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Abraham Lincoln's Greatest Speeches

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Abraham Lincoln's ability to write and deliver great speeches made him a rising star in national politics and propelled him to the White House.

And during his years in office, classic speeches, especially the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln 's Second Inaugural Address, helped to establish him as one of the greatest American presidents.

Follow the links below to read more about Lincoln's greatest speeches.

Lincoln's Lyceum Address

Addressing a local chapter of the American Lyceum Movement in Springfield, Illinois, a 28-year-old Lincoln delivered a surprisingly ambitious speech on a cold winter night in 1838.

The speech was entitled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions," and Lincoln, who had just been elected to local political office, spoke on matters of great national significance. He made allusions to a recent act of mob violence in Illinois, and also addressed the issue of enslavement.

Though Lincoln was talking to a smalltown audience of friends and neighbors, he seemed to have ambitions beyond Springfield and his position as a state representative.

The "House Divided" Speech

When Lincoln was nominated to be the candidate of the Illinois Republican Party for U.S. Senate he delivered a speech at the state convention on June 16, 1858. Reflecting the beliefs of his party at the time, the opposition to the spread of enslavement, he intended to speak of how the nation had pro-slavery states and free states. He wanted to use a phrase that his listeners would find familiar, so he utilized a quote from the Bible: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

His speech is remembered as an eloquent statement of principles, yet it was criticized at the time. Some friends of Lincoln's thought the Biblical quote was inappropriate. His law partner had even advised him not to use it. But Lincoln trusted his instincts. He lost the election for Senate that year to the powerful incumbent, Stephen Douglas. But his speech that night in 1858 became memorable and may have helped him in his run for the presidency two years later.

Lincoln's Address at Cooper Union

In late February 1860, Abraham Lincoln took a series of trains from Springfield, Illinois to New York City. He had been invited to speak to a gathering of the Republican Party , a fairly new political party that was opposed to the spread of enslavement.

Lincoln had gained some fame while debating Stephen A. Douglas two years earlier in a Senate race in Illinois. But he was essentially unknown in the East. The speech he delivered at Cooper Union on February 27, 1860, would make him an overnight star, elevating him to the level of running for president.

Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered under circumstances never seen before or since, as the country was literally coming apart. Following Lincoln's election in November 1860 , pro-slavery states, outraged by his victory, began threatening to secede.

South Carolina left the Union in late December, and other states followed. By the time Lincoln delivered his inaugural address, he was facing the prospect of governing a fractured nation. Lincoln gave an intelligent speech, which was praised in the North and reviled in the South. And within a month the nation was at war.

The Gettysburg Address

In late 1863 President Lincoln was invited to give a brief address at the dedication of a military cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg , which had been fought the previous July.

Lincoln chose the occasion to make a major statement on the war, emphasizing that it was a just cause. His remarks were always intended to be fairly brief, and in crafting the speech Lincoln created a masterpiece of concise writing.

The entire text of the Gettysburg Address is less than 300 words, but it carried enormous impact, and remains one of the most quoted speeches in human history.

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address in March 1865, as the Civil War was reaching its end. With victory within sight, Lincoln was magnanimous, and issued a call for national reconciliation.

Lincoln's second inaugural stands as probably the best inaugural address ever, as well as being one of the best speeches ever delivered in the United States. The final paragraph, a single sentence beginning, "With malice toward none, with charity toward all..." is one of the most passages ever said by Abraham Lincoln.

He did not live to see the America he envisioned after the Civil War. Six weeks after delivering his brilliant speech, he was assassinated at Ford's Theatre.

Other Writings by Abraham Lincoln

Beyond his major speeches, Abraham Lincoln exhibited great facility with the language in other forums.

• The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were held in Illinois throughout the summer of 1858 as Lincoln ran for a U.S. Senate seat held by Stephen A. Douglas . In the series of seven debates each man would speak for up to an hour, so the format would be more like a speech than any debate we would see in modern times. Lincoln got off to a shaky start in the first debate, but eventually found his footing, and became, in the crucible of debating the skillful Douglas, an accomplished public speaker.
• The Emancipation Proclamation was written by Abraham Lincoln and signed into law on January 1, 1863. Lincoln had been waiting for a Union victory he felt would give him political clout to issue a proclamation freeing enslaved people, and turning back a Confederate invasion of the North at Antietam in September 1862 provided the desired circumstances. The Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free many enslaved people, as it only applied to enslaved people in states in rebellion to the United States, and it couldn't be enforced until territory was secured by the Union Army.
• Lincoln's proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving would not be considered a major piece of writing, yet it nicely illustrates Lincoln's style of expression. Lincoln was essentially lobbied to issue the proclamation by the editor of a popular magazine for women. And in the document, Lincoln reflects on the hardships of the war and encourages the nation to take a day off for reflection.
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Abraham Lincoln Speeches

Famous speeches from president abraham lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was a skilled lawyer, statesman, and one of the greatest orators in U.S. history, giving hundreds of speeches. His skill and eloquence were so great that Williams Jennings Bryan, a politician who ran for president three times and himself a renowned public speaker, gave a speech about Lincoln’s oratory powers on the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. Lincoln’s speeches are still studied today; often anthologies of famous speeches include more than one of his.

The House Divided Speech

Lincoln gave the House Divided Speech at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield on June 17, 1858, upon accepting the Republican nomination for U.S. senator for Illinois. To differentiate himself from incumbent Stephen A. Douglas, he described the dangers of the Union dissolving over slavery, which rallied northern Republicans. The most famous passage from the speech is:

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new—North as well as South.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

During his 1858 campaign to become U.S. senator for Illinois, Lincoln gained national attention in a series of seven debates with incumbent Stephen A. Douglas. In these debates, the candidates took turns delivering the opening speech; the opponent delivered a response speech, and the original speaker answered with a rejoinder. They focused mainly on the biggest issue of the day—slavery. Lincoln ultimately lost the election to Douglas, but the publicity and credibility he received as a result of the debates, which were widely reported in newspapers all over the nation, helped him to win the 1860 Republican nomination for President of the United States. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are the basis of one format (the Lincoln-Douglas, or L–D format) still used in debate competitions today and are often considered the basis of the modern presidential debates.

