Lincoln's speeches reconsidered

"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." "John Channing Briggs reveals how the process of studying, writing, and delivering speeches helped Lincoln develop the ideas that have so profoundly changed history. Briggs follows Lincoln's thought processes and careful attention to oratory, beginning with the Illinoisan's speech to the Springfield Lyceum in 1838 and ranging to the incomparable Second Inaugural Address."--Jacket.