Great Regulars: [Abraham Lincoln] is one of only a handful

of U.S. presidents who, unassisted and alone, could write an original, beautiful, moving sentence full of content and consequence. What he wrote, we remember. We know what it did, and it still does it to us. Our idea of him is based largely on his words. You see it in the Gettysburg Address, of course, his most famous single writing. But it's there in his Second Inaugural, which is just about as good. It's there in many of his personal letters, his memos to generals in the field, the many essays and op-eds he wrote for newspapers.

from John Timpane: Philadelpia Inquirer: Man of Letters

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