Cooper Union Address

In October 1859, Lincoln received an invitation to speak at Henry Ward Beecher’s church in Brooklyn, New York, in November 1859. Lincoln delayed the speech until February 1861, closer to the Republican National Convention scheduled for May. Before his arrival, the Young Men’s Republican Union assumed sponsorship of the event and moved the location to the newly founded Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which had a 900-seat auditorium, the largest secular meeting room in New York. (Now called Cooper Institute, it was founded by Peter Cooper, a wealthy philanthropist.) The topic Lincoln chose—the views and intentions of the 39 signers of the Constitution in regards to slavery—required months of research. The central point of the speech was that Republicans held the same view on slavery as at least 21 of the signers of the Constitution: Congress should control slavery in the territories and not allow it to expand. In effect, he argued that those who objected to this view of slavery, including Southern whites who had already threatened to secede, had little basis for their objections since this view was, in fact, what was intended by the founding fathers. Lincoln arranged the factual information from his research in a logical way, building his argument without much rhetorical flourish to drive his point home. The speech was so effective that it was printed and used during his presidential campaign.

First Inaugural Address

Lincoln wrote his first inaugural address in the back room of a Springfield, Illinois, store owned by his brother-in-law Clark M. Smith in January, 1861, while escaping from a deluge of office-seekers. He delivered it on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building on March 4, 1861, just two weeks after the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederation. In the speech, Lincoln attempted to put to rest the fears of Southerners and argued for holding the Union together, making reference to Henry Clay’s 1850 speech on compromise; Senator (Massachusetts) Daniel Webster’s reply to Sen. Robert Hayne (South Carolina), which had concluded with the words, "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever; One and Inseparable"; Andrew Jackson’s proclamation against the 1832 nullification crisis, and the U. S. Constitution.

The Gettysburg Address

Perhaps Lincoln’s best-remembered speech is the Gettysburg Address, though it was not considered one of his most important speeches during his lifetime. Lincoln was invited to make a speech following the featured speaker, Edward Everett, at the November 1863 dedication of Soldier’s National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle Of Gettysburg. (Learn more about the Gettysburg Address or read the full transcript of the Gettysburg Address Text to appreciate Lincoln’s eloquence, brevity, and the significance of the Battle Of Gettysburg. )

The Second Inaugural Address

Lincoln’s second inaugural address, delivered March 4, 1865, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, was brief, intense, and is recognized as being one of the most powerful pieces of political prose ever written. With the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery in sight, Lincoln delivered a speech that was not triumphant but full of sadness and regret for those lost in the war and difficulties of reconstruction that lay ahead. The speech was also deeply theological in its examination of God’s will, with several Biblical allusions. Lincoln closed with this famous sentence:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Last Public Address

On April 11, 1865, two days after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender following the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, Lincoln addressed a crowd that gathered in the evening. Speaking from the window over the main door to the White House where presidents had customarily given speeches, Lincoln again elected to deliver a thoughtful message of reunification rather than a triumphant victory speech. First, however, he told the band outside to play "Dixie," which he said, "Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday we had fairly captured it."

That was the closest he came to gloating. Instead, he spoke to the crowd about reconstruction and the need for cooperation between the executive and legislative branches of government as they reunified the country and the "disorganized and discordant elements" of the South. He also addressed the fate of former slaves and, as an example, he used the particulars of the state of Louisiana, where the legislature had freed all slaves and provided for equal, free public education for black and white. Louisiana stopped short of granting black suffrage, however, and now, for the first time, Lincoln publicly supported full citizenship—the right to vote—for educated colored men and those who had served in the military. Lincoln closed with the possibility that "it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South."

A white supremacist and Confederate activist named John Wilkes Booth was in the audience that evening and knew Lincoln’s announcement would mean full citizenship for African Americans. He swore "That is the last speech he will make," making good on the threat when he assassinated the president three days later.

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Who gave the speech that preceded Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address?

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Gettysburg Address

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• University of Washington - Engage All Abilities - Gettysburg Address
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What is the Gettysburg Address?

The Gettysburg Address is a speech delivered in 1863 by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War.

When was the Gettysburg Address delivered?

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.

Edward Everett was an American statesman and noted orator who delivered the speech immediately preceding Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Everett later wrote to Lincoln, “I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”

Why is the Gettysburg Address famous?

The Gettysburg Address was widely quoted and praised soon after Lincoln delivered it, and it came to be recognized as one of the masterpieces of prose poetry.

Gettysburg Address , world-famous speech delivered by U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln at the dedication (November 19, 1863) of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg , Pennsylvania , the site of one of the decisive battles of the American Civil War (July 1–3, 1863).

The main address at the dedication ceremony was a two-hour speech delivered by Edward Everett , the best-known orator of the time. Steeped in the tradition of ancient Greek oratory , Everett’s speech was some 13,000 words long, but he delivered it without notes. It included allusions to the Battle of Marathon and comparisons with the English Civil Wars , the War of the Roses , and wars in German, French, and Italian history, along with a dissection of the Confederate “rebellion” and an exhaustive description of the events leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg and of the battle itself. Everett concluded by saying:

’The whole earth,’ said Pericles , as he stood over the remains of his fellow-citizens, who had fallen in the first year of the Peloponnesian War,-’the whole earth is the sepulchre of illustrious men.’ All time, he might have added, is the millennium of their glory. Surely I would do no injustice to the other noble achievements of the war, which have reflected such honor on both arms of the service, and have entitled the armies and the navy of the United States , their officers and men, to the warmest thanks and the richest rewards which a grateful people can pay. But they, I am sure, will join us in saying, as we bid farewell to the dust of these martyr-heroes, that wheresoever throughout the civilized world the accounts of this great warfare are read, and down to the latest period of recorded time, in the glorious annals of our common country there will be no brighter page than that which relates THE BATTLES OF GETTYSBURG.

In the wake of such a performance, Lincoln’s brief speech (just 272 words long) would hardly seem to have drawn notice. However, despite some criticism from his opposition, it was widely quoted and praised and soon came to be recognized as one of the classic utterances of all time, a masterpiece of prose poetry. On the day following the ceremony, Everett himself wrote to Lincoln, “I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”

The text quoted in full below represents the fifth of five extant copies of the address in Lincoln’s handwriting; it differs slightly from earlier versions and may reflect, in addition to afterthought, interpolations made during the delivery.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Gettysburg Address

Text of lincoln's speech.

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(Bliss copy)

Delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863.

The Civil War has gone by a variety of different names throughout the years. One popular name in the postwar South was “The War Between the States.” Other names employed by Southerners include “The War for Southern Independence” and “The War of Separation”; in the North popular names included “The War for the Union” and “The War of the Rebellion.” The most common and lasting name, however, has always been “The Civil War,” the name used by Lincoln, Davis, Lee, and Grant during the war and by most Americans ever since.

