Barnes and Nobles Description : Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States of America and one of the greatest statesmen in American history. Abraham Lincoln: Selected Writings collects more than fifty speeches, addresses, proclamations, and letters that Lincoln issued between 1838 and 1865. It includes the full texts of the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, both of Lincoln's inaugural addresses, and his famous "A House Divided" speech. This volume also features a complete transcription of Lincoln's series of seven debates with Stephen A. Douglas, conducted in 1858.