Title: Lincoln's speeches reconsidered /
Authors: Briggs, John Channing, 1948-
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, Writing skill.; Speeches, addresses, etc., American History and criticism.
Abstract: "Throughout the fractious years of the mid-nineteenth century, Abraham Lincoln's speeches imparted reason and guidance to a troubled nation. Lincoln's words were never universally praised. But they resonated with fellow legislators and more and more with the public as he spoke on such volatile subjects as mob rule, temperance, the Mexican War, slavery and its expansion, and the justice of a war for black freedom and American union."
Contents: Introduction : The mind of the persuader -- Rhetorical contexts -- The Lyceum address : "On the perpetuation of our political institutions" -- The temperance address : moral reform and emancipation-- The speech on the War with Mexico and the eulogy for Zachary Taylor : " injustice and heroic virtue " -- The eulogy for Henry Clay : persuasion and/or principle -- The Kansas-Nebraska speech : popular sovereignty and self-government -- The "house divided" speech : the logic of hopeful resolve -- Lecture on discoveries and inventions : self-government and inventions : self-government and arts of literacy -- The Milwaukee address : thorough farming and self-government -- The Cooper Union address : the empirical wager -- Presidential eloquence and political religion : governing "in the providence of God" -- The farewell address : "Let us confidently hope" -- The first inaugural, the Gettysburg address, and the second inaugural : providence and persuasion -- Postscript. The letter to Mrs. Bixby : secular scripture.