Abraham Lincoln’s speeches and letters have been written about and analyzed more than those of any other politician in American History. His evolution from obscure frontier Whig to Civil War president is also the evolution of the mind of a transformational leader. Words, phrases, and delivery of Lincoln’s numerous public and private musings have been analyzed under the microscope of historians. An intensive examination of Lincoln’s words in the classroom presents several challenges, especially because of their length and volume. In the world of the nineteenth century, a public presentation could go on for hours. Thus what audiences in Lincoln’s day would find eloquent, today’s students, members of the sound byte generation, are certain to see as overkill—as they might the sheer volume of documents Lincoln produced over his career.
The classroom teacher can, however, overcome these obstacles. Using representative segments of Lincoln’s words from a variety of documents or dividing readings up into sections empowers the classroom teacher to both incorporate a wide variety of Lincoln’s words and to reduce student’s anxiety about utilizing long documents. Lincoln’s October 16, 1854 speech in Peoria, Illinois illustrates these challenges and opportunities.At over 17,000 words the Peoria speech is beyond the scope of the time, curricular demands, and attention spans of most high school students. Nevertheless, the document merits consideration for classroom use. To make effective use of the speech teachers should excerpt passages that provide insight into Lincoln’s thoughts on the major issues of the day, such as the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Popular Sovereignty, union, and slavery.
Divided effectively, the speech can also serve as a point of comparison for students when they encounter Lincoln’s reaction to John Brown’s raid, the Dred Scott decision, and his decisions between the election of 1860 and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.The speech can also be used to introduce the events of the 1850s, helping students to understand its context. Lincoln gave the speech immediately following congressional passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, which negated the Missouri Compromise. Determined to defend the Missouri Compromise and highlight the threat posed to civil peace for thirty years, Lincoln foreshadows many of the arguments made four years later in the more famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. Within the speech students can find the core arguments that define Lincoln’s views as congressional candidate, Republican nominee for president, and Civil War commander-in-chief. His opposition to the extension of slavery, his moral rejection of the institution of slavery, his reflection of the racial views of the time period, and his more Whiggish than abolitionist view of how to resolve the conundrum of slavery are all apparent in the speech.
Image: Photograph of Abraham Lincoln, taken in 1859. (The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC03950)
By Bruce Lesh