With their grand, inspiring tone, Abraham Lincoln's speeches are as moving to readers and listeners today as they were in his own era. But how well do we grasp their many nuances and their deeper meaning? Here Diana Schaub offers a brilliant line-by-line analysis of the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural, and the Lyceum Address—written 25 years before his presidency, when he was an Illinois state legislator. The result is a complete vision of Lincoln's worldview, which was built upon the principles of the American Revolution and the need to resolve the issue of slavery.