As president. Abraham Lincoln endowed the American language with a vigor and moral energy that have 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. The book also includes an introduction, head notes and a chronology of Lincoln's life.

Introduction
A Note on the Texts
Chronology

THE EMERGENCE OF LINCOLN

To the People of Sangamo County, Mar. 9, Letter to Mrs. Orville H. Browning, Apr. 1, Letter to Joshua F. Speed, June 19, 1841
Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Jan. 27, Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity, July 31, 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, Letter to George Robertson, Aug. 15, 1855
Letter to Joshua F. Speed, Aug. 24, 1855
"House Divided" Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Ottawa, Illinois, Aug. 21,
Letter to W. H. Wells, Jan. 8, 1859
Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, Feb. 11, Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural
Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 30

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Address at Cooper Institute, New York City, Feb. 27, Letter to Cornelius F. McNeill, Apr. 6, 1860
"Whiskers" letter to Grace Bedell, Oct. 19

SECESSION AND THE COMING OF THE WAR

Passage Written for Lyman Trumbull's Speech at Springfield, Illinois, Nov. 20, Letter to Alexander H. Stephens, Dec. 22, Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, Feb. 11, 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, 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, Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4

COMMANDER IN CHIEF

Letter to Gen. John C. Fremont, Sept. 2, 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, 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, Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 13, Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 24, 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, Final Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1, Letter to Gen. Joseph Hooker, Jan. 26, 1863
Letter to Erastus Corning and Others, June 12, Letter to Samuel P. Lee, July 4, 1863
Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, July 14, Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863
Letter to Dr. John P. Gray, Sept. 10, 1863
Approval of Sentence of David M. Wright, Oct. 7, 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, Memorandum on Testing Diller's Powder (Nov. 2, 1863, or after)
Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Nov. 19, Letter to Gov. Edward Everett, Nov. 20, 1863
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Dec. 8, Amnesty for Emily T. Helm, Dec. 14, 1863
Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 1,
Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 5,
Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 1,
Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 18, 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, 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, Draft of Letter to Isaac M. Schermerhorn, Sept. 12, Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 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, Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, Speech on Reconstruction, Washington, D.C., Apr. 11, Memorandum Concerning Passes to Richmond, Apr. 13 or 14,

Suggested Readings
Biographical List of Lincoln's Correspondents
Index