Chapter 3 Summary

Lincoln did not talk about the issues that faced his country in his Gettysburg Address. For example, although he had recently signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln did not talk about the fate of freed slaves, or whether they should have the right to vote.

Lincoln had the reputation of being a shrewd politician who could either be silent or evasive about major issues. In his times it was easier for politicians to speak in a way that would be popular in a certain place, and speak in a different way in another place because there was no national media. Lincoln took a pro-slavery stand in the northern area of Illinois, his home state, and yet he would soften that stand when he spoke in the southern and central parts of this state.

In the Lincoln/Douglas debates about slavery in the late 1850s...