This short, declarative sentence contains evocative visual imagery that powerfully conveys the magnitude of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln’s use of a passive verb construction here also emphasizes the power of the place—Lincoln conveys that something brought them all to Gettysburg. Years later, Lincoln would use this notion of a divine plan, or fate, in his second inaugural address to portray the Civil War as an inevitable confrontation.

The United States was founded in 1776 on principles of democracy and freedom that were revolutionary for the time. Lincoln states that the Civil War is the first true test of whether or not a country founded on liberty and democracy is capable of surviving. His use of the word “conceived” emphasizes the singularity of the country’s origin and employs a birth metaphor that returns at the end of the speech.

The first hostilities in the American Civil War took place in April, 1861, with the Confederate army’s attack on the US Army base of Fort Sumter in South Carolina. When Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address two years later, the tide of the war was turning in favor of the Union. The Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee had recently lost the Battle of Gettysburg, ending their northern advance and forcing them to retreat.

One of Lincoln’s primary goals as president was to stop the spread of slavery. After the start of the Civil War, this approach quickly shifted towards the emancipation of the slaves, and Lincoln began taking steps to accomplish that goal by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Lincoln uses this line, taken from the Declaration of Independence, to evoke the founding principles of the country, namely equality and freedom. Given the context of Lincoln’s speech, this is also a clear reference to the Union’s desire to eradicate slavery.

Lincoln begins his speech by alluding to the founding of the United States and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776—four score and seven, or eighty-seven, years ago. Lincoln draws on the nation’s history to use the ideas of the founders as a key element of his own speech. In doing so, Lincoln aligns the Northern cause with the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence.

In this address, Lincoln coined the phrase “of the people, by the people, for the people,” which has since entered the national lexicon as an elegant and concise definition of American democracy. Just as Lincoln began the speech with a reference to the Declaration of Independence , this final statement nods to the same founding document. The spirit of the declaration, with its insistence that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” can be heard echoing through the Gettysburg Address and, in particular, its stirring conclusion.

Five-known copies of the Gettysburg Address exist: the Nicolay draft, the Hay draft, the Everett copy, the Bancroft copy, and the Bliss copy. Each is named after the person to whom Lincoln sent the version. The Bliss copy (sent to Colonel Alexander Bliss) is the best known and is widely accepted as the standard because Lincoln signed and dated this version, and provided it with a title. It is also the version chosen for inscription at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

This passage reveals the threading together of two separate strands of repetition. The long final sentence of the speech is divided by em dashes, each of which proceeds a statement about “the great task remaining before us” beginning with the word “that.” In the final such statement, Lincoln embeds another piece of repetition—“of the people, by the people, for the people”—thus ending the speech on a rhythmically and rhetorically powerful note.

In the conclusion of the address, Lincoln emphasizes “a new birth of freedom,” reiterating the birth metaphor he introduced at the start of the speech. The implication is that through conflict, sacrifice, and even death, there is the possibility for a rebirth and renewal of the nation’s values—democracy, equality, and freedom. Lincoln’s use of sustained metaphor brings the important themes and ideas to the forefront again and again, an effective rhetorical strategy.

To do something “in vain” is to do it uselessly, without effect or purpose. The word derives from the Latin vanus , which means “empty” or “void.” Lincoln’s aim is to ensure that the Union dead did not die without meaning, and therefore to call on the living to fulfill the purpose of the dead.

Lincoln carefully transforms the deaths of the soldiers at Gettysburg into a call to action for his fellow citizens of the Union. Rather than viewing the battle as a tragedy, Lincoln attends to the greater cause and purpose for which the soldiers fought. In such a light, the proper way to honor the dead is to further the cause they died for.

In this passage, Lincoln conveys the idea that actions speak louder than words. As he puts it, the words used to consecrate the battlefield will fade in time, but the efforts of the soldiers will not. In a twist of irony, Lincoln’s words in this speech—“what we say here”—have been canonized for their eloquence, and thus will be long remembered, despite his predictions to the contrary. The construction of this statement is an example of antithesis , a technique which contrasts opposing ideas to emphasize a larger point.

One of Lincoln’s primary themes in the Gettysburg Address is the weakness of words compared to actions. Lincoln claims that the battlefield cannot be consecrated by an exchange of words; rather, it has already been consecrated by the deeds of the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. One of the great ironies, both of this address and of Lincoln’s political career, is that Lincoln’s words are powerful, despite the claims he made otherwise throughout his life. The humility of his presentation is integral to his rhetorical power.

To “hallow” means to sanctify or purify a person, place, or object. The word derives from the Old Saxon “hêlagôn,” from which we also derive “holy.” Lincoln uses a series of related words— dedicate , consecrate , and hallow —in order to emphasize his point that the ground at Gettysburg has already been rendered sacred by the sacrifices of the fallen soldiers.

The verb “consecrate” means to designate a person, place, or thing as sacred, to dedicate it to a religious purpose. In many cases, the act of consecration grants a place—often a church or cemetery—a special legal status. The process of assigning events a religious purpose was familiar to Abraham Lincoln, who spoke eloquently of the divine purposes animating the Civil War in his Second Inaugural Address .

Throughout the Gettysburg address, Lincoln uses the literary device of anaphora —the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of statements. In this passage, Lincoln repeats “we can not” in order to drive home his point that Gettysburg has already been consecrated, by the dead rather than the living.

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Top 10 Greatest Speeches

As the political season heats up, TIME takes a tour of history's best rhetoric

Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg Address, 1863

At the site of one of the Civil War's pivotal battles, Lincoln delivered an address that was as succinct — just about three minutes and 265 words long —as it was memorable. As he helped dedicate a cemetery to Gettysburg's fallen soldiers, he issued a stirring plea for the country to pay them tribute by honoring principles — liberty, equality — worth dying for.

Best Line : "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

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Lincoln’s eleven greatest speeches

Lincoln's Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion

• By Louis P. Masur
• April 11 th 2015

Leaving behind a legacy that transcends generations today, Abraham Lincoln was a veteran when it came to giving speeches. Delivering one of the most quoted speeches in history, Lincoln addressed the nation on a number of other occasions, captivating his audience and paving the way for generations to come. Here is an in-depth look at Lincoln’s eleven greatest speeches, in chronological order.

