A Lincoln Triptych

In preparation for next month's Lincoln-palooza (the release of Steven Spielberg's new movie), I made a contribution of the three defining speeches of the Lincoln presidency to the next LibriVox "Short Nonfiction Collection" (vol. 27, which will be published to the LibriVox catalog soon).

I think it safe to say that we'll be treated to the full Daniel Day-Lewis rendition of the Gettysburg Address, and probably get some major chunks of the second inaugural.  But I found it fascinating to go back and study the complete first inaugural address, which starkly shows us Lincoln the pragmatist, making a desperate pitch to avert war and save the Union, to the point of not standing in opposition to a constitutional amendment formally codifying the rights of states to permanently maintain within their borders whatever "peculiar institutions" they might be sustaining there.