Harold Holzer - In Lincolns Hand: His Original Manuscripts with Commentary by Distinguished Americans

CREDITS
Cover image: Portrait made at Mathew Bradys gallery, April 20, 1864
Cover manuscript: The Second Inaugural Address, Library of Congress

MANUSCRIPTS
All manuscripts are reproduced from originals in the Robert Todd Lincoln Collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, with the following exceptions:

: Chicago History Museum (ICHi-30836)

IMAGES
For Library of Congress items, the following list provides the reproduction numbers.

Symbols used
P&P: Prints and Photographs Division
RBSC: Rare Book and Special Collections Division
PA: Performing Arts Division
SER: Serial & Government Publications Division
G&M: Geography and Map Division
GenColl: General Collections

: GenColl, London Illustrated News, May 20, 1865

SPECIAL CREDITS

: Commentary adapted with permission from Morrison, Toni. Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. The Nobel Foundation. Nobel Banquet, Stockholm. 7 December 1993.

IN LINCOLNS HAND
A Bantam Book / February 2009

Published by Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc. New York, New York

All rights reserved.
Copyright 2009 by the Library of Congress, Joshua Wolf Shenk, and Harold Holzer

Book design by Liney Li

Bantam Books is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.,
and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lincoln, Abraham, 18091865.
[Selections. 2009. Bantam Dell]
In Lincolns hand : his original manuscripts / with commentary by distinguished Americans ; edited by Harold Holzer and Joshua Wolf Shenk ; foreword by James H. Billington. p. cm.
Official companion volume of the Library of Congress 2009 bicentennial exhibition which will launch in Washington, D.C.
Includes bibliographical references.
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-553-80742-4 (hardcover)
eBook ISBN: 978-0-345-54439-1
1. Lincoln, Abraham, 18091865ManuscriptsExhibitions. 2. Lincoln, Abraham, 18091865Political and social viewsExhibitions. 3. PresidentsUnited StatesManuscriptsExhibitions. 4. United StatesPolitics and government18491877SourcesExhibitions. 5. Manuscripts, AmericanExhibitions. I. Holzer, Harold. II. Shenk, Joshua Wolf. III. Billington, James H. IV. Title.
E457.92 2009b
973.7092dc22
2008036674

v3.1

The editors are deeply grateful to the individuals and institutions whose contributions and guidance were indispensable to the development of this collection and its magnificent presentation on these pages.

At the Library of Congress, we sincerely thank Aimee Hess, W. Ralph Eubanks, and Abigail Colodner of the Publishing Office. Helena Zinkham, Phil Michel, Sarah Duke, and Barbara O. Natanson and her staff helped immensely, as did scanners Dominic Sergi and Ronnie Hawkins. We are also thankful to the organizers of the exhibition that inspired this book: Kimberli Curry, Cheryl Ann Regan, and above all the institutions peerless expert on the Librarys Lincoln collection, John R. Sellers.

Many individual staff aides, advisors, and counselors across the country helped facilitate our document commentaries. We want to express our debt in particular to: Gerald Rafshoon, Lauren Gay, Skip Rutherford, Bruce Lindsay, Hannah Richert, David Goldberg, Jean Becker, Tim Goeglein, Kevin Sullivan, Kristie Macosko, Pat Souders, Molly Rowley, Gloria Loomis, Marc Liepis, Rosemary Shields, Lori Glazer, Kraig Smith, Mary Porcelli, and James Cornelius.

The support of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to the Library of Congress exhibition has been crucial, and we acknowledge Harold Holzers cochairmen, Senator Richard Durbin and Congressman Ray LaHood, and executive director Eileen Mackevich, as well as Jennifer Rosenfeld, David Early, and the rest of the ALBC staff.

Thanks also go to our colleagues at Washington College and The Metropolitan Museum of Art for their support. And loving gratitude to our family and friends. Joshua Wolf Shenk would especially like to thank Richard L. Shenk for his strength and grace through his own fiery trial, and to his many caregivers at the University of Louisville Hospital, the University of Cincinnati Hospital, the Drake Center, and the Craig Hospital.

To our inimitable contributors, who summoned their own literary vision to engage with Lincolns, we offer our admiration and profound appreciation.

Finally, we express special thanks to Martha Kaplan, for her help in arranging the project, and the team at Bantam Dell for bringing it to fruition, including designer Liney Li, Jessica Waters, Glen Edelstein, Kelly Chian, Maggie Hart, and above all our tireless and talented editor, John J. Flicker.

H.H. and J.W.S.

I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me, Abraham Lincoln wrote in an 1864 letter to Albert Hodges, editor of Kentuckys Frankfort Commonwealth. These words can be found in Lincolns hand in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, along with 20,000 original letters, notes, and drafts written by and to Lincoln and donated to the Library by his son in 1923. The Librarys Lincoln collectionone of the largest in the worldalso includes 10,500 pieces of memorabilia, more than 10,000 digital records related to Lincolns legal career, and such affecting articles as the contents of Lincolns pockets on the night he was assassinated.

Lincolns connection to the Library began in 1861, when he stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol buildingthen the home of the Library of Congressto be sworn in as the nations sixteenth president. In the four years before his assassination he appointed two Librarians of Congress and charged 125 books to his Library account. Today, Lincoln quotations found throughout the Librarys flagship building, opened in 1897, celebrate the influence Father Abraham has had on all Americans. So it is only fitting that the Library of Congress has joined with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to honor the 2009 bicentennial of Lincolns birth with an exhibition and this companion book, a unique presentation of forty-some documents in Lincolns own hand, chosen by Lincoln scholars Harold Holzer and Joshua Wolf Shenk.

In Lincolns Hand brings us a richer understanding of the power of Lincolns rhetoric. Many of Lincolns speeches are imprinted on the public mind, but those polished works show nothing of his raw, unedited prose. The cross-outs, misspellings, and rewrites reproduced in this volume reveal not just his words, but also his thought process as he meticulously crafted what he wanted to say. The array of public figures who offer their insights in this book gives evidence of the wide range of individuals Lincolns legacy continues to reach today. The exhibition on which this book is based, made possible by a generous donation from Union Pacific, will travel to Sacramento, Chicago, Omaha, Atlanta, and Indianapolis, and the book will travel even fartherinto homes and libraries across the country and throughout the world. We hope this volume will move you to further explore Lincolns life, and history in general, by visiting the Library in person, or online at www.loc.gov.