We will slow-read eight speeches and additional selections from Lincoln on Democracy, edited by Mario M. Cuomo. We will follow Lincoln’s development as a politician, how he responded to the threat of the spread of slavery in the 1850s, and his delicate balancing act between constitutional rule of law and emancipation during the Civil War. As we confront autocratic challenges from Russia, China, and others, we are well served revisiting how Lincoln articulated his struggle to preserve and strengthen American democracy.
