Four months after the Battle of Gettysburg, which caused 50,000 casualties—soldiers dead, wounded, and missing—President Lincoln was invited to speak at the dedication of a national cemetery at the site. A mere 275 words, Lincoln’s three-minute-long address redefined the significance of the Civil War. Drawing upon biblical ideas of suffering, consecration, and resurrection, Lincoln framed […]

The public’s overwhelmingly positive response to this address— summarizing the evidence that the founders had predicted the ultimate extinction of slavery—catapulted Lincoln onto the national stage and helped him win the Republican presidential nomination. It also precipitated the South’s instantaneous reaction against Lincoln’s election that November.

Throughout the Civil War, liberal member of Parliament John Bright was Britain’s leading supporter of Lincoln’s policies. In a series of speeches in 1862–63 he argued that the Southern states were fighting for the maintenance of slavery, not independence, and that emancipated labor would improve the supply of cotton to British factories. Bright was almost […]

Despite initial differences, Douglass and Lincoln forged a relationship over the course of the Civil War based on a shared vision. Fifteen years after Lincoln’s death, Douglass described him as “one of the noblest wisest and best men I ever knew.” This stirring tribute to Lincoln was later published in Osborn H. Oldroyd’s The Lincoln […]

On the occasion of his inauguration, Lincoln tried to avert further secession by Southern states while insisting on the indivisibility of the Union. Reacting to an early draft of the inaugural address, Lincoln’s secretary of state, William H. Seward, suggested a more conciliatory approach. Lincoln took Seward’s advice, but (perhaps with a nod to Shakespeare’s […]

Lincoln was essentially self-taught. His appetite for reading was voracious, but, because few books were available to him in his youth, he was a careful rather than an extensive reader. He was determined to learn how to write and speak effectively and, to achieve those goals, read and memorized Kirkham’s Grammar, which he is said […]

In an autobiographical sketch written in 1859, Lincoln recalled that, in his youth, “there was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all. I have not been […]

In 1929 Franklin D. Roosevelt told a journalist that it was time for “us Democrats to claim Lincoln as one of our own.” Thereafter, his speechwriters and close associates seldom lost an opportunity to connect the two presidents. FDR mentioned Lincoln often in his speeches and quoted him in support of policy initiatives. On 3 […]

This World War I recruiting poster harnesses the power of Lincoln’s language in the Gettysburg Address and the example of the black troops who fought in the Civil War. Ultimately, despite the indignity of serving in segregated units, some 350,000 African Americans enlisted and fought in World War I.

Lincoln was born only a few weeks after Poe. The author came to his attention through one of the numerous parodies of “The Raven,” first published in January 1845. Johnston, a fellow lawyer, sent Lincoln one such parody, “The Pole-Cat,” which led him to seek out Poe’s poem. It is said that Lincoln so appreciated […]