Abraham Lincoln endowed the American language with a vigor and moral energy that has all but disappeared from today's public rhetoric. Lincoln's writings are testaments of our history, windows into his enigmatic personality, and resonant examples of the writer's art. "The Portable Abraham Lincoln" contains the great public speeches - the first debate with Stephen Douglas, the "House Divided" speech, the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural Address - along with less familiar letters and memoranda that chart Lincoln's political career, his evolving stand against slavery, and his day-to-day conduct of the Civil War. This edition includes a revised introduction, updated notes on the text, a chronology of Lincoln's life, and four new selections of his writing.

Table of Contents:
The Portable Abraham LincolnIntroduction by Andrew Delbanco A Note on the Texts Chronology The Portable Abraham Lincoln The Emergence of Lincoln To the People of Sangamo County, Mar. 9, 1832 Letter to Mrs. Orville H. Browning, Apr. 1, 1838 Letter to Joshua F. Speed, June 19, 1841 Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Jan. 27, 1838 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity, July 31, 1846 Letter to William H. Herndon, Feb. 1, 1848 Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln, Apr. 16, 1848 Fragment on Niagara Falls (late Sept. 1848?) Notes on the Practice of Law (1850?) Lincoln Becomes a Republican Fragment on Slavery (1854?) Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, Illinois, Oct. 16, 1854 Letter to George Robertson, Aug. 15, 1855 Letter to Joshua F. Speed, Aug. 24, 1855 Speech on the Dred Scott Decision at Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857 "House Divided" Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858 Fragment on the Struggle Against Slavery (c. July 1858) Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858 First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Ottawa, Illinois, Aug. 21, 1858 Letter to W. H. Wells, Jan. 8, 1859 Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1859 Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 30, 1859 The Presidential Campaign Address at Cooper Institute, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860 Letter to Cornelius F. McNeill, Apr. 6, 1860 "Whiskers" Letter to Grace Bedell, Oct. 19, 1860 Secession and the Coming of the War Passage Written for Lyman Trumbull's Speech at Springfield, Illinois, Nov. 20, 1860 Letter to Alexander H. Stephens, Dec. 22, 1860 Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1861 Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Feb. 22, 1861 First Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1861 Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Mar. 9, 1861 Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr, 1, 1861 Letter to Secretary of State William H. Seward, Apr. 1, 1861 Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr. 25, 1861 Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr. 27, 1861 Letter to Ephraim D. and Phoebe Ellsworth, May 25, 1861 Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861 Commander in Chief Letter to Gen. John C. Fremont, Sept. 2, 1861 Message to Congress, Mar. 6, 1862 Letter to Gideon Welles, Mar. 10, 1862 Letter to Horace Greeley, Mar. 24, 1862 Address on Colonization to a Committee of Colored Men, Washington, D.C., Aug. 14, 1862 Letter to Horace Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862 Meditation on the Divine Will (c. early Sept. 1862) Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Sept. 24, 1862 Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 13, 1862 Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 24, 1862 Memorandum on Furloughs, Nov. 1862 Letter to Carl Schurz, Nov. 24, 1862 Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862 Message to the Army of the Potomac, Dec. 22, 1862 Final Emancipation Proclamation, Jan.1, 1863 Letter to Gen. Joseph Hooker, Jan 26, 1863 Letter to Erastus Corning and Others, June 12, 1863 Letter to Samuel P. Lee, July 4, 1863 Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, July 14, 1863 Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863 Letter to Dr. John P. Gray, Sept. 10, 1863 Approval of Sentence of David M. Wright, Oct. 7, 1863 Letter to Gen. John G. Foster, Oct. 17, 1863 Opinion on the Draft (c. mid-Sept. 1863) Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, Oct. 12, 1863 Memorandum on Testing Diller's Powder (Nov. 2, 1863, or after) Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Nov. 19, 1863 Letter to Gov. Edward Everett, Nov. 20, 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Dec. 8, 1863 Amnesty for Emily T. Helm, Dec. 14, 1863 Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 1, 1864 Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 5, 1864 Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 1, 1864 Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 18, 1864 Letter to Albert G. Hodges, Apr. 4, 1864 Draft of Address for Sanitary Fair at Baltimore, Maryland (before Apr. 18, 1864) Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, Apr, 18, 1864 Letter to Sen. Charles Sumner, May 19, 1864 Letter to Charles D. Robinson, Aug. 17, 1864 Fate Memorandum on Probable Failure of Re-election, Aug. 23, 1864 Draft of Letter to Isaac M. Schermerhorn, Sept. 12, 1864 Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 1864 Letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, Nov. 21, 1864 Letter to John Phillips, Nov. 21, 1864 Reply to a Southern Woman (Dec. 6, 1864, or before) Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865 Letter to Thurlow Weed, Mar. 15, 1865 Speech to the 140th Indiana Regiment, Washington, D.C., Mar. 17, 1865 Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, 1865 Speech on Reconstruction, Washington, D.C., Apr. 11, 1865 Memorandum Concerning Passes to Richmond, Apr. 13 or 14, 1865 Biographical List of Lincoln's Correspondents Index