What lessons can we take from the speeches of Abraham Lincoln for today's turbulent times? How did those speeches move the nation in Lincoln's day? Listen as political scientist Diana Schaub of Loyola University, Maryland talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about three of Lincoln's most important speeches and what they can tell us about the United States then and now.
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I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
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Today is June 10, 2024, and my guest is author and political scientist Diana Schaub of Loyola University Maryland.
Her latest book, which is our topic for today, is his greatest how Lincoln moved the nation.
Diana, welcome to Econ Talk.
Thanks.
Glad to be here.
Your book looks at three of Lincoln's speeches, the Gettysburg Address, the second inaugural, and a third that is less well known to many, the Lyceum address, which was given in 1838, when Lincoln was just 28 years old.
I wanna start with the Lyceum address of 1838.
Why did you choose this speech for your book?
Yeah, I mean, the claim is that these are the three greatest speeches.
It's clear enough, I think, that the Gettysburg address and second inaugural deserve to be ranked in that category.
But the inclusion of the Lyceum address is a little bit more unusual, although I think more people now are really paying attention to this speech.
It's very early.
Lincoln is very young, but it is a comprehensive reflection on the nature and especially the dangers and threats to popular government, to democratic government.
So it really is a very comprehensive political reflection.