More To learn From Lincoln

摘要

In 1876, Frederick Douglass observed that "no man can say anything that is new of Abraham Lincoln." On that count, the usually prescient Douglass was wrong. Even today, with the enormous body of work on Lincoln, which seemingly should have exhausted all manner of questions about the man and his place in history, several new works timed for the 2009 bicentennial of his birth show that he still has much to teach us.rnEspecially important in new studies has been a deeper appreciation of the genius and power of Lincoln as a writer. Lincoln, who marveled at the many technological and scientific advances of his day, once remarked that writing was the "greatest invention of the world." He proved it by his uncommon, and cultivated, skill in crafting language to make his case as a lawyer and politician but more so to move people to consider and act in their own best interest to realize the promise of "freedom."