The Hedgehog and the Fox:  Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech for the Ages

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The Hedgehog and the Fox:  Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech for the Ages By Jason H. Silverman The Sangamo Journal, on Saturday, January 27, 1838, advertised a lecture for that evening by the local lawyer “A. Lincoln, Esq.” Lincoln was little more than two weeks shy of his twenty-ninth birthday. He was single, sharing living quarters with […]

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The Convoluted and Controversial Journey of a Lincoln Statue

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The Convoluted and Controversial Journey of a Lincoln Statue By: Charles Hubbard The journey began with the idea of presenting a Lincoln statue as a gesture of friendship and peace between the United States and Great Britain in 1910. The International Commission to Celebrate the Hundred Years of Peace between two nations was established to […]

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An Interview with Burrus M. Carnahan

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An Interview with Burrus M. Carnahan regarding His Book Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War (University Press of Kentucky, 2007) By Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard:  Much has been written about the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln’s decision to issue it. How is your book different and what does it add? Burrus […]

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How and why did Robert Lincoln decide to go to Harvard?

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How and why did Robert Lincoln decide to go to Harvard? Newly revealed letter gives the answer. By Jason Emerson The earliest-known letter by Robert Lincoln has recently surfaced, and its contents answer the longstanding question of exactly how and why Robert ended up attending Harvard College in Massachusetts and exactly what role his parents […]

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Abraham Lincoln in Korea

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Abraham Lincoln in Korea By Brian Dirck, Anderson University In early 2019 I received an invitation to deliver a speech about Abraham Lincoln in Seoul, South Korea. I was initially taken aback. Abraham Lincoln? In South Korea? In retrospect this should not have been a surprise; Lincoln is a major American global export. There are […]

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History Through A Poet’s Eyes

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HISTORY THROUGH A POET’S EYES Carl Sandburg’s books on Abraham Lincoln, far from traditional biography, remain unmatched for their vivid combination of mood, incident, and epochal sweep By HAROLD HOLZER The “elusive Lincoln is a challenge for any artist.”  So the poet, troubadour, journalist, and political activist Carl Sandburg declared (in combination warning and boast) […]

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Lincoln’s First Responder- Dr. Charles Augustus Leale

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April 14, 1865, was a pleasant day in Washington, a welcome change from the rainy weather that had turned Washington’s streets into mud.  The dogwood trees were in full bloom, their pleasant scent wafted through the air. The sky was clear throughout most of the day, turning partly cloudy in the evening. By 8:30 p.m. […]

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An Interview with Eric Foner about his new book:  The Second Founding:  How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution

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Sara Gabbard:  Please explain the significance of the fact that “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation” was added to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Eric Foner:  The fact that each of the Reconstruction amendments ends with a section empowering Congress to enforce its provisions illustrates the radical change in […]

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Lincoln’s Clemency: The Policy Limits

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Abraham Lincoln has a well-deserved reputation as a merciful man who liberally exercised his presidential pardoning power. John Hay was “amused at the eagerness with which the President caught at any fact which would justify him in saving the life” of a condemned man.[1] Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, his chief advisor on military trials, […]

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Robert Lincoln Writes About The End of His Mother’s Estrangement

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Robert T Lincoln LFA-0092; Mary Lincoln LFA-0496 One of the most common questions asked about the relationship between Mary Lincoln and her oldest son Robert is whether they ever reconciled after becoming estranged due to Mary’s commitment to Bellevue Place Sanitarium in 1875. The answer is yes, but it took five years. I have previously […]

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