What has been said and written about Abraham Lincoln must have very soon after his death, if not before, outstripped in volume what he himself said and wrote. His best-known speech, the Gettysburg Address, consists of fewer than three hundred words, but it has achieved a pseudo-scriptural status in American culture — debated by historians, memorized by schoolchildren, and etched into the wall of the imposing Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. However reserved and melancholy himself, the sixteenth president of the United States incites animated and virtually endless discussions, scholarly and popular, spanning statecraft and oratory, military history and literature, race and religion. His presidency transformed the executive branch of American government; his mantle remains a hot…
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Citation: Hager, Christopher. "Abraham Lincoln". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2004; last revised 17 April 2020. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2738, accessed 22 November 2024.]
