{
 "bixby": {
  "author": null,
  "label": "Bixby letter (Boston Transcript text, Basler VIII:116-17)",
  "text": "Dear Madam, — I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts,\nthat you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.\nI feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.\nI pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,"
 },
 "gettysburg": {
  "author": "lincoln",
  "label": "Gettysburg Address, 19 Nov 1863 (Lapsley text)",
  "text": "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this\ncontinent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the\nproposition that all men are created equal.\n\nNow we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or\nany nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a\ngreat battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that\nfield, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that\nthat nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should\ndo this.\n\nBut, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we\ncan not hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled\nhere, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.\nThe world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can\nnever forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be\ndedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus\nfar so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the\ngreat task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take\nincreased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure\nof devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have\ndied in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of\nfreedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people,\nshall not perish from the earth."
 },
 "second_inaugural": {
  "author": "lincoln",
  "label": "Second Inaugural, 4 Mar 1865",
  "text": "FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN:--At this second appearing to take the oath of the\npresidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than\nthere was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course\nto be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four\nyears, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth\non every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the\nattention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new\ncould be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly\ndepends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust,\nreasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the\nfuture, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.\n\nOn the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were\nanxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought\nto avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this\nplace, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent\nagents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war seeking to\ndissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties\ndeprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation\nsurvive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the\nwar came.\n\nOne eighth of the whole population was colored slaves, not distributed\ngenerally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These\nslaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this\ninterest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and\nextend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend\nthe Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more\nthan to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected\nfor the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained.\nNeither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or\neven before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier\ntriumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the\nsame Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the\nother. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's\nassistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces,\nbut let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not\nbe answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His\nown purposes. \"Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs\nbe that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.\" If\nwe shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which,\nin the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued\nthrough His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to\nboth North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom\nthe offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine\nattributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?\nFondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war\nmay speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the\nwealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited\ntoil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash\nshall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand\nyears ago, so still it must be said, \"The judgments of the Lord are true\nand righteous altogether.\"\n\nWith malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right\nas God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we\nare in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have\nborne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may\nachieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all\nnations."
 },
 "mccullough": {
  "author": "lincoln",
  "label": "To Fanny McCullough, 23 Dec 1862 (ALS)",
  "text": "DEAR FANNY:--It is with deep regret that I learn of the death of your kind\nand brave father, and especially that it is affecting your young heart\nbeyond what is common in such cases. In this sad world of ours sorrow\ncomes to all, and to the young it comes with bitterest agony because it\ntakes them unawares.\n\nThe older have learned ever to expect it. I am anxious to afford some\nalleviation of your present distress, perfect relief is not possible,\nexcept with time. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better.\nIs not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again.\nTo know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable\nnow. I have had experience enough to know what I say, and you need only to\nbelieve it to feel better at once. The memory of your dear father, instead\nof an agony, will yet be a sad, sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer\nand holier sort than you have known before.\n\nPlease present my kind regards to your afflicted mother.\n\nYour sincere friend,"
 },
 "ellsworth": {
  "author": "lincoln",
  "label": "To the parents of Elmer Ellsworth, 25 May 1861 (ALS)",
  "text": "MY DEAR SIR AND MADAME:--In the untimely loss of your noble son, our\naffliction here is scarcely less than your own. So much of promised\nusefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes for one's self and\nfriends, have never been so suddenly dashed as in his fall. In size, in\nyears, and in youthful appearance a boy only, his power to command men\nwas surpassingly great. This power, combined with a fine intellectual and\nindomitable energy, and a taste altogether military, constituted in him,\nas seemed to me, the best natural talent in that department I ever knew.\nAnd yet he was singularly modest and deferential in social intercourse.\nMy acquaintance with him began less than two years ago; yet, through the\nlatter half of the intervening period, it was as intense as the disparity\nof our ages and my engrossing engagements would permit. To me he appeared\nto have no indulgences or pastimes, and I never heard him utter a profane\nor an intemperate word. What was conclusive of his good heart, he never\nforgot his parents. The honors he labored for so laudably, and for which,\nin the sad end, he so gallantly gave his life, he meant for them no less\nthan for himself.\n\nIn the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the sacredness of your\nsorrow, I have ventured to address you this tribute to the memory of my\nyoung friend and your brave and early fallen son.\n\nMay God give you the consolation which is beyond all earthly power.\n\nSincerely your friend in common affliction,\n\n\nA. LINCOLN."
