Lincoln and Abolition
For general background, be sure to look at articles and
supplementary sources that I suggest in our HISTORY NOW
“Abolition” issue of September 2005:
/historynow/
09_2005/index.php
The following books will give you helpful information
on the specifics of Lincoln’s position on abolition:
Korngold, Ralph. Two Friends of Man: The Story
of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, and
Their Relationship with Abraham Lincoln. Boston:
Little, Brown, 1950.
Kraditor, Aileen. Means and Ends in American Abolitionism:
Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics, 1834-1850.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1969.
Mayer, Henry. All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison
and the Abolition of Slavery. New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1998.
McPherson, James M. The Struggle for Equality:
Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964. McPherson
examines the attitudes of American opponents of slavery
during the course of the war.
Stewart, James Brewer. Wendell Phillips: Liberty’s
Hero. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press,
1986.
Thomas, John L. The Liberator: William Lloyd Garrison,
A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1963.
Vorenberg, Michael. Final Freedom: The Civil War,
the Abolition of Slavery, and the
Thirteenth Amendment. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2001. This is an excellent overview
of contemporary moral, legal, and constitutional debates
on the end of slavery.
Wieck, Carl F. Lincoln's Quest for Equality: The
Road to Gettysburg. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois
University Press, 2002. This book has excellent chapters
on Lincoln’s “abolitionism,” and on
Lincoln and Theodore Parker.
Wilson, Douglas L., and Rodney O. Davis, eds., with
the assistance of Terry Wilson. Herndon’s
Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about
Abraham Lincoln. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois
Press, 1998.
You can consult the following sources on speeches:
Peoria Speech of October1854:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=lincoln;cc=lincoln;type=simple;rgn=div1;q1=peoria;view=
text;subview=detail;sort=occur;idno=lincoln2;node=lincoln2%3A282
Address to Washingtonian Society, 1842:
http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/LincolnTemperanceAddress
Temperance Speech, 1842:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/temperance.htm
Lincoln-Douglas Debates:
http://www.bartleby.com/251
