Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) was the sixteenth President of the United States. During his time in office, he contributed to the effort to preserve the United States by leading the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which passed Congress before Lincoln's death and was ratified by the states later in 1865.

• The Portable Abraham LincolnIntroduction by Andrew DelbancoA Note on the TextsChronologyThe Portable Abraham LincolnThe Emergence of LincolnTo the People of Sangamo County, Mar. 9, 1832Letter to Mrs. Orville H. Browning, Apr. 1, 1838Letter to Joshua F. Speed, June 19, 1841Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Jan. 27, 1838Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity, July 31, 1846Letter to William H. Herndon, Feb. 1, 1848Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln, Apr. 16, 1848Fragment on Niagara Falls (late Sept. 1848?)Notes on the Practice of Law (1850?)Lincoln Becomes a RepublicanFragment on Slavery (1854?)Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, Illinois, Oct. 16, 1854Letter to George Robertson, Aug. 15, 1855Letter to Joshua F. Speed, Aug. 24, 1855Speech on the Dred Scott Decision at Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857"House Divided" Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858Fragment on the Struggle Against Slavery (c. July 1858)Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Ottawa, Illinois, Aug. 21, 1858Letter to W. H. Wells, Jan. 8, 1859Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1859Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 30, 1859The Presidential CampaignAddress at Cooper Institute, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860Letter to Cornelius F. McNeill, Apr. 6, 1860"Whiskers" Letter to Grace Bedell, Oct. 19, 1860Secession and the Coming of the WarPassage Written for Lyman Trumbull's Speech at Springfield, Illinois, Nov. 20, 1860Letter to Alexander H. Stephens, Dec. 22, 1860Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1861Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Feb. 22, 1861First Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1861Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Mar. 9, 1861Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr, 1, 1861Letter to Secretary of State William H. Seward, Apr. 1, 1861Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr. 25, 1861Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott, Apr. 27, 1861Letter to Ephraim D. and Phoebe Ellsworth, May 25, 1861Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861Commander in ChiefLetter to Gen. John C. Fremont, Sept. 2, 1861Message to Congress, Mar. 6, 1862Letter to Gideon Welles, Mar. 10, 1862Letter to Horace Greeley, Mar. 24, 1862Address on Colonization to a Committee of Colored Men, Washington, D.C., Aug. 14, 1862Letter to Horace Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862Meditation on the Divine Will (c. early Sept. 1862)Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Sept. 24, 1862Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 13, 1862Letter to Gen. George B. McClellan, Oct. 24, 1862Memorandum on Furloughs, Nov. 1862Letter to Carl Schurz, Nov. 24, 1862Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862Message to the Army of the Potomac, Dec. 22, 1862Final Emancipation Proclamation, Jan.1, 1863Letter to Gen. Joseph Hooker, Jan 26, 1863Letter to Erastus Corning and Others, June 12, 1863Letter to Samuel P. Lee, July 4, 1863Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, July 14, 1863Order of Retaliation, July 30, 1863Letter to Dr. John P. Gray, Sept. 10, 1863Approval of Sentence of David M. Wright, Oct. 7, 1863Letter to Gen. John G. Foster, Oct. 17, 1863Opinion on the Draft (c. mid-Sept. 1863)Letter to Gen. George G. Meade, Oct. 12, 1863Memorandum on Testing Diller's Powder (Nov. 2, 1863, or after)Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Nov. 19, 1863Letter to Gov. Edward Everett, Nov. 20, 1863Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Dec. 8, 1863Amnesty for Emily T. Helm, Dec. 14, 1863Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 1, 1864Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Feb. 5, 1864Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 1, 1864Letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Mar. 18, 1864Letter to Albert G. Hodges, Apr. 4, 1864Draft of Address for Sanitary Fair at Baltimore, Maryland (before Apr. 18, 1864)Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, Apr, 18, 1864Letter to Sen. Charles Sumner, May 19, 1864Letter to Charles D. Robinson, Aug. 17, 1864FateMemorandum on Probable Failure of Re-election, Aug. 23, 1864Draft of Letter to Isaac M. Schermerhorn, Sept. 12, 1864Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 1864Letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, Nov. 21, 1864Letter to John Phillips, Nov. 21, 1864Reply to a Southern Woman (Dec. 6, 1864, or before)Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865Letter to Thurlow Weed, Mar. 15, 1865Speech to the 140th Indiana Regiment, Washington, D.C., Mar. 17, 1865Response to Serenade, Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, 1865Speech on Reconstruction, Washington, D.C., Apr. 11, 1865Memorandum Concerning Passes to Richmond, Apr. 13 or 14, 1865Biographical List of Lincoln's CorrespondentsIndex

"[An] excellent, thoughtfully presented selection . . . The ironic intelligence and sharp sense of purpose, the wit, lucidity, and emotional force come through with an undiminished and chastening power to make us think and feel."-Ric Burns, co-producer of PBS's The Civil War