Selected speeches and writings

Introduction / Gore Vidal

To the people of Sangamo County, March 9, 1832

To the editor of the Sangamo Journal, June 13, 1836

To Mary S. Owens, December 13, 1836

Protest in the Illinois Legislature on slavery, March 3, 1837

To Mary S. Owens, May 7, 1837

To Mary S. Owens, August 16, 1837

Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838

To Mrs. Orville H. Browning, April 1, 1838

To William S. Wait, March 2, 1839

To Andrew McCormick, c. December 1840-January 1841

To John T. Stuart, January 20, 1841

To John T. Stuart, January 23, 1841

To Mary Speed, September 27, 1841

To Joshua F. Speed, c. early January 1842

To Joshua F. Speed, February 13, 8142

Address to the Washington Temperance Society of Springfield, Illinois, February 22, 1842

To Joshua F. Speed, February 23, 1842

To Joshua F. Speed, February 25, 1842

To Joshua F. Speed, March 27, 1842

To Joshua F. Speed, July 4, 1842

To Williamson Durley, October 3, 1845

To Henry E. Dummer, November 18,1845

To Robert Boal, January 7, 1846

To Andrew Johnston, April 18, 1846

Handbill replying to charges of infidelity, July 31, 1846

To Andrew Johnston, September 6, 1846

"Spot" resolutions in the U.S. House of Representatives, December 22, 1847

From speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on the war with Mexico, January 12, 1848

To William H. Herndon, February 1, 1848

To William H. Herndon, February 15, 1848

To Mary Todd Lincoln, April 16, 1848

To Archibald Williams, April 39, 1848

To Mary Todd Lincoln, June 12, 1848

To William H. Herndon, June 22, 1848

To Horace Greeley, June 27, 1848

To William H. Herndon, July 10, 1848

To William H. Herndon, July 11, 1848

Fragment on Niagara Falls, late September 1848?

To Thomas Lincoln and John D. Johnston, December 24, 1848

To William B. Preston, May 16, 1849

To Elisha Embree, May 25, 1849

Notes on the practice of law, 1850?

To John D. Johnston, January 12, 1851

To John D. Johnston, November 25, 1851

From eulogy on Henry Clay at Springfield, Illinois, July 6, 1852

To Thompson R. Webber, September 12, 1853

To Mason Brayman, October 3, 1853

Fragment on government, 1854?

From speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854

To William H. Henderson, February 21, 1855

To Owen Lovejoy, August 11, 1855

To George Robertson, August 15, 1855

To Joshua F. Speed, August 24, 1855

To Lyman Trumbull, June 7, 1856

To Lyman Trumbull, August 11, 1856

Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan, August 27, 1856

On Stephen Douglas, c. December 1856

Speech at Republican banquet in Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1856

From speech on the Dred Scott decision at Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857

Draft of a speech, c. late December 1857

To Ozias M. Hatch, March 24, 1858

To Charles L. Wilson, June 1, 1858

"House divided" speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858

From speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858

To Henry Asbury, July 31, 1858

From first Lincoln-Douglas debate, Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858

From second Lincoln-Douglas debate, Freeport, Illinois, August 27, 1858

Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois, September 11, 1858

From third Lincoln-Douglas debate, Jonesboro, Illinois, September 15, 1858

From fourth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858

On pro-slavery theology, 1858?

From fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Galesburg, Illinois, October 7, 1858

From sixth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Quincy, Illinois, October 13, 1858

From seventh Lincoln-Douglas debate, Alton, Illinois, October 15, 1858

To Norman B. Judd, October 20, 1858

Last speech in campaign of 1858, Springfield, Illinois, October 30, 1858

To Charles H. Ray, November 20, 1858

Lecture on discoveries and inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, February 11, 1859

Speech at Chicago, Illinois, March 1, 1859

To Henry L. Pierce and others, April 6, 1859

To Theodore Canisius, May 17, 1859

To Salmon P. Chase, June 20, 1859

To Samuel Galloway, July 28, 1859

From speech at Columbus, Ohio, September 16, 1859

From speech at Cincinnati, Ohio, September 17, 1859

From address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859

To Jesse W. Fell, enclosing autobiography, December 20, 1859

From address at Cooper Institute, New York City, February 27, 1860

To Mary Todd Lincoln, March 4, 1860

From speech at New Haven, Connecticut, March 6, 1860

To Samuel Galloway, March 24, 1860

To Lyman Trumbull, April 29, 1860

To George Ashmun, May 23, 1860

Autobiography written for campaign, c. June 1860

To Grace Bedell, October 19, 1860

To George T.M. Davis, October 27, 1860

To William Kellogg, December 11, 1860

To John A. Gilmer, December 15, 1860

To Thurlow Weed, December 17, 1860

To Alexander H. Stephens, December 22, 1860

To James T. Hale, January 11, 1861

Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1861

Speech to Germans at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 12, 1861

