Lincoln’s Lost Speech

Abraham Lincoln entered the platform on May 29, 1856, in a modest building in Bloomington, Illinois, and made a 90-minute firebrand address. The Illinois Republican Party was founded as a result of this speech. It catapulted Lincoln into the spotlight. It paved the way for the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of modern America. There is no known duplicate of it.

We have a general idea of what the speech was about. We also have the occasional chunk that someone scribbled down at the meeting. But a complete, precise copy of what was spoken that night? Nonexistent. Lincoln, like an early radio broadcaster, just delivered a series of impassioned words that faded into the ether.

Lincoln may have purposefully altered the speech, which featured some rather hardline views on slavery, to avoid accusations of radicalism. Whatever the reason, Lincoln's lost speech is still considered his best speech and the only one you will never have to study.