(1)   Speech at Peoria, Illinois, 16 October 1854

Lincoln made an argument against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He spoke for three hours, and offered a relentless assault upon the logic and morality of slavery: “If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that ‘all men are created equal’; and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man’s making a slave of another.” Five years later, in a campaign autobiography, he declared, “I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.”

(2)   Speech at Springfield, Illinois, 16 June 1858

Lincoln gave the speech after being nominated by the Republican Party as candidate for Senator of Illinois. He would lose the contest to Stephen Douglas, but not before making himself into a notable national political figure. Famously he declared, “’A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free . I do not expect the Union to be dissolved —I do not expect the house to fall —but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”

(3)   Speech at New York City, 27 February 1860

Lincoln came east to give what he knew would be a major address at the Cooper Institute. In the speech, he presented his research to argue that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the territories and that Southerners, not Northerners, were the ones who, in advocating secession, had rejected the policies of the Founding Fathers. He ended with a rousing message to his fellow Republicans: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”

(4)   Speech at Springfield, Illinois, 11 February 1861

Elected to the Presidency, Lincoln faced an unprecedented crisis as he prepared to leave Springfield for his inauguration. Seven states had seceded and it appeared as if the Union was to be dissolved. In what is known as his farewell address, he spoke at the railroad depot to those gathered to send him off. Here are his remarks, as finalized after the train pulled away:

“My friends — No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe every thing. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

(5)   Speech at Washington, D.C., 4 March 1861

No inaugural address has ever been delivered under more trying circumstances. Lincoln explained why he would never accept the legality of secession, tried to reassure Confederates that they had nothing to fear from his Presidency, and yet made clear that while he would not provoke a fight he would defend the Union. In his final appeal he moved from policy to poetry:

“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

(6)   Speech written as a letter to James C. Conkling, dated 26 August 1863, and delivered by I.J. Ketchum in Springfield, Illinois, 3 September 1863

Invited to speak at a rally of Union men in Springfield, Lincoln explained he could not attend but instead sent a letter. He instructed James C. Conkling, former mayor of Springfield, to “read it very slowly.” Lincoln offered a robust defense of the Emancipation Proclamation that he had issued on 1 January 1863 and which included a provision for the enrollment of black troops. In the aftermath of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Lincoln had peace on his mind and he gazed into the future:

“Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost. And then, there will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.”

(7)   Speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 19 November 1863

Commentary unnecessary. Just read it again:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

(8)   Speech at Baltimore, Maryland, 18 April 1864

During his presidency, Lincoln delivered only three speeches outside of Washington. The first was at Gettysburg. Baltimore was the second. The third would come in Philadelphia two months later. In both Baltimore and Philadelphia he spoke at Sanitary Fairs, events organized to raise money to support the troops. When the war began, Union troops were assaulted passing through Baltimore; now the President spoke there. “The world moves,” Lincoln observed as he offered a striking analogy to explain different understandings of liberty:

“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator , while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails to-day among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the processes by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty; and thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf’s dictionary, has been repudiated.”

(9)   Speech at Washington, D.C., 10 November 1864

Lincoln feared he would not be reelected, but when he was overwhelmingly returned for a second term he took the time to offer more than a few spontaneous remarks. He used the occasion to discuss the meaning of democracy:

“We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us…. Human-nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak, and as strong; as silly and as wise; as bad and good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.”

(10)   Speech at Washington, D.C., 4 March 1865

The second inaugural has received nearly as much attention at the Gettysburg Address. As evidenced from his reelection speech, Lincoln had revenge and mercy on his mind. In the second inaugural, Lincoln spoke of the reasons for the war, which was now winding its way toward Union victory. He also spoke about God and Christian forgiveness: “Let us judge not that we not be judged,” he intoned. The closing is as fine as anything he ever wrote or spoke:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

(11)   Speech at Washington, D.C., 11 April 1865

Lincoln waited two days after the surrender at Appomattox to speak. He wrote the first two paragraphs that day and drew for the rest of the speech on material he had written two months earlier in support of the readmission of Louisiana, which had adopted a new state constitutions that abolished slavery. He opened, “we meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.” It was classic Lincoln. Modest, reserved, even in victory. “Not in sorrow.” Lincoln had known so much of it in his life and throughout the war. “Gladness of heart” was something quite different from happiness. Lincoln looked ahead to the reconstruction of the nation, but it would take place without his wisdom and guidance.

Featured Image: Lincoln Memorial. Photo by Jeff Kubina. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Louis P. Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He is the author of many books, including Lincoln's Last Speech , The Civil War: A Concise History , and Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union.

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Recent Comments

A great man, leader, and countryman. He had wisdom, integrity, soundness of mind, and an embedded heart felt feeling for the people he governed. Only if we could hear similar words together such as, “Four score and seven years ago…All men are created equal.” Today all we can see is government in-fighting and blatant dis-respect for the current Presidents no matter who is elected.

I firmly believe that Lincoln was our greatest president. He kept our country together at a time when it could have fallen apart. After the South surrendered, he forgave those who seceded, only wishing to have a gentle reconstruction, which he unfortunately did not live to implement.

When did lincoln say “The people of these United States are the rightful masters ….”

Many thanks to the writer, and to the hero Dr Abraham Lincoln president of the United States of America, I have dedicated my time to get inspiration from his legency.

The greatest president that ever lived the world over.we are looking for leaders like especially In African.

When we vote in the right and God fearing people to power, the course of the world will change. Abraham Lincoln is no doubt a God sent President to the nation America. Today, our cry is who will save Nigeria my country. I am proud of the World greatest President in the history of life.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Gettysburg address.

In the wake of the United States Civil War's deadliest battle, President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. Now praised, this speech was not always seen this way.

Lincoln Giving Gettysburg Address

Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in United States history at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863.

Photograph of 1905 lithograph by Heritage Images

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought between July 1 and July 3, 1863. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the United States Civil War, with over 51,000 casualties—soldiers killed, injured, or otherwise lost to action—combined. Around 3,100 U.S. troops were killed, while 3,900 Confederates died. The U.S. victory there marked the turning point of the war. President Lincoln was asked to deliver a message at the dedication of the Gettysburg Civil War Cemetery on November 19, 1863. The featured speaker for the occasion was Edward Everett, a former dean of Harvard University, and one of the most famous orators of his day. He spoke for two hours. Then Lincoln delivered his message; it took two minutes. Lincoln tied the current struggle to the days of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, speaking of the principles that the nation was conceived in: liberty and the proposition that all men are created equal. Moreover, he tied both to the abolition of slavery —a new birth of freedom—and the maintenance of representative government. Despite (or perhaps because of) its brevity, since the speech was delivered, it has come to be recognized as one of the most powerful statements in the English language and, in fact, one of the most important expressions of freedom and liberty in any language. Indeed, Everett immediately afterward wrote to Lincoln that “I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

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Abraham Lincoln’s Most Influential Speeches

Abraham Lincoln lived at a time when, according to historian and famed Lincoln biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin , speech-making prowess was central to political success, and the spoken word filled the air “from sun-up til sun-down.”

