Lincoln on Democracy or My Way or the Highway

Lincoln on Democracy

Author: Mario Cuomo

Back in print after ten years, this unique book brings together 141 speeches, speech excerpts, letters, fragments, and other writings by Lincoln on the theme of democracy. Selected by leading historians, the writings include such standards as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, but also such little-seen writings as a letter assuring a general that the President felt safe-drafted just three days before Lincoln's assassination. In this richly annotated anthology, the writings are grouped thematically into seven sections that cover politics, slavery, the union, democracy, liberty, the nation divided, and the American Dream. The introductions are by well-known historians: Gabor Borritt, William E. Gienapp, Charles B. Strozier, Richard Nelson Current, James M. McPherson, Mark E. Neely, Jr., and Hans L. Trefousse. In addition, each section's title page displays a photograph of Lincoln from the time period covered in that section, with a paragraph describing the source and the occasion for which the photograph was made.

Table of Contents:

	Preface to the Fordham University Press edition
	Preface
	Introduction
	"Not much of me" : Lincoln's "autobiography," age 50, December 20, 1859
I	"The people's business" : Lincoln and the American dream, 1832-1852
	Introduction	3
	No wealthy ... relations to recommend me	9
	I shall be governed by their will	11
	The people know their rights	12
	Injustice and bad policy	13
	The political religion of the nation	15
	The wealthy can not justly complain	24
	Many free countries have lost their liberty	25
	'God tempers the wind'	26
	The sorrow quenching draughts of perfect liberty	28
	By the fruit the tree is to be known	30
	Useless labour is ... the same as idleness	32
	The right to rise up	34
	No one man should hold the power	36
	There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good	38
	Leaving the people's business in their hands	40
	Go to work, 'tooth and nails'	41
	Valuable to his adopted country	43
	Resolve to be honest	44
	The presidency ... is no bed of roses	46
	Principles held dear	49
	A deep devotion to the cause of human liberty	51
II	"All we have ever held sacred" : Lincoln and slavery, 1854-1857
	Introduction	55
	We proposed to give all a chance	62
	'To do for the people what needs to be done'	63
	Our Republican robe is soiled	65
	No peaceful extinction of slavery in prospect	78
	I am not a know-nothing	80
	This great principle of equality	84
	Free society is not ... a failure	86
	A standard maxim for free society	88
	Not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots	92
III	"Another explosion will come" : Lincoln and the house divided, 1858
	Introduction	97
	Government cannot endure ... half slave and half free	105
	The electric cord in that declaration	114
	Fight this battle upon principle	118
	This expresses my idea of democracy	121
	Return to the fountain	121
	I claim no ... exemption from personal ambition	123
	The moral lights around us	125
	Our reliance is in the love of liberty	127
	Never have had a black woman for either a slave or a wife	128
	Give to him that is needy	130
	'He trembled for his country'	132
	The eternal struggle	134
	The fight must go on	136
IV	"Right makes might" : Lincoln and the race for president, 1859-1960
	Introduction	141
	Sole hope of the future	148
	He who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave	154
	Aim at the elevation of men	156
	The moral lights around us	157
	Equality ... beats inequality	159
	Free labor ... gives hope to all	160
	Let us stand by our duty	164
	The laborer can strike if he wants to	175
	Allow the humblest man an equal chance	176
	I accept the nomination	177
	Work, work, work is the main thing	178
	I rejoice with you in the success	179
	The tug has to come	180
V	"Hour of trial" : Lincoln and union, 1861
	Introduction	183
	The principle that clears the path for all	188
	If we surrender, it is the end of us	189
	With a task before me	190
	Liberty, for yourselves, and not for me	191
	There is but little harm I can do	192
	Give the greatest good to the greatest number	193
	The majority shall rule	194
	The ship can be saved, with the cargo	195
	In accordance with the original idea	196
	I would rather be assassinated	198
	Plain as a turnpike road	199
	The momentous issue of Civil War	201
	I hope we have a government and a president	210
	The perpetuity of popular government	211
	We can not permanently prevent their action	213
	Suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus	214
	The central idea pervading this struggle	215
	A Polish gentleman ... highly recommended	216
	This is ... a people's contest	217
	Allow no man to be shot	226
	I cannot assume this reckless position	227
	Wanting to work is so rare	229
	The capacity of man for self-government	230
	The struggle of today ... for a vast future also	231
VI	"Forever free" : Lincoln and liberty, 1862-1863
	Introduction
	The principle of the equal rights of men	243
	Gradual ... emancipation, is better for all	244
	Government was saved from overthrow	246
	Our common country is in great peril	247
	A fit and necessary military measure	249
	Your race are suffering	251
	My paramount object in this struggle	253
	God wills this contest	254
	The time has come now	255
	Thenceforward, and forever free	257
	To suppress the insurrection	260
	Breath alone kills no rebels	262
	A fiery trial	263
	We cannot escape history	264
	The promise must now be kept	269
	Sincerely believed to be ... an act of justice	270
	An instance of sublime Christian heroism	273
	I will risk the dictatorship	275
	Resist ... such recognition	276
	Public safety does require the suspension	277
	The decision is to be made	282
	How long ago is it? - eighty odd years	283
	My 'public-opinion baths'	284
	Those who shall have tasted actual freedom ... can never be slaves	285
	Better prepared for the new	286
	You say you will not fight to free Negroes	288
	The boundless field of absolutism?	292
	Has the manhood of our race run out?	293
	I do not intend to be a tyrant	296
VII	"For us the living" : Lincoln and democracy, 1863-1865
	Introduction	301
	New birth of freedom	307
	You will not find that to be an obstacle	308
	The new reckoning	309
	I have never interfered ... in any church	311
	Common looking people are the best in the world	312
	Universal amnesty ... with universal suffrage	313
	Keep the jewel of liberty	314
	Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another	315
	Never knew a man who wished to be ... a slave	316
	If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong	316
	The limb must be sacrificed	319
	A good definition of the word liberty	320
	So that they can have the benefit	321
	May I have to answer for robbing no man	323
	A fitting, and necessary conclusion	324
	The people's business	325
	I should deserve to be damned	325
	Kindly paying attention	327
	Any one of your children may look to come here	328
	My duty to co-operate	329
	The purposes of the almighty are perfect	330
	Struggling to maintain government, not to overthrow it	331
	Discharge him at once	332
	The election was a necessity	333
	Not the sort of religion upon which people can get to heaven	335
	The voice of the people	336
	Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist	338
	A king's cure for all the evils	339
	With malice toward none	340
	I have always thought that all men should be free	343
	A righteous and speedy peace	344
	A union of hearts and hands	349
	Afterword : the Abraham Lincoln association	351
	Lincoln, the nation, and the world : a chronology, 1809-1865	355

Go to: New Deal or Raw Deal or Emily Posts the Etiquette Advantage in Business

My Way or the Highway: The Micromanagement Survival Guide

Author: Harry E Chambers

Most people think that micromanagement occurs only in management-employee relationships, but the truth is that it happens everywhere: employees micromanage managers, customers micromanaging vendors, board members micromanaging company leaders, parents micromanage children, governments micromanage citizens, peers micromanage one another, and more. With shoot-from-the-hip style and plenty of real-world examples, My Way or the Highway illustrates how micromanagement interferes with performance and productivity, resulting in huge costs - hidden, direct, and indirect - to individuals and organizations. In highly practical terms, management expert Harry Chambers explains the art of dealing with micromanagers at a personal level and how to introduce the more system-wide changes needed for productive environments. Readers learn valuable strategies for lessening the impact of micromanagers, as well as how to identify and correct their own managerial behaviors.