 },
 "gurney": {
  "author": "lincoln",
  "label": "To Eliza P. Gurney, 4 Sep 1864 (ALS)",
  "text": "MY ESTEEMED FRIEND:--I have not forgotten probably never shall forget the\nvery impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me on a Sabbath\nforenoon two years ago--nor has your kind letter, written nearly a\nyear later, ever been forgotten. In all, it has been your purpose to\nstrengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian\npeople of the country for their constant prayer and consolations; and to\nno one of them, more than to yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are\nperfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately\nperceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this\nterrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled\notherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom, and our own error therein.\nMeanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting\nthat so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He\nintends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal\ncould make, and no mortal could stay.\n\nYour people--the Friends--have had, and are having, a very great trial.\nOn principle, and faith, opposed to both war and oppression, they can\nonly practically oppose oppression by war. For those appealing to me on\nconscientious grounds, I have done, and shall do, the best I could and\ncan, in my own conscience, under my oath to the law. That you believe this\nI doubt not, and believing it, I shall still receive, for our country and\nmyself your earnest prayers to our Father in Heaven."
 },
 "boker_1863": {
  "author": "hay_for_lincoln",
  "label": "To George H. Boker, 26 Oct 1863; Hay: \"a letter I wrote\" (Diary), signed A. Lincoln (Bullard 84-85)",
  "text": "It is with heartfelt gratification that I acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 6th, and the accompanying medal, by which I am made an honorary member of the Union League of Philadelphia.\nI shall always bear with me the consciousness of having endeavored to do my duty in the trying times through which we are passing, and the generous approval of a portion of my fellow-citizens so intelligent and so patriotic as those composing your association assures me that I have not wholly failed.\nI could not ask, and no one could merit, a better reward.\nBe kind enough, sir, to convey to the gentlemen whom you represent, the assurance of the grateful appreciation with which I accept the honor you have conferred upon me.\nI am very truly your obedient servant,"
 },
 "hay_condolence_1864": {
  "author": "hay",
  "label": "Hay to a friend in Massachusetts, 9 June 1864 (Bullard 154), fragment",
  "text": "I will not intrude upon your sorrow further than to express my deep sympathy for your great loss and my prayer that a merciful God may give you that consolation which mortal love is too weak to offer. I have sent your letter to my mother who will join me in my sympathy and prayers."
 },
 "garrison_1865": {
  "author": "hay_for_lincoln",
  "label": "To William Lloyd Garrison, 7 Feb 1865; body and draft entirely in Hay's hand (Basler VIII:265)",
  "text": "I have your kind letter of the 21st of January, and can only beg that you will pardon the seeming neglect occasioned by my constant engagements. When I received the spirited and admirable painting \"Waiting for the Hour\" I directed my Secretary not to acknowledge its arrival at once, preferring to make my personal acknowledgment of the thoughtful kindness of the donors; and waiting for some leisure hour, I have committed the discourtesy of not replying at all.\nI hope you will believe that my thanks though late, are most cordial, and I request that you will convey them to those associated with you in this flattering and generous gift.\nI am very truly Your friend and Servant"
 },
 "driggs_1865": {
  "author": "hay_for_lincoln",
  "label": "To John F. Driggs, 3 Feb 1865; written by Hay, signed by Lincoln (Basler VIII:256)",
  "text": "I have received at your hands a very fine specimen of the Mackinaw Salmon Trout and I beg that you will convey to Mr. Williams my cordial thanks for his kind thoughtfulness; and accept my acknowledgments for your courtesy in the transmission of his present. I am, sir, very truly yours"
 },
 "charles_butler_1864": {
  "author": "hay_for_lincoln",
  "label": "To Charles Butler, 9 Nov 1864; draft in Hay's autograph (Basler VIII:98)",
  "text": "I have received your letter of the 5th November, and beg to express my regret that it will not be possible to avail myself of your courteous invitation.\nPraying that you will present to your distinguished guest the assurance of my high regard, I am, very truly, Your obedient servant,"
 }
}