Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words
Course No. 877 (24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Taught by David Zarefsky
Northwestern University
Ph.D., Northwestern University
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said the 'judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"
"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."
—Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
More than a century later, the cadence, argument, and power of Abraham Lincoln's speeches still stir the heart of any American who encounters them.
The speeches of Abraham Lincoln are a precious inheritance for all Americans, and for all the world. As he led the nation through its gravest crisis, Lincoln emerged as a master of eloquence without equal.
The Art of Rhetoric, and Lincoln's Rise from Student to Master
This series of 24 lectures examines the rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln—the public messages in which Lincoln evolved his views on slavery and the Union and by which he sought to persuade others. Rhetoric is the study of the available means of persuasion in a given case.
By tracing significant moments in Lincoln's career from the standpoint of public persuasion, you explore how Lincoln navigated the constraints posed by his audiences and situations and how he took advantage of creative opportunities.
You also see how heavily Lincoln's public career developed through public speeches and writings. And the course shows us the importance of thinking rhetorically, reasoning with specific audiences and situations in mind.
You witness American history in the making as you follow Lincoln's career as an orator from the Young Men's Lyceum Speech of 1838 to the majestic biblical cadences of the Second Inaugural. You'll even learn about the last speech Lincoln gave—a discussion on his plans for Reconstruction delivered at the White House three days before his death.
Rhetoric and Lincoln have been Professor David Zarefsky's scholarly passions for decades. He is the Owen L. Coon Professor of Argumentation and Debate, and Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, where he has taught for more than 30 years.
Northwestern University's Associated Student Government has voted Professor Zarefsky, a gifted speaker in his own right, to the Honor Roll for Teaching 12 times.
Lincoln's Rhetorical Greatness: A Fact and a Second Look
Lincoln's rhetorical greatness is well known, observes Professor Zarefsky, but, like everything else about our 16th president, we see it through a retrospective lens that is unavoidably distorted by our knowledge of his assassination. In other words, precisely because Abraham Lincoln is a national hero and martyr, we have lost sight of some of his depth and complexity. In a similar way, some of his greatest words—the Gettysburg Address especially—have become so familiar to us that we have almost lost the power truly to hear them.
Many people, for instance, labor under the false notion that Lincoln was always a skilled public communicator. Or that he and Stephen A. Douglas met in their famous debates while they were running against each other for the presidency. Or that Lincoln was predicting the Civil War when he famously said that "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
The Road to the Gettysburg Address
In fact, Lincoln had to learn the art of democratic persuasion amid the intense political and moral debates that gripped America during the middle third of the 19th century, especially the controversy over slavery and its expansion that culminated in the Civil War.
He did not start out at the level of the Gettysburg Address but walked a long road to reach that surpassing height. Thanks to Professor Zarefsky's profound learning and superb gifts as a lecturer, you can use these lectures to follow Lincoln step by step on that road. You will see how Lincoln:
• Reflected on the issues of his day and the nature of the American promise
• Shaped and was shaped by public opinion
• Responded to changing events and circumstances
• Behaved in the cut and thrust of debate with formidable opponents such as Stephen A. Douglas: Four lectures are devoted to these debates.
In short, you will gain a comprehensive, inside view of Lincoln's statesmanship, leading you to an understanding of how he could call America to "a new birth of freedom" even while the nation was enduring the terrible ordeal of civil war.
A Compelling Human Story
Behind all the evidence and analysis that Professor Zarefsky so ably marshals, there stands a compelling human story. Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words shows you how a frontier lawyer who had less than a year of formal schooling and described his own origins as "the short and simple annals of the poor" could give us the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural.
