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Essays

He had no pretensions whatsoever. He allowed what he believed and the way he said it to be convincing on the evidence.

—Lewis Lehrman

For a general introduction to Lincoln, read the first essay, “Lincoln.”

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“Stump Speaking,” by George C. Bingham, 1856. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Frederick Douglass, ca. 1880s. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

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Emancipation Proclamation published by Rufus Blanchard, Chicago, ca. 1863–1864. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
American Anti-Slavery Society (1836) Slave Market of America. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

Abraham Lincoln, notes for the “House Divided” speech, ca. December 1857 (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Walt Whitman, 1863 (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
Abraham Lincoln campaign print for the election of 1860, Currier and Ives, 1860. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

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Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
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President Lincoln delivering his inaugural address on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol, March 4, 1865.
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Mary Todd Lincoln, ca. 1863 (Gilder Lehrman Collection)