How did Lincoln talk?

March 9, 2009 10:23 AM

I want to learn what everyday conversation (vocabulary, speech patterns, etc.) among American social and political elites was like around the time of the US Civil War. Where should I look for this sort of information? Online sources would be great.

Thanks!

posted by thirteenkiller to writing & language (5 comments total)

This is a recording of Walt Whitman reading his poem America on a 19th century cylinder recording. Whitman was a nurse during the civil war, and his accent is classic New York 19th century. You can try listening to people like Theordore Roosevelt on Youtube... and remember that he grew up speaking Dutch in New York. Recordings also exist of other notables whose speaking style reflects on the 19th century: William McKinley, Benjamin Harrison, William Jennings Bryant, Calvin Coolidge.

John Salling was the last Confederate war veterans, he was interviewed in the 1950s. There is actually a lot of recorded material with civil war veterans, but I can't find too much on the web. While not an elite voice, Fountain Hughes was born a slave and his voice was recorded in 1949.
posted by zaelic at 11:16 AM on March 9 [3 favorites has favorites]

Wow zaelic, this looks really useful. Thanks!
posted by thirteenkiller at 11:48 AM on March 9

im reading team of rivals

http://www.amazon.com/Team-Rivals-Political-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/0743270754/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236631409&sr=1-1

and it has good written examples of the language used by lincoln, etc.
posted by fumbducker at 1:44 PM on March 9

I imagine reading the Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address would give you a fair idea of how he spoke...
posted by ascetic at 4:11 PM on March 9

I'd actually recommend Edward Everett's two-hour Gettysburg Oration over Lincoln's two-minute speech. Everett was considered the most gifted orator of the day, and was the main attraction that day. Lincoln was invited as an afterthought and most contemporaneous reviews thought his speech was a flop.

There's an BBC audiobook of Richard Dreyfuss (Douglas) and David Strathairn (Lincoln) doing the Lincoln-Douglas debates. "They use their own voices, with no attempt to recreate nineteenth-century Midwestern accents, and they successfully mimic the speaking patterns and pacing unique to orators of that era."
posted by kirkaracha at 7:21 PM on March 9