Writing and attaining a "final draft" -- how did the 16th President get his words in documents / speeches just right?

from www. abrahamlincolnonline dot-org (author's comments re: Lincoln's Sword, 2006 book by History Professor Douglas Wilson): Lincoln was an aural thinker, more than a visual thinker. He was aware of that and told people that. What I think is interesting is that he always wanted somebody to listen while he read his final drafts aloud. No matter what the document, he said he needed a real listener present. It wasn't the same as reading it aloud to himself. In all the examples of Lincoln reading something he has written, the work is usually finished, but this is his way of making sure. He reads it to a real listener. If you or I wanted a committee to endorse something, we would distribute copies for everybody to read before the meeting, and then we would talk about it. Lincoln could have done that, but he rarely did. Instead, he would say to his Cabinet, "Now I want to read you this." And he'd read it. It was important for him to hear it as he presented it. There were often occasions when he would say to his Cabinet, "I'm not asking for your criticism, I've already made up my mind, but I want you to hear this." Part of what I think that we haven't fully understood before is that he was saying, at least in part, I have to read it to you in order to communicate. The Leonard Swett example is almost unbelievable. Swett told this story to all of his friends. Lincoln sent a telegram to Swett in Illinois and said, "I need to see you." Swett, who was used to doing errands for Lincoln, and understood that he was a person Lincoln could trust, packed his bags and went to Washington. Lincoln asked Swett to listen as he read from letters and position papers and then laid out, in his own words, various arguments both for and against issuing a policy of emancipation. Swett was an old friend and close confidant, and he was surely expecting Lincoln to say, "Now, what do you think?" But he didn't. Instead, when he finished he said, "Tell all the folks 'hello' when you get back to Bloomington, and I really thank you for coming." He asked Swett to come to Washington simply to listen. This and many of circumstances lead one to conclude that Lincoln really did have to hear these things and he needed to say them aloud and he needed a live audience. That's the way he worked. That's why he's always reading his drafts to somebody, and if he can't find anybody else, he reads it to a clerk in his office. http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/books/wilson.htm