| Fight this battle upon principle | p. 118 |
| This expresses my idea of democracy | p. 121 |
| Return to the fountain | p. 121 |
| I claim no ... exemption from personal ambition | p. 123 |
| The moral lights around us | p. 125 |
| Our reliance is in the love of liberty | p. 127 |
| Never have had a black woman for either a slave or a wife | p. 128 |
| Give to him that is needy | p. 130 |
| 'He trembled for his country' | p. 132 |
| The eternal struggle | p. 134 |
| The fight must go on | p. 136 |
| "Right makes might" : Lincoln and the race for president, 1859-1960 | |
| Introduction | p. 141 |
| Sole hope of the future | p. 148 |
| He who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave | p. 154 |
| Aim at the elevation of men | p. 156 |
| The moral lights around us | p. 157 |
| Equality ... beats inequality | p. 159 |
| Free labor ... gives hope to all | p. 160 |
| Let us stand by our duty | p. 164 |
| The laborer can strike if he wants to | p. 175 |
| Allow the humblest man an equal chance | p. 176 |
| I accept the nomination | p. 177 |
| Work, work, work is the main thing | p. 178 |
| I rejoice with you in the success | p. 179 |
| The tug has to come | p. 180 |
| "Hour of trial" : Lincoln and union, 1861 | |
| Introduction | p. 183 |
| The principle that clears the path for all | p. 188 |
| If we surrender, it is the end of us | p. 189 |
| With a task before me | p. 190 |
| Liberty, for yourselves, and not for me | p. 191 |
| There is but little harm I can do | p. 192 |
| Give the greatest good to the greatest number | p. 193 |
| The majority shall rule | p. 194 |
| The ship can be saved, with the cargo | p. 195 |
| In accordance with the original idea | p. 196 |
| I would rather be assassinated | p. 198 |
| Plain as a turnpike road | p. 199 |
| The momentous issue of Civil War | p. 201 |
| I hope we have a government and a president | p. 210 |
| The perpetuity of popular government | p. 211 |
| We can not permanently prevent their action | p. 213 |
| Suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus | p. 214 |
| The central idea pervading this struggle | p. 215 |
| A Polish gentleman ... highly recommended | p. 216 |
| This is ... a people's contest | p. 217 |
| Allow no man to be shot | p. 226 |
| I cannot assume this reckless position | p. 227 |
| Wanting to work is so rare | p. 229 |
| The capacity of man for self-government | p. 230 |
| The struggle of today ... for a vast future also | p. 231 |
| "Forever free" : Lincoln and liberty, 1862-1863 | |
| Introduction | |
| The principle of the equal rights of men | p. 243 |
| Gradual ... emancipation, is better for all | p. 244 |
| Government was saved from overthrow | p. 246 |
| Our common country is in great peril | p. 247 |
| A fit and necessary military measure | p. 249 |
| Your race are suffering | p. 251 |
| My paramount object in this struggle | p. 253 |
| God wills this contest | p. 254 |
| The time has come now | p. 255 |
| Thenceforward, and forever free | p. 257 |
| To suppress the insurrection | p. 260 |
| Breath alone kills no rebels | p. 262 |
| A fiery trial | p. 263 |
| We cannot escape history | p. 264 |
| The promise must now be kept | p. 269 |
| Sincerely believed to be ... an act of justice | p. 270 |
| An instance of sublime Christian heroism | p. 273 |
| I will risk the dictatorship | p. 275 |
| Resist ... such recognition | p. 276 |
| Public safety does require the suspension | p. 277 |
| The decision is to be made | p. 282 |
| How long ago is it? - eighty odd years | p. 283 |
| My 'public-opinion baths' | p. 284 |
| Those who shall have tasted actual freedom ... can never be slaves | p. 285 |
| Better prepared for the new | p. 286 |
| You say you will not fight to free Negroes | p. 288 |
| The boundless field of absolutism? | p. 292 |
| Has the manhood of our race run out? | p. 293 |
| I do not intend to be a tyrant | p. 296 |
| "For us the living" : Lincoln and democracy, 1863-1865 | |
| Introduction | p. 301 |
| New birth of freedom | p. 307 |
| You will not find that to be an obstacle | p. 308 |
| The new reckoning | p. 309 |
| I have never interfered ... in any church | p. 311 |
| Common looking people are the best in the world | p. 312 |
| Universal amnesty ... with universal suffrage | p. 313 |
| Keep the jewel of liberty | p. 314 |
| Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another | p. 315 |
| Never knew a man who wished to be ... a slave | p. 316 |
| If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong | p. 316 |
| The limb must be sacrificed | p. 319 |
| A good definition of the word liberty | p. 320 |
| So that they can have the benefit | p. 321 |
| May I have to answer for robbing no man | p. 323 |
| A fitting, and necessary conclusion | p. 324 |
| The people's business | p. 325 |
| I should deserve to be damned | p. 325 |
| Kindly paying attention | p. 327 |
| Any one of your children may look to come here | p. 328 |
| My duty to co-operate | p. 329 |
| The purposes of the almighty are perfect | p. 330 |
| Struggling to maintain government, not to overthrow it | p. 331 |
| Discharge him at once | p. 332 |
| The election was a necessity | p. 333 |
| Not the sort of religion upon which people can get to heaven | p. 335 |
| The voice of the people | p. 336 |
| Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist | p. 338 |
| A king's cure for all the evils | p. 339 |
| With malice toward none | p. 340 |
| I have always thought that all men should be free | p. 343 |
| A righteous and speedy peace | p. 344 |
| A union of hearts and hands | p. 349 |
| Afterword : the Abraham Lincoln association | p. 351 |
| Lincoln, the nation, and the world : a chronology, 1809-1865 | p. 355 |
| Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved. |
