Description

About the Book

This Book is a collection of sketches in which an attempt is made to portray the character of Abraham Lincoln as the highest type of the American from several interesting points of view. He has doubtless been the subject of more literary composition than any other man of modern times, although there was nothing eccentric or abnormal about him; there were no mysteries in his career to excite curiosity; no controversies concerning his conduct, morals, or motives; no doubt as to his purposes; and no difference of opinion as to his unselfish patriotism or the success of his administration of the government in the most trying period of its existence. Perhaps there is no other man of prominence in American history, or in the history of the human family, whose reputation is more firmly and clearly established. There is certainly none more beloved and revered, whose character is so well understood and so universally admired, and whose political, moral, and intellectual integrity is so fully admitted by his opponents as well as his supporters. Of such a man, wrote a well-known writer, the last word can never be said. Each succeeding generation may profit by the contemplation of his strength and triumphs. His rise from obscurity to fame and power was almost as sudden and startling as that of Napoleon, for it may truthfully be said that when Mr. Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency he was an unknown man. He had occupied no important position; he had rendered no great public service; his reputation was that of a debater and politician, and did not become national until he delivered a remarkable speech at Cooper Union, New York. His election was not due to personal popularity, nor to the strength of the party he represented, nor to the justice of his cause; but to factional strife and jealousies among his opponents. When the American people were approaching the greatest crisis in their history, it was the hand of Providence that turned the eyes of the loyal people of the North to this plain man of the prairies, and his rugged figure rose before them as if he were created for their leader.

About the Author

A prolific writer, William Eleroy Curtis authored over thirty books, including many biographies handbooks. His interest in Latin American countries and the improvement of relations between North and South America led to his being appointed Secretary of the South American Commission by President Chester A. Arthur, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in 1884. From 1890 to 1893, Curtis served as Director of the Bureau of the American Republics (later known as the Pan-American Union). In 1892 he was a Special Envoy to Pope Leo XIII and the Queen Regent of Spain. In 1896 he served as a special agent for the subcommittee on Reciprocity and the Commercial Treaties for the United States House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means. In 1908, he was an appointed member of the Executive Committee of the Pan-American Committee of the United States. He died on October 5, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.