Lincoln had a fractious relationship with Greeley, the founding editor of the pro-Republican New York Tribune. But, given that the Tribune’s circulation was the largest in the country, he could not afford to alienate its editor. Lincoln’s aide John Hay remarked that Greeley, a strident abolitionist, “grumbles because he is an honest old fanatic, and […]

Published in 1868, this admiring Italian biography of Lincoln testifies to his importance in the eyes of the world, particularly as a role model for the unification of Italy.

In 1836, Lincoln found himself in a torturous situation. He felt obligated to his friend Elizabeth Abell to fulfill a promise to marry her sister, Mary Owens, if she came to Illinois from Kentucky. He regretted his rash promise and struggled to find an honorable way to get out of it. In this letter, he […]

Volk was responsible for making one of the only two life masks of Lincoln. Clark Mills made the other in February 1865. When Volk went to Springfield to present the Lincolns with a completed cabinet bust in May 1860, Lincoln permitted the sculptor to make casts of both his hands. Lincoln had just been nominated […]

An amendment to end slavery had stalled in Congress in 1864. Aware that as commander in chief he had issued the Emancipation Proclamation as a temporary wartime measure, Lincoln led the attempt to abolish slavery forever through constitutional amendment. In this fragment of his last Annual Message—the equivalent of the current State of the Union […]

Six months after black troops began enlisting in the Union army, Lincoln faced the problem of the Confederacy committing atrocities against them. In this startling executive order, Lincoln reacts with vehemence invoking the law of nations. He orders that for every black soldier killed by the Confederacy “a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for […]

This portrait of Lincoln was taken the year of his election as president.

These twenty-seven lines provide valuable insight into Lincoln’s thought process at a crucial moment of his public life. He advances the fundamental truth that all creatures will fight for the fruits of their labor, drawing upon the kind of moral story he admired as a youthful reader of Aesop’s fables. It illustrates his use of […]

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 […]

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 […]