Lincoln's First Inaugural Address（林肯的第一次就职演说） 立即阅读
Fellow citizens of the United States: in compliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of his office."I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety, or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection.
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address（林肯第二次就职演说） 立即阅读
一八六四年当林肯再度当选连任总统职位时，美国仍为内战所分裂。当时战争的结果仍不能确定，而林肯的再度当选，成为北方人民决心作战到底争取最后胜利的一个令人振奋的表现。一八六五年三月四日当林肯宣誓就职时，局势清楚显示北方即将战胜，战争行将结束。在这篇就职演讲词中，林肯致力于讨论战后美国人民将面临的重大课题。林肯希望避免一切过错与惩罚的问题。当他准备实施这项政策时，一个刺客的枪弹葬送了他的崇高理想。
Gettysburg Address（葛底斯堡演说） 立即阅读
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth ,on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.