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CONTENTS
foreword viii introduction
ix
PART ONE: “A Tendency to Melancholly,” 1824 –1854 Copybook verses, ca. 1824 Adam Gopnik 2 Letter to Eliza Browning, April 1, 1838 George Saunders 4 Letter to John T. Stuart, January 23, 1841 Andrew Solomon 14 Letter to Mary Speed, September 27, 1841 E. L. Doctorow 18 Letter to Andrew Johnston, Including Poem, September 6, 1846 Robert Pinsky 28 Letter to Mary Lincoln, April 16, 1848 Jennifer Fleischner 34 Fragment on Niagara Falls, ca. September 25–30, 1848 Cynthia Ozick 40 Notes on the Practice of Law, ca. 1850 Sandra Day O’Connor 44 Fragment on the Object of Government, ca. July 1854 Mario M. Cuomo 46
PART TWO: “A House Divided Against Itself,” 1854 –1861 Fragment on Dred Scott Decision, ca. December 1856 Walter Mosley 50 On Stephen Douglas, ca. December 1856 Michael Burlingame 52 Fragment on “The Higher Object of This Contest,” ca. July 1858 Lewis Lehrman 54 Draft of the “House Divided” Address, June 1858 Richard J. Durbin 56 Letter to Jesse Fell, Including Autobiographical Sketch, December 20, 1859 Kathryn Harrison 58 Autobiographical Sketch for the Chicago Tribune, June 1860 Douglas L. Wilson 66 Letter to George D. Prentice, October 29, 1860 Jonathan Alter 70 Farewell to Springfield, February 11, 1861 Sam Waterston 78
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PART THREE: “We Cannot Escape History,” 1861–1863 First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 William Safire 82 Letter to William H. Seward, April 1, 1861 President George H. W. Bush 84 Message to Congress, July 4, 1861 President George W. Bush 88 Proclamation Revoking Gen. Hunter’s Emancipation Order, May 19, 1862 Frank J. Williams 94 Reply to Horace Greeley’s Editorial, August 22, 1862 David W. Blight 96 Meditation on the Divine Will, ca. September 1862 President Jimmy Carter 102 Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862 John Hope Franklin 104 Two Telegrams to Gen. George B. McClellan, May 1, 1862 and October 24, 1862 James M. McPherson 112 Letter to Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862 Drew Gilpin Faust 114
PART FOUR: “Let the Thing Be Pressed,” 1863–1865 Letter to Gen. Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863 Gabor Boritt 120 Telegram to Mary Lincoln, June 9, 1863 Thomas Mallon 124 “Albany Letter” to Erastus Corning on Civil Liberties, June 12, 1863 David Herbert Donald 126 Verse on Lee’s Invasion of the North, July 19, 1863 Newt Gingrich 130 Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, July 14, 1863 Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner 132 Letters to James Hackett, August 17, 1863 and November 2, 1863 Liam Neeson 138 The Public Letter to James C. Conkling, August 26, 1863 President Bill Clinton 142 Letter to Cpt. James M. Cutts, Jr., October 26, 1863 Doris Kearns Goodwin 158 Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 Toni Morrison 162 Letter to Gov. Michael Hahn, March 13, 1864 Bliss Broyard 166 Letter to Albert Hodges, April 4, 1864 Ken Burns 168 Telegrams to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, August 17, 1864 and April 7, 1865 Conan O’Brien 176 “Blind Memorandum,” August 23, 1864 Philip Gourevitch 178 Letter to Eliza P. Gurney, September 4, 1864 John Updike 180 Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Sven Birkerts 184
contributors’ biographies
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An excerpt from
In Lincoln’s H and: His Original Manusc ripts with Commentary by Distinguished Americans Edited by Harold Holzer and Joshua Wolf Shenk Foreword by James H. Billington Excerpted from In Lincoln’s Hand: His Original Manuscripts with Commentary by Distinguished Americans edited by Harold Holzer and Joshua Wolf Shenk. Foreword by James H. Billington. Copyright © 2008 by Harold Holzer, Joshua Wolf Shenk and James H. Billington. Excerpted by permission of Bantam Dell, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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