The following speeches by Abraham Lincoln represent a timespan of 27 years, during which Lincoln went from a relative unknown in Springfield, Illinois, to President of the United States.

Some of these speeches are famous; the Gettysburg Address and House Divided speech are famous Lincoln speeches of particular note. Some of them were delivered during the American Civil War; the First Inaugural Address and Last Public Address, among others, take these honors. And some of them speak of freedom and Lincoln’s views on American’s original sin, slavery; the Peoria Speech and Cooper Union Address draw heavy influence from these areas.

During the course of his life Abraham Lincoln is said to have given hundreds of speeches; a product of having started young and, of course, winning the American presidency. As Goodwin notes of early Abraham Lincoln speeches, “Lincoln’s stirring oratory had earned the admiration of a far-flung audience who had either heard him speak or read his speeches in the paper. As his reputation grew, the invitations to speak multiplied.”

Arguably one of, if not the, greatest ever president of the United States (much of which is attributed to the quality of his character ), Abraham Lincoln’s speeches are as quotable as they are important. (If you’re interested in reading a collection of famous Abraham Lincoln quotes I have you covered.)

The below speeches by Abraham Lincoln are ten of his most influential.

Abraham Lincoln Speeches

Click on each of the Abraham Lincoln speeches below to read the background to it; where and when it was delivered, and how it was received by those who were in the audience, or simply scroll down this page to read each speech one-by-one.

Lyceum Address (1938)

Temperance address (1842), peoria speech (1854).

• House Divided (1858)

Cooper Union Address (1860)

Farewell address (1861), address in independence hall (1861), first inaugural address (1861), the gettysburg address (1863), last public address (1865).

Given when he was only twenty-eight years old, Abraham Lincoln’s speech at the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838, is notable for being one of Lincoln’s first published speeches, as well as the speech that highlighted some of the ideas that he would bring to light in future speeches and, later, policy decisions.

Entitled The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions, Lincoln’s Lyceum Address centered on the threat posed by social disorder. “This topic was a conventional one for these lyceum meetings, where aspiring young men of the town tested their rhetorical skill and improved their elocution before their peers,” notes historian and biographer of Abraham Lincoln David Herbert Donald . “But Lincoln developed [his speech] in a highly personal way.”

While it’s been argued that the first half of Lincoln’s Lyceum Address employed standard Whig rhetoric of the day , the second half looked more toward the future; a future in which less stead is given to emotion in favor of cold-hard reasoning, or as Lincoln put it, carved “from the solid quarry of sober reason.”

Lyceum Address Excerpt

If the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come. Here then, is one point at which danger may be expected. The question recurs, “how shall we fortify against it?” The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;–let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children’s liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap–let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;–let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.

Abraham Lincoln’s Temperance Address was given to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society in the Second Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois on February 22, 1842.

While the Springfield Washington Temperance Society was not a religious organization, the location for Lincoln’s address meant that when the thirty-three-year-old started to advocate reason and kindness as a solution to alcoholism , he caused quite a stir with his audience. This aside, the speech showed a great early grasp from the future president of how to use rhetorical techniques in order to properly move listeners to his cause.

Temperance Address Excerpt

Although the Temperance cause has been in progress for near twenty years, it is apparent to all, that it is, just now, being crowned with a degree of success, hitherto unparalleled. The list of its friends is daily swelled by the additions of fifties, of hundreds, and of thousands. The cause itself seems suddenly transformed from a cold abstract theory, to a living, breathing, active, and powerful chieftain, going forth “conquering and to conquer.” The citadels of his great adversary are daily being stormed and dismantled; his temple and his altars, where the rites of his idolatrous worship have long been performed, and where human sacrifices have long been wont to be made, are daily desecrated and deserted. The trump of the conqueror’s fame is sounding from hill to hill, from sea to sea, and from land to land, and calling millions to his standard at a blast. For this new and splendid success, we heartily rejoice...

Perhaps the greatest antislavery speech of his career (or at the very least, the greatest antislavery speech of his pre-presidential career), Lincoln delivered the contents of his famed Peoria Speech twice; once on October 4, 1954 at the annual State Fair in Springfield, Illinois, and again on October 16 of the same year in Peoria, Illinois.

Presenting for more than three hours, in the Peoria speech Lincoln spoke of his objections to the Kansas-Nebraska Act . Unlike those in favor, Lincoln did not believe that climate and geography would keep slavery out of the Territory of Nebraska, an area of land that consisted of the present-day states of Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, and the Dakotas.

During the Peoria speech Lincoln also “attacked the morality of slavery itself.” He argued that as slaves were people, rather than animals, they possess the same natural rights as all others. As Lincoln notes during the speech, “If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that all men are created equal; and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man’s making a slave of another.”

Peoria Speech Excerpt

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the propriety of its restoration, constitute the subject of what I am about to say. As I desire to present my own connected view of this subject, my remarks will not be, specifically, an answer to Judge Douglas; yet, as I proceed, the main points he has presented will arise, and will receive such respectful attention as I may be able to give them. I wish further to say, that I do not propose to question the patriotism, or to assail the motives of any man, or class of men; but rather to strictly confine myself to the naked merits of the question...

House Divided Speech (1858)

Four years after his Peoria Speech , Lincoln found himself running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in the state of Illinois; the same Stephen A. Douglas who had presented the Kansas-Nebraska Act to the senate four years earlier.

Delivered on June 16, 1858 to more than 1,000 delegates in the Hall of Representatives of the Springfield, Illinois, statehouse, Abraham Lincoln’s House Divided speech was immediately considered too radical for a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Containing the famed “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” quote which Lincoln plucked from the Gospel of Mark 3:25, in which Jesus states, “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand,” the speech ultimately did Lincoln no favors in the short term, with friends, including Lincoln’s law partner, William H. Herndon , noting that while the speech showed great morality , it was politically incorrect. (Years later, Herndon is quoted as saying that despite Lincoln’s defeat in his race for the Senate, be believed the House Divided speech helped to make Lincoln president.)

