Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War Selected Writing and Speeches

This collection, skillfully edited by Michael P. Johnson, offers students the essential Lincoln in a brief and accessible format that makes this a must-assign edition for courses covering the antebellum period, slavery, and the Civil War. From famous documents like the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the second inaugural address to crucial memoranda and letters, it reveals the development of Lincoln's views on all the critical issues of the day, including free labor, antebellum politics and the Republican party, slavery, secession, the Civil War, and emancipation.

Significantly streamlined for the second edition to a more student-friendly length, the volume retains its successful format: documents are organized thematically and chronologically, with editorial headnotes that provide just enough context for students to understand the significance of each selection.

In addition to Johnson's widely praised biographical introduction, a chronology, maps and pictures, questions for consideration, selected bibliography, and a comprehensive index all enhance students' understanding of this crucial period -- and this crucial figure -- in U.S. history.

‘’After reading through this volume, I am once again reminded of Lincoln's power as both a writer and a thinker. This is exactly what I want my students to understand and appreciate about his public life.’’ - Joan Waugh, University of California, USA

‘’The accompanying narrative is written beautifully. Undergraduates should have no problem following the development of Lincoln's career and thinking. The text shows Johnson's complete mastery of the Lincoln canon but is presented in a completely clear and easy-to-follow manner.’’ - Nicole Etcheson, Ball State University, USA

‘’This volume anchors Lincoln strongly in the moment and effectively shows the challenges that he faced as president.’’ - Elizabeth Nelson, University of Nevada, USA

Michael P. Johnson (Ph.D., Stanford University) is professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. He has published extensively, taught, and lectured on the social and political history of slavery and freedom in the Civil War era. His publications include Toward a Patriarchal Republic: The Secession of Georgia (1977); No Chariot Let Down: Charleston's Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War (1984); and, with James Roark, Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South (1984). He is coauthor of The American Promise: A History of the United States (Bedford/St. Martin's) and editor of Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents (Bedford/St. Martin's).

Foreword  
Preface  
A Note about the Text 
List of maps and illustrations    Part One. Introduction: Abraham Lincoln, Wordsmith 
Part Two. The Documents
1.  Becoming a Republican  
     The Kansas-Nebraska Act 
     1. Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854 
     Justifications of Slavery 
     2. Fragment on Slavery, possibly 1854 
     “Where I Now Stand” 
     3. Letter to Joshua F. Speed, August 24, 1855 
     The Dred Scott Decision 
     4. Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, June 26, 1857 
2.  Leading the Republican Party 
     A House Divided 
     5. “A House Divided” Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858 
     The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 
     6. First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, August 21, 1858 
     7. Fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, September 18, 1858 
     8. Fifth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 7, 1858 
     9. Sixth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 13, 1858 
     10. Seventh Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 15, 1858  
     The 1860 Campaign for President 
     11. Address at Cooper Institute, February 27, 1860  
3.  From Secession to War 
     The Limits of Compromise 
     12. Letter to Lyman Trumbull, December 10, 1860 
     13. Letter to John A. Gilmer, December 15, 1860 
     14. Letter to Alexander H. Stephens, December 22, 1860 
     Inauguration as President 
     15. First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 
     A War to Save the Union  
     16. Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861 
     War in Earnest  
     17. Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861 
4.  Marching South 
     “Delay Is Ruining Us” 
     18. President's General War Order No. 1, January 27, 1862 
     The Peninsula Campaign 
     19. Letter to George B. McClellan, February 3, 1862  
     20. Letter to George B. McClellan, April 9, 1862  
     21. Letter to George B. McClellan, June 28, 1862 
     22. Letter to Secretary of State William H. Seward, June 28, 1862  
     The Second Battle of Bull Run and Antietam 
     23. Meditation on Divine Will, September 2, 1862?  
     24. Letter to George B. McClellan, October 13, 1862  
     Home-Front Politics 
     25. Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, September 24, 1862 
     26. Letter to Carl Schurz, November 24, 1862  
5.  Toward Emancipation 
     Reassuring Loyal Southerners  
     27. Letter to Orville H. Browning, September 22, 1861 
     28. Message to Congress, March 6, 1862  
     29. Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor Compensated Emancipation, July 12, 1862  
     30. Address on Colonization to a Delegation of Black Americans, August 14, 1862 
     31. Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862 
     Announcing Emancipation 
     32. Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862  
     33. Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862 
     34. Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 
6.  A War for Freedom and Union 
     Emancipation and Black Soldiers  
     35. Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, August 9, 1863 
     36. Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863  
     37. Letter to Salmon P. Chase, September 2, 1863 
     The Decisive Summer of 1863 
     38. Letter to Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863  
     39. Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, July 13, 1863 
     40. Letter to George G. Meade, July 14, 1863  
     Politics of War and Freedom  
     41. Letter to James C. Conkling, August 26, 1863  
     42. The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 
7.  Defending a New Birth of Freedom 
     War without End  
     43. Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, April 30, 1864 
     Planning Reconstruction 
     44. Letter to Nathaniel P. Banks, August 5, 1863  
     45. Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1863 
     46. Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, December 8, 1863 
     47. Letter to Michael Hahn, March 13, 1864  
     The Political Campaign for Union, Freedom, and War 
     48. Remarks at Closing of Sanitary Fair, Washington, D.C., March 18, 1864 
     49. Letter to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864 
     50. Interview with Alexander W. Randall and Joseph T. Mills, August 19, 1864  
     51. Memorandum Concerning Lincoln's Probable Failure of Re-election, August 23, 1864 
     Glorious Victories  
     A Vote for Union, Freedom, and War?  
     52. Response to a Crowd of Supporters, November 10, 1864 
     53. Letter to Lydia Bixby, November 21, 1864 
8.  “To Finish the Work We Are In” 
     The War Continues 
     54. Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1864  
     55. Letter to William T. Sherman, December 26, 1864  
     56. Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, January 19, 1865 
     Toward Peace and Freedom 
     57. Letter to William H. Seward, January 31, 1865 
     58. Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, March 3, 1865 
     59. Resolution Submitting the Thirteenth Amendment to the States, February 1, 1865 
     60. Message to the Senate and House of Representatives, February 5, 1865 
     “That This Mighty Scourge of War May Speedily Pass Away” 
     61. Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865  
     62. Speech to 140th Indiana Regiment, March 17, 1865  
     63. Letter to Ulysses S. Grant, April 7, 1865 
     64. Response to a Crowd of Supporters, April 10, 1865 
     65. Last Public Address, April 11, 1865  Appendixes     An Abraham Lincoln Chronology (1809-1865)  
     Questions for Consideration  
     Selected Bibliography  
Index