Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was one of the most influential presidents of the USA, uniting the country and abolishing slavery after a terrible civil war. On the 200th anniversary of his birth, his life and works are presented here in an easy introductory form. Through a balance of biography and the key speeches and letters, the man is brought to life, demonstrating his keen intelligence and determination, which was maintained all the way to his tragic death at the hand of an assassin.
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The 16th US president may not have inherited the problems that the 44th took on last Tuesday, but in 1861, when he wrote 'A Lincoln, Washington' on his family's trunks and set out for his inauguration from Springfield, Illinois, the country was in pretty dire shape. Seven southern slave states had seceded from the union and set up their own Confederate capital. Civil war was inevitable. The press, unlike today's pro-Obama lobby, were agreed that the tall, bony hick from the midwest with a backwoods twang wasn't up to the job. This often heart-rending collection of speeches, letters and biography, brought out to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest US leaders, will have you glory, glory hallelujahing by the time you get to the end of the Gettysburg address. One of Lincoln's letters sold at auction in New York last year for $3.4m. I'm not surprised. Here's the one he wrote in 1864 to Mrs Bigsby in Boston, whose five sons had been killed in action. 'Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement . . . that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming, but I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, A Lincoln.' Sue Arnold - The Guardian
