Lincoln's Speech

It began with a letter. Abraham Lincoln, representative from Illinois, came to Kalamazoo on August 27, 1856, on the invitation of Kalamazoo attorney Hezekiah G. Wells. Wells asked Lincoln to speak at a Republican Rally (“Fremont mass meeting”) in Bronson Park.

Lincoln was one of many speakers in the park that summer day. His 2,781 word speech (about 16.5 minutes long) was given in front of thousands of people and was recorded, by hand, by a newspaper reporter from Detroit. The transcript was discovered in 1930 and published in 1941.

Abraham Lincoln’s speech was intended to promote the Republican Presidential candidate in 1856, John C. Fremont. The speech, however, does not address Fremont’s qualifications. Instead, it focuses on the issue that gave rise to the Republican Party. That issue was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

As you read (or listen) to the speech, see if you can understand the issues that Lincoln raises.

To see the letter: 

https://5024.sydneyplus.com/argus/final/Portal/1.aspx?lang=en-US

To listen to the speech:

kalamazoomuseum.org/localhistory/lincoln/listen.html

To read the speech: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:391?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

To read more on this topic visit:

https://kalamazoomuseum.org/images/museon/2006-Summer_MuseON.pdf