Address to the New Jersey Senate at Trenton, New Jersey, February 21, 1861

Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1861

First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861

To William H. Seward, April 1, 1861

To Robert Anderson, April 4, 1861

To Robert S. Chew, April 6, 1861

Proclamation calling militia and convening Congress, April 15, 1861

To Reverdy Johnson, April 24, 1861

To Winfield Scott, April 25, 1861

To Winfield Scott, April 27, 1861

Message to Congress in special session, July 4, 1861

To John C. Frémont, September 2, 1861

To John C. Frémont, September 11, 1861

From annual message to Congress, December 3, 1861

To Don C. Buell, January 6, 1862

Message to Congress, March 6, 1862

To Henry J. Raymond, March 9, 1862

Speech to a Massachusetts delegation, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1862

To George B. McClellan, April 9, 1862

To George B. McClellan, June 28, 1862

Appeal to border-state representatives for compensated emancipation, Washington, D.C., July 12, 1862

Address on colonization to a committee of colored men, Washington, D.C., August 14, 1862

To Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862

Meditation on the divine will, c. early September 1862

Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862

Proclamation suspending the writ of habeas corpus, September 24, 1862

To Hannibal Hamlin, September 28, 1862

To George B. McClellan, October 13, 1862

To John Pope, November 10, 1862

To George F. Shepley, November 21, 1862

To Nathaniel P. Banks, November 22, 1862

To Carl Schurz, November 24, 1862

From Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862

Message to Senate on Minnesota Indians, December 11, 1862

To Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862

Final Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863

To John A. McClernand, January 8, 1863

To Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863

To John M. Schofield, May 27, 1863

To Erastus Corning and others, June 12, 1863

To Joseph Hooker, June 16, 1863

To George G. Meade, July 14, 1863

To Oliver O. Howard, July 21, 1863

To Montgomery Blair, July 24, 1863

Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863

To Stephen A. Hurlbut, July 31, 1863

To Nathaniel P. Banks, August 5, 1863

To James H. Hackett, August 17, 1863

To James C. Conkling, August 26, 1863

To Salmon P. Chase, September 2, 1863

To Andrew Johnson, September 11, 1863

Opinion on the draft, c. mid-September 1863

To Henry W. Halleck, September 19, 1863

To James M. Cutts, October 26, 1863

To James H. Hackett, November 2, 1863

To Nathaniel P. Banks, November 5, 1863

Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

From Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1863

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, December 8, 1863

To Thomas Cottman, December 15, 1863

To Oliver D. Filley, December 22, 1863

To Edwin M. Stanton, February 5, 1864

To Salmon P. Chase, February 29, 1864

To Edwin M. Stanton, March 1, 1864

To John A.J. Creswell, March 7, 1864

To Michael Hahn, March 13, 1864

To Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864

Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864

To Charles Sumner, May 19, 1864

To John H.

Bryant, May 30, 1864

Reply to Committee of the National Union Convention, Washington, D.C., June 9, 1864

Reply to delegation from the National Union League, Washington, D.C., June 9, 1864

To Salmon P. Chase, June 30, 1864

Proclamation concerning reconstruction, July 8, 1864

To John McMahon, August 6, 1864

To Charles D. Robinson, August 17, 1864

Speech to the 166th Ohio Regiment, August 22, 1864

Memorandum of Probable Failure of Re-election, August 23, 1864

To Eliza P. Gurney, September 4, 1864

To William T. Sherman, September 19, 1864

Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., October 19, 1864

Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., November 10, 1864

To Stephen A. Hurlbut, November 14, 1864

To Mrs. Lydia Bixby, November 21, 1864

From Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1864

To William T. Sherman, December 26, 1864

To Ulysses S. Grant, January 19, 1865

Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., February 1, 1865

To John Glenn, February 7, 1865

Reply to Notification Committee, Washington, D.C., March 1, 1865

To Ulysses S. Grant, March 3, 1865

Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865

To Thurlow Weed, March 15, 1865

Speech to the 140th Indiana Regiment, Washington, D.C., March 17, 1865

Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., April 10, 1865

Speech to Reconstruction, Washington, D.C., April 11, 1865

Chronology

Note on the texts

Notes

Index.