We the People Bookshelf

Abraham Lincoln took up writing at an early age and never put down his pen. Throughout his lifetime, Lincoln wrote to friends and for the public at large. He even found time to write poetry! Abraham Lincoln was not only one of America's greatest presidents, but also one of America's most gifted writers. Lincoln's character and beliefs are evident in his writings. Readers will follow Lincoln's transformation from an outgoing but naive country lawyer to an outspoken politician and finally to an embattled wartime president, full of conviction and determination.

How did an unschooled career politician named Abraham Lincoln, from the raw frontier villages of early nineteenth-century Illinois, become one of the most revered of our national icons? Lincoln was a great man who was also a good man. It is the central thrust of this "ethical biography" to reveal how he became both, to trace his moral and intellectual development in the context of his times and in confrontation with the leading issues of the day-most notably, of course, that of slavery.