Lincoln's sword : the presidency and the power of words. Douglas L. Wilson.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-334) and index.

Springfield farewell -- A long foreground -- A custom as old as the government -- The message of July 4, 1861 -- Proclaiming emancipation -- Public opinion -- Rising with each new effort -- The Gettysburg Address -- A truth that needed to be told -- Epilogue: A notable elevation of thought -- Appendix: Lincoln's postdelivery revisions of the Gettysburg Address.

Abraham Lincoln now occupies an unparalleled place in American history, but when he was first elected president, literary ability was the last thing the public expected from the folksy, self-educated "rail-splitter." Yet the forceful qualities of Lincoln's writing eventually surprised his supporters and confounded his many critics. In this study, Lincoln scholar Wilson tells how Lincoln developed his writing skills, how they served him for a time as a hidden presidential asset, how it gradually became clear that he possessed a formidable literary talent, and how writing came to play an increasingly important role in his presidency. "By the time he came to write the Second Inaugural Address..., he was quite consciously in the business of interpreting the war and its deeper meaning, not just for his contemporaries but for what he elsewhere called the 'vast future.' "--From publisher description.