House Divided Excerpt

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention. If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other...

Originally slated to take place at Henry Ward Beecher’s Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, but quickly moved, thanks to a sponsorship by the Young Men’s Central Republican Union , to the newly-built Cooper Union in Manhattan, Lincoln famously did not make much of a first impression on his audience upon getting up on stage.

“The long, ungainly figure, upon which hung clothes that while new for the trip, were evidently the work of an unskilled tailor; the large feet; the clumsy hands, of which... the orator seemed to be unduly conscious; the long, gaunt head capped by a shock of hair that seemed not to have been thoroughly brushed out,” noted publisher George Haven Putnam, of Lincoln’s appearance.

Abraham Lincoln’s speech, on the contrary, made all the difference. Given on February 27, 1860, Lincoln spent a good portion of his Cooper Union Address taking shots at Stephen A. Douglas and his 1857 Kansas-Nebraska Act, nothing that he [Lincoln] had gone through the records of the Constitution Convention and early debates in Congress and it was clear that of the thirty-nine signers of the United States Constitution, twenty-one took votes demonstrating that the federal government had the power to control slavery within its territories, with a number of other men, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, having also expressed leanings in this direction, though having not voted on it. (The Kansas-Nebraska Act argued that the territories of Kansas and Nebraska should be allowed to decide for themselves if they were to become slave states or not; a repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820.)

Further examining the Southern position on slavery, David Herbert Donald described Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address as “A masterful exploration of the political paths open to the nation,” and the journalist Noah Brooks exclaimed that Lincoln was “the greatest man since St. Paul.”

Lincoln's Cooper Union Address was quickly published as a pamphlet after the fact, with the speech being printed in a number of newspapers.

Cooper Union Address Excerpt

The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly old and familiar; nor is there anything new in the general use I shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, it will be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the inferences and observations following that presentation. In his speech last autumn, at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in "The New-York Times," Senator Douglas said: "Our fathers, when they framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now." I fully indorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this discourse. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and an agreed starting point for a discussion between Republicans and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry: “What was the understanding those fathers had of the question mentioned?”

Praised for its humility, Abraham Lincoln’s Farewell Address was given as he was boarding a presidential train at the Great Western Railroad station, in Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861, to start his inaugural journey to Washington, D.C.

Along the course of his inaugural journey Lincoln’s train would make numerous stops, and he would speak at many of them, including at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Farewell Address Excerpt

My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail...

Abraham Lincoln’s Address in Independence Hall was given on February 22, 1861 as Lincoln passed through Philadelphia on his inaugural journey to Washington, D.C.

Independence Hall , famous as the site in which the Declaration of Independence had been signed some 85 years before, was also one of several locations in which Lincoln’s body lay in state after his 1865 assassination.

Address in Independence Hall Excerpt

I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that Independence. I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan , the outgoing fifteenth president of the United States, began the drive down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol under the watch of sharpshooters and numerous companies of soldiers lining the blocked-off streets.

After attending the swearing in of his Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin , Lincoln was introduced to the stage to deliver his inaugural address and be delivered the oath of office by the eighty-three year old Chief Justice Roger B. Taney .

While some speeches of Lincoln’s are famed for their opening, Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address is more famous for its closing, which incorporated ideas from Lincoln’s one-time political rival, and soon to become his two-term Secretary of State, William H. Seward . Like much of the speech, which was written in Springfield, Illinois and shown to several of Lincoln’s friends and associates prior to its reading, Seward believed the closing of the speech to be too too strong. Despite making Seward’s, and others’, changes, reaction to the speech in the Confederacy was fierce, with the Richmond Dispatch saying that Lincoln’s speech had “inaugurat[ed] civil war.”

First Inaugural Excerpt

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend" it. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and heath-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

On November 19, 1863, Lincoln travelled to Gettysburg to dedicate the new Union cemetery. While Edward Everett of Massachusetts was the featured speaker, Lincoln was invited almost as an afterthought to give a few remarks. Everett spoke for almost two hours, then it was Lincoln’s turn.

At just 269 words, Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg is famous for being one of the shortest, yet most powerful, speeches given during the American Civil War. Former congressman from Missouri James W. Symington noted of Lincoln during a Ken Burns documentary for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS): “If I had my choice of all the moments to be present in that war period it would have been at Gettysburg during Lincoln’s delivery of his speech... to have seen him craft those beautiful words; those enormous, healing words, and then deliver them. They were for everyone, for all time. They subsumed the entire war and all in it; it showed his compassion for everyone; his love for his people. That’s where I’d like to be.”

Gettysburg Address Excerpt

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this...

Abraham Lincoln’s Last Public Address would have been considered significant even if it had not been his last. Taking place just two days after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army, Lincoln’s speech on April 11, 1865 was given from the second-floor balcony of the North Portico of the White House to a cheering, jubilant crowd down below.

While it’s been argued that the majority of the speech wasn’t especially inspired—Lincoln himself was feeling more somber and aware of the task ahead, that of reconstruction, than his audience—the second half of the speech, in which Lincoln for the first time expressed his public support for black suffrage, ultimately sealed his fate.

After speaking the words, “It is unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers,” John Wilkes Booth , the brother of famed actor Edwin Booth (of whom Lincoln had seen perform on numerous occasions), watching from the crowd outside the White House, is said to have vowed to his companion, “That means n— citizenship! Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make.” Three days later, Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

Last Public Address Excerpt

We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He from whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for plan or execution, is mine. To Gen. Grant, his skilful officers, and brave men, all belongs. The gallant Navy stood ready, but was not in reach to take active part. By these recent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority – reconstruction – which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a case of a war between independent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with...

If you enjoyed this collection of the ten most influential speeches by Abraham Lincoln, please be sure to share it on social media, link to it from your website, or bookmark it so you can come back to it often.

If you’re interested in hearing more from me, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter , of which Abraham Lincoln (and the character traits and values in which he embodied) are a frequent topic of conversation. ∎

Benjamin Spall

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Abraham Lincoln

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 7, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

Abraham Lincoln , a self-taught lawyer, legislator and vocal opponent of slavery, was elected 16th president of the United States in November 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. Lincoln proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader: His Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for slavery’s abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous pieces of oratory in American history. 

In April 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln’s assassination made him a martyr to the cause of liberty, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history.

Abraham Lincoln's Childhood and Early Life

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky . His family moved to southern Indiana in 1816. Lincoln’s formal schooling was limited to three brief periods in local schools, as he had to work constantly to support his family.

