Abraham Lincoln Blog Items

Published: January 20, 2013

Excerpt: Second inaugural addresses generally don't stand out in history, except for the speech Abraham Lincoln delivered at his second inauguration on March 4, 1865. The text is brief, about 700 words, but it is generally considered the best inaugural address ever.

Published: December 20, 2012

Excerpt: As New Year's Day approached 150 years ago, plenty of Americans would have been happy to see the end of 1862. The year had brought the great battles at Shiloh, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The Civil War, which many people had expected to end quickly, was obviously going to continue for some time.

Published: November 26, 2012

Excerpt: The new film "Lincoln" does not evade the issue of the perceived mental instability of Abraham Lincoln's wife. In a brilliant portrayal by actress Sally Field, the first lady's personality quirks are evident, and mentions of her mental state appear in the dialogue by screenwriter Tony Kushner.

Published: November 19, 2012

Excerpt: In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, a crusading female magazine editor wrote to President Abraham Lincoln urging him to make Thanksgiving an official holiday.

Published: November 11, 2012

Excerpt: In the late 19th century, a number of books on Lincoln were published, with some of the more remarkable ones being written by people who had known Lincoln and worked with him. These eyewitness accounts have been relied on by historians for generations, but the original texts have not always been available to the reading public.

Published: October 21, 2012

Excerpt: In the great election campaign of 1860, supporters of Abraham Lincoln called Wide Awakes organized themselves into marching units. Wearing capes and military style caps, they paraded, carrying torches, through the streets of northern cities.

Published: October 13, 2012

Excerpt: In mid-October 1858 two candidates for office were winding up a series of seven debates held across Illinois. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had taken the stage before thousands of voters to challenge each other on the central issue of the time, slavery.

Published: September 10, 2012

Excerpt: Abraham Lincoln was a very skillful politician, and he recognized the value of photography just as the medium was becoming a popular art form. When he returned to politics in the late 1850s he also began posing for photographers.

Published: August 19, 2012

Excerpt: In the summer of 1862 one of Abraham Lincoln's greatest political supporters, Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, was losing patience. A dedicated opponent of slavery, Greeley had helped organize the anti-slavery Republican Party in the mid-1850s.

Published: June 21, 2012

Excerpt: The novel Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter presents a version of Lincoln we haven't seen before: a vengeful slayer of vampires, a fanatic whose weapon of choice is an ax. In trailers for the film based on the novel, Lincoln is a dark 19th century superhero and Abe's ax is a mythological weapon.