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001 - Foreword Biographical Sketch · Noted Speeches of Abraham Lincoln

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  Speaker 1: Section one of Noted Speeches of Abraham Lincoln, edited by
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  Speaker 1: Lillian Marie Briggs. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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  Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Denny
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  Speaker 1: Sayers in Modesto, California. Forward, This series American History and
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  Speaker 1: Literature will include only the best known American speeches, those
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  Speaker 1: which commemorate the most important events in the history of
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  Speaker 1: our country. The biographical sketches have been included for the
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  Speaker 1: convenience of the student and reader, and for the schoolboys
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  Speaker 1: and girls who are constantly seeking concise accounts of the
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  Speaker 1: lives of our great Americans. This present volume, the first
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  Speaker 1: of the series, gives to the student and reader Abraham
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln's most noted speeches in compact form, making a chronological anthology.
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  Speaker 1: L M. B. Abraham Lincoln Biographical Sketch in a Little
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  Speaker 1: log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky, on the twelfth of
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  Speaker 1: February eighteen o nine was born a future President of
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  Speaker 1: the United States, Abraham Lincoln. When Abraham was seven years old,
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  Speaker 1: his father, Thomas Lincoln, moved with his family to Indiana.
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  Speaker 1: It was a cold, dreary winter for them in the
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  Speaker 1: rude shed, which Abraham, knowing well how to handle an axe,
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  Speaker 1: had helped his father to build. The following autumn found
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  Speaker 1: them in a better cabin, but brought to Abraham the
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  Speaker 1: loss of his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, leaving his sister Sarah,
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  Speaker 1: eleven years old, to care for the household. But the
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  Speaker 1: next year the little home was much changed, for a
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  Speaker 1: stepmother had come, a woman of energy and thrift, who
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  Speaker 1: provided the children with comforts before unknown to them. She
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  Speaker 1: became very fond of Abraham and encouraged his inclination for
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  Speaker 1: reading and study. One year would probably cover all the
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  Speaker 1: schooling he ever had, but he set to work with
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  Speaker 1: the will to educate himself, sometimes walking miles to borrow
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  Speaker 1: a book. In the spring of eighteen thirty, Thomas Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: sold his farm in Indiana and moved to Illinois. Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: though wishing to do something for himself, remained with his
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  Speaker 1: father about a year, longer to see him comfortably settled
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  Speaker 1: in his new home. Then in April, he went on
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  Speaker 1: his second expedition to New Orleans in a flatboat. On
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  Speaker 1: his return, his employer placed him in charge of a
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  Speaker 1: store at New Salem. When he was twenty three years old,
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  Speaker 1: he enlisted in what was called the black Hawk War
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  Speaker 1: and was chosen captain of his company. When the war
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  Speaker 1: was at an end and he returned home, he was
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  Speaker 1: told that the people wished to send him to the legislature.
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  Speaker 1: He agreed to be a candidate, but was not elected.
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  Speaker 1: All this time he did not give up the idea
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  Speaker 1: of becoming a lawyer, and soon after the next election,
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  Speaker 1: at which he received a large majority, he commenced the
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  Speaker 1: study of law. In eighteen thirty seven, he left New
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  Speaker 1: Salem and moved to Springfield, which was ever after his home.
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  Speaker 1: He was elected to the Illinois Legislature four times in succession,
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  Speaker 1: and again in eighteen forty six, and the following year
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  Speaker 1: he was chosen to be a representative in Congress. At
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  Speaker 1: the close of his two years in Congress, mister Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: returned to Springfield and applied himself to the practice of law.
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  Speaker 1: But very soon he was again taking an active part
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  Speaker 1: in the politics of his state. It was at the
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  Speaker 1: state Convention held in Bloomington in eighteen fifty six, at
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  Speaker 1: which time the Republican Party of Illinois was finally organized
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  Speaker 1: that mister Lincoln made the wonderful address, which has become
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  Speaker 1: famous as his Lost Speech. Eighteen fifty eight was the
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  Speaker 1: year of the noted Lincoln Douglas debate that brought mister
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln conspicuously before the whole country. Two years later, when
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  Speaker 1: visiting New York, he was invited by a party of
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  Speaker 1: Republicans to deliver a speech at Cooper Union. This speech
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  Speaker 1: helped to increase his popularity. This same year, eighteen sixty,
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  Speaker 1: mister Lincoln was elected to be President of the United States,
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  Speaker 1: and on the fourth of March eighteen sixty one, delivered
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  Speaker 1: his first inaugural address in the presence of thousands of people.
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  Speaker 1: The Emancipation Acclamation, which gave the slaves their freedom, was
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  Speaker 1: issued to take effect on the first of January eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three, and in this act mister Lincoln made his
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  Speaker 1: name great. It was in the same year that he
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  Speaker 1: delivered the famous Gettysburg Address. Mister Lincoln was elected to
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  Speaker 1: the presidency for the second term, but lived only a
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  Speaker 1: few weeks afterward. He was shot in a theater in
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  Speaker 1: Washington on Friday evening the fourteenth of April eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: He grew according to the need, and as the problem grew,
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  Speaker 1: so did his comprehension of it. Ralph Waldo Emerson end
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  Speaker 1: of Section one