His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation

by Diana Schaub

Overview

An expert analysis of Abraham Lincoln's three most powerful speeches reveals his rhetorical genius and his thoughts on our national character.

Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president, believed that our national character was defined by three key moments: the writing of the Constitution, our declaration of independence from England, and the beginning of slavery on the North American continent. His thoughts on these landmarks can be traced through three speeches: the Lyceum Address, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural. The latter two are well-known, enshrined forever on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial. The former is much less familiar to most, written a quarter century before his presidency, when he was a 28 year-old Illinois state legislator.

In His Greatest Speeches, Professor Diana Schaub offers a brilliant line-by-line analysis of these timeless works, placing them in historical context and explaining the brilliance behind their rhetoric. The result is a complete vision of Lincoln’s worldview that is sure to fascinate and inspire general readers and history buffs alike. This book is a wholly original resource for considering the difficult questions of American purpose and identity, questions that are no less contentious or essential today than they were a century and a half ago.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250763457
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/23/2021
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	117,468
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Diana Schaub is a professor of political science at Loyola University Maryland and a Visiting Scholar at AEI. She was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2004-2009. A recipient of the Richard M. Weaver Prize for Scholarly Letters, she is the author of Erotic Liberalism, contributing editor of The New Atlantis, and part of the National Affairs publication committee. She writes for The Claremont Review of Books, and serves on the board of directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute.

Table of Contents

Preface

A Note on the Texts

Chapter 1: The Lyceum Address—1787 and Reverence for the Constitution and Laws

Chapter 2: The Gettysburg Address—1776 and Devotion to the Declaration

Chapter 3: The Second Inaugural—1619 and Charity for All

Appendix: The Texts

Acknowledgements

Notes

Editorial Reviews

09/06/2021

In this astute blend of history and textual analysis, Schaub (Erotic Liberalism), a professor of political science at Loyola University Maryland, painstakingly analyzes three of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches for his thoughts on the “meaning of America” and insights into how he attempted to heal the country’s partisan divides. In line-by-line breakdowns of the 1838 Lyceum Address, the 1863 Gettysburg Address, and the 1865 Second Inaugural address, Schaub reveals how each speech was pegged to a specific landmark in U.S. history (respectively, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the arrival of the first African slaves) and furthered Lincoln’s larger goal of bridging the divide between America’s ideals and its practices. Throughout, Schaub highlights Lincoln’s deliberate word choices (he refers to “the Southern part” of the Union, rather than simply “the South” in the Second Inaugural) and defiance of rhetorical and political conventions. She notes, for instance, that the Gettysburg Address is a “war speech” that “never mentions the enemy,” and that the Second Inaugural studiously—and somewhat awkwardly—avoids first-person singular pronouns. Schaub also draws incisive comparisons to addresses by George Washington, Daniel Webster, and Frederick Douglass, among others, and skillfully unearths biblical and literary allusions studded throughout the texts. Lincolnophiles with a literary bent will savor this rewarding deep dive. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"An astute blend of history and textual analysis...[Schaub] skillfully unearths biblical and literary allusions studded throughout the texts. Lincolnophiles with a literary bent will savor this rewarding deep dive." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2021

In a compelling book that is at once probing, provocative, profound, and sometimes problematic, Schaub (political science, Loyola Univ. Maryland; Erotic Liberalism) parses three of Abraham Lincoln's most revealing speeches to explain how they informed political thought and spurred action. She closely exegetes the speeches in chronological order to show Lincoln's recourse to scripture and history when he wanted to make a case for the promise of the nation or the character and demands of securing democratic freedom. Especially insightful is the analysis of Lincoln's Lyceum speech of 1838, in which he argued that American democracy and destiny hinged on grounding all public action in the Constitution and respect for the law. Schaub also offers an original reading of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863, in which he reminded the nation that only fealty to the principles of the Declaration of Independence could save the great experiment in self-government. And she adds to the large body of literature on Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address of 1865 by emphasizing Lincoln's focus on the long history of slavery, which she says called on all Americans to reckon with that crime. VERDICT An essential work on the purpose, poetry, and power of Lincoln's words.—Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia

Library Journal