In 1830, his family moved to Macon County in southern Illinois , and Lincoln got a job working on a river flatboat hauling freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans . After settling in the town of New Salem, Illinois, where he worked as a shopkeeper and a postmaster, Lincoln became involved in local politics as a supporter of the Whig Party , winning election to the Illinois state legislature in 1834.

Like his Whig heroes Henry Clay and Daniel Webster , Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery to the territories, and had a grand vision of the expanding United States, with a focus on commerce and cities rather than agriculture.

Did you know? The war years were difficult for Abraham Lincoln and his family. After his young son Willie died of typhoid fever in 1862, the emotionally fragile Mary Lincoln, widely unpopular for her frivolity and spendthrift ways, held seances in the White House in the hopes of communicating with him, earning her even more derision.

Lincoln taught himself law, passing the bar examination in 1836. The following year, he moved to the newly named state capital of Springfield. For the next few years, he worked there as a lawyer and served clients ranging from individual residents of small towns to national railroad lines.

He met Mary Todd , a well-to-do Kentucky belle with many suitors (including Lincoln’s future political rival, Stephen Douglas ), and they married in 1842. The Lincolns went on to have four children together, though only one would live into adulthood: Robert Todd Lincoln (1843–1926), Edward Baker Lincoln (1846–1850), William Wallace Lincoln (1850–1862) and Thomas “Tad” Lincoln (1853-1871).

Abraham Lincoln Enters Politics

Lincoln won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846 and began serving his term the following year. As a congressman, Lincoln was unpopular with many Illinois voters for his strong stance against the Mexican-American War. Promising not to seek reelection, he returned to Springfield in 1849.

Events conspired to push him back into national politics, however: Douglas, a leading Democrat in Congress, had pushed through the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which declared that the voters of each territory, rather than the federal government, had the right to decide whether the territory should be slave or free.

On October 16, 1854, Lincoln went before a large crowd in Peoria to debate the merits of the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Douglas, denouncing slavery and its extension and calling the institution a violation of the most basic tenets of the Declaration of Independence .

With the Whig Party in ruins, Lincoln joined the new Republican Party–formed largely in opposition to slavery’s extension into the territories–in 1856 and ran for the Senate again that year (he had campaigned unsuccessfully for the seat in 1855 as well). In June, Lincoln delivered his now-famous “house divided” speech, in which he quoted from the Gospels to illustrate his belief that “this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.”

Lincoln then squared off against Douglas in a series of famous debates; though he lost the Senate election, Lincoln’s performance made his reputation nationally. 

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5 Things You May Not Know About Abraham Lincoln, Slavery and Emancipation

The 16th U.S. president was firm in believing slavery was morally wrong, but his views on racial equality were sometimes more complicated.

Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Campaign

Lincoln’s profile rose even higher in early 1860 after he delivered another rousing speech at New York City’s Cooper Union. That May, Republicans chose Lincoln as their candidate for president, passing over Senator William H. Seward of New York and other powerful contenders in favor of the rangy Illinois lawyer with only one undistinguished congressional term under his belt.

In the general election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the northern Democrats; southern Democrats had nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, while John Bell ran for the brand new Constitutional Union Party. With Breckenridge and Bell splitting the vote in the South, Lincoln won most of the North and carried the Electoral College to win the White House .

He built an exceptionally strong cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates and Edwin M. Stanton .

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

After years of sectional tensions, the election of an antislavery northerner as the 16th president of the United States drove many southerners over the brink. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated as 16th U.S. president in March 1861, seven southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America .

Lincoln ordered a fleet of Union ships to supply the federal Fort Sumter in South Carolina in April. The Confederates fired on both the fort and the Union fleet, beginning the Civil War . Hopes for a quick Union victory were dashed by defeat in the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) , and Lincoln called for 500,000 more troops as both sides prepared for a long conflict.

While the Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, Mexican War hero and former secretary of war, Lincoln had only a brief and undistinguished period of service in the Black Hawk War (1832) to his credit. He surprised many when he proved to be a capable wartime leader, learning quickly about strategy and tactics in the early years of the Civil War, and about choosing the ablest commanders.

General George McClellan , though beloved by his troops, continually frustrated Lincoln with his reluctance to advance, and when McClellan failed to pursue Robert E. Lee’s retreating Confederate Army in the aftermath of the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln removed him from command.

During the war, Lincoln drew criticism for suspending some civil liberties, including the right of habeas corpus , but he considered such measures necessary to win the war.

Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address

Shortly after the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , which took effect on January 1, 1863, and freed all of the enslaved people in the rebellious states not under federal control, but left those in the border states (loyal to the Union) in bondage.

Though Lincoln once maintained that his “paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery,” he nonetheless came to regard emancipation as one of his greatest achievements and would argue for the passage of a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery (eventually passed as the 13th Amendment after his death in 1865).

Two important Union victories in July 1863—at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania—finally turned the tide of the war. General George Meade missed the opportunity to deliver a final blow against Lee’s army at Gettysburg, and Lincoln would turn by early 1864 to the victor at Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant , as supreme commander of the Union forces.

In November 1863, Lincoln delivered a brief speech (just 272 words) at the dedication ceremony for the new national cemetery at Gettysburg. Published widely, the Gettysburg Address eloquently expressed the war’s purpose, harking back to the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence and the pursuit of human equality. It became the most famous speech of Lincoln’s presidency, and one of the most widely quoted speeches in history.

Abraham Lincoln Wins 1864 Presidential Election

In 1864, Lincoln faced a tough reelection battle against the Democratic nominee, the former Union General George McClellan, but Union victories in battle (especially General William T. Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in September) swung many votes the president’s way. In his second inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1865, Lincoln addressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union: “With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

As Sherman marched triumphantly northward through the Carolinas after staging his March to the Sea from Atlanta, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House , Virginia , on April 9. Union victory was near, and Lincoln gave a speech on the White House lawn on April 11, urging his audience to welcome the southern states back into the fold. Tragically, Lincoln would not live to help carry out his vision of Reconstruction .

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Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

On the night of April 14, 1865, the actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth slipped into the president’s box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and shot him point-blank in the back of the head. Lincoln was carried to a boardinghouse across the street from the theater, but he never regained consciousness, and died in the early morning hours of April 15, 1865.

Lincoln’s assassination made him a national martyr. On April 21, 1865, a train carrying his coffin left Washington, D.C. on its way to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4. Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train traveled through 180 cities and seven states so mourners could pay homage to the fallen president.

