Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech, May 29, 1856 A Souvenir of the Eleventh Annual Lincoln Dinner of the Republican Club of the City of New York, at the Waldorf, February 12, 1897

Step back to the fevered summer of 1856, when a young Illinois lawyer, H. C. Whitney, quietly recorded a moment that would have vanished from history. At the first Republican State Convention in Bloomington, Abraham Lincoln rose to address a crowd roiled by the looming crisis of the Kansas‑Nebraska debate. His words, brimming with moral urgency and measured resolve, warned of a nation on the brink of fratricidal conflict if the spread of slavery went unchecked. The speech’s power was such that reporters were left speechless, and for decades it was thought lost—until Whitney’s notebook resurfaced and was published in the late 19th century.

Now listeners can hear Lincoln’s compelling call for moderation, principle, and a united stand against the extension of slavery, delivered in his unmistakable, earnest cadence. The recording preserves the raw energy of a pivotal moment when the Republican movement was coalescing, offering insight into the ideas that would later shape the nation’s destiny. Experience the voice that helped define an era, captured anew for modern ears.