Today, Lincoln’s birthday—alongside the birthday of George Washington —is honored on President’s Day , which falls on the third Monday of February.

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”

“I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”

“I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.”

“This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weights from all shoulders—to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all—to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

“This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

HISTORY Vault: Abraham Lincoln

A definitive biography of the 16th U.S. president, the man who led the country during its bloodiest war and greatest crisis.

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Abraham Lincoln’s Most Powerful Speeches Come Down To These Words

Today Abraham Lincoln is widely recognized as one of the great American orators. He didn’t use lofty and verbose language, but rather Lincoln’s speeches were–and continue to be–powerful because they are clear and direct. His other trick was using very precise and powerful words. What are some of his best-chosen words and the speeches they come from? Find out. . .

When Lincoln was only 28, he was already a member of the Illinois State Legislature. In one of Lincoln’s early public addresses at the Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838, he exhorted his audience to remember that: “This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity , and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.” After his Lyceum Address, Lincoln continued to be a country lawyer before entering politics again decades later.

When Lincoln was running against his rival Stephen Douglas for a seat in the Senate, he gave his famous “House Divided” speech. The lecture was based on a verse from the Christian Bible from Mark 3:25. Its most famous line was: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure , permanently, half slave and half free.” Lincoln lost that Senate race, but the word endure is used repeatedly in Lincoln’s addresses, including in the Gettysburg Address. What other words were important in that short powerful speech?

Lincoln’s most famous speech is fewer than 300 words. The Gettysburg Address is a lesson in brevity and power. In one of the most moving passages, Lincoln used one precise word twice: “But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate–we can not consecrate –we can not hallow–this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.” (Read the entire speech here. ) What other word did Lincoln repeat in this brief address?

Throughout his career in politics and law, Lincoln often recalled the struggles of the Revolutionary War and the generation of soldiers, revolutionaries and politicians who fought it. Reminding his listeners of that time, Lincoln recalls the values of the founding fathers: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” What kind words did he remind us of in his last major speech?

Six weeks before he was assassinated, Lincoln gave his second inaugural address. He concludes with one of the most famous passages of American history: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

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Home | News | Books | Speeches | Places | Resources | Education | Timelines | Index | Search U.S. Capitol East Front on March 4, 1861 Library of Congress First Inaugural Address March 4, 1861 Washington, D.C. This speech had its origins in the back room of a store in Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Springfield for nearly 25 years, wrote the speech shortly after his election as America's sixteenth President. Before leaving town in January 1861, he sometimes eluded hordes of office seekers by taking refuge in his brother-in-law's store. There he used just four references in his writing: Henry Clay's 1850 Speech on compromise, Webster's reply to Hayne, Andrew Jackson's proclamation against nullification, and the U.S. Constitution. The desk Lincoln used has been preserved by the State of Illinois. A local newspaper, the Illinois State Journal, secretly printed the first draft, which he took on his inaugural journey to Washington. He entrusted the speech to his eldest son Robert, who temporarily lost the suitcase, causing a minor uproar until it was found. Once in Washington, Lincoln allowed a handful of people to read the speech before delivering it. William H. Seward, his Secretary of State, offered several suggestions which softened its tone and helped produce its famous closing. Although meant to allay the fears of Southerners, the speech did not dissuade them from starting the war, which they initiated the following month. Californians read the speech after it traveled via telegraph and Pony Express. It was telegraphed from New York to Kearney, Nebraska, then taken by Pony Express to Folsom, California, where it was telegraphed to Sacramento for publication. Today you can see the First Inaugural Address manuscript and the Bible from the inaugural ceremony online or at the American Treasures exhibit, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Fellow-citizens of the United States: In compliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of this office." I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property, and their peace, and personal security, are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves, and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read: Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes." I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so, I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause -- as cheerfully to one section as to another. There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions: "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it, for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the law-giver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution -- to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause, "shall be delivered," their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law, by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath? There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by state authority; but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him, or to others, by which authority it is done. And should any one, in any case, be content that his oath shall go unkept, on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well, at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"? I take the official oath to-day, with no mental reservations, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws, by any hypercritical rules. And while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to, and abide by, all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our national Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens, have, in succession, administered the executive branch of the government. They have conducted it through many perils; and, generally, with great success. Yet, with all this scope for [of] precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper, ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever -- it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade, by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it -- break it, so to speak; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that, in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, was "to form a more perfect Union." But if [the] destruction of the Union, by one, or by a part only, of the States, be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity. It follows from these views that no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union, -- that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence, within any State or States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part; and I shall perform it, so far as practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means, or in some authoritative manner, direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion -- no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality, shall be so great and so universal, as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable with all, that I deem it better to forego, for the time, the uses of such offices. The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper; and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to circumstances actually existing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak? Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step, while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to, are greater than all the real ones you fly from? Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake? All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution -- certainly would, if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities, and of individuals, are so plainly assured to them, by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing the government, is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority, in such case, will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, will divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments, are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed secession? Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy. A majority, held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by some, that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court; nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case, upon the parties to a suit; as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be over-ruled, and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide cases properly brought before them; and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes slavery is right , and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong , and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections, than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction, in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all, by the other. Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence, and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory, after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the Convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions, originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution, which amendment, however, I have not seen, has passed Congress, to the effect that the federal government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose; but the executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present government, as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope, in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth, and that justice, will surely prevail, by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people. By the frame of the government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief; and have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well , upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied, hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it." I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln , edited by Roy P. Basler et al. Related Links Abraham Lincoln's First Inauguration First Inaugural Documents and Images (Library of Congress) Lincoln's Inaugurations Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Lincoln's Second Inauguration Home | News | Education | Timelines | Places | Resources | Books | Speeches | Index | Search Lincoln's writings are in the public domain; this introduction © 2020 Abraham Lincoln Online. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy

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Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington. AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington.

Monday marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Below is a transcript of his celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Talk of the Nation aired the speech in 2010 — listen to that broadcast at the audio link above.

Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders gather before a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. National Archives/Hulton Archive via Getty Images hide caption

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

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When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

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We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Civil rights protesters march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. Kurt Severin/Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

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We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

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I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

People clap and sing along to a freedom song between speeches at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Express Newspapers via Getty Images hide caption

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

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This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

Correction Jan. 15, 2024

A previous version of this transcript included the line, "We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now." The correct wording is "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now."