On August 7, 1959, the redesigned penny featuring the Lincoln Memorial entered circulation, ending the 50-year run of the “wheat penny.” Designed by engraver Frank Gasparro in honor of Lincoln’s 150th birthday, the surprising redesign was met with great enthusiasm from the public.
On July 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, seeking comments for revisions. The executive order freed the slaves from the ten states in rebellion, applying to approximately 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the United States.
As we near the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, much less attention has been given to the man whose oration at Gettysburg was actually considered the main event. History seems to have long forgotten famed orator Edward Everett’s two hour speech, despite his status as the featured speaker for the commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg.
By Anne Continetti
Download the full lesson as a PDF.
Overview | The Gettysburg Address has been memorized, recited, and admired. Countless readers have discussed its rhetorical devices, literary merit, and political reception. But few have attended to the thought of Lincoln’s speech and the deeper purposes that it serves.
People do recognize that this funeral oration, honoring Union dead in the battle that marked a turning point in the war against Southern rebellion, was even … Read more »
After nearly 150 years since his death, historians have uncovered fascinating new details of Abraham Lincoln’s life. Lincoln, long believed to lack formal education, may actually have spent several years in school, a recent discovery suggests. In particular, Illinois State University math professors Nerida Ellerton and Ken Clements analyzed one of Lincoln’s math journals which demonstrates our beloved 16th president’s aptitude in arithmetic.
With the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg approaching, defense scholar Tom Donnelly reviews a new book by noted Lincoln historian Allen Guelzo. Donnelly writes:
Gettysburg. The word is a looking glass for America, both as a blood-and-soil union and an ideal of liberty but also as an eternal striving to make the one realize the other. Gettysburg, like America, “contains multitudes.”
Robert Hayden’s 1947 sonnet “Frederick Douglass” pays tribute to a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln. Like yesterday’s poem, it asks why, and how, great men should be remembered.
Like several of our earlier poems, Edwin Arlington Robinson’s 1909 tribute to Abraham Lincoln, “The Master,” also takes up the theme of national memory. In the poem, Robinson, a lover of irony, recalls the ridicule Lincoln once endured in light of Americans’ newfound appreciation for their 16th president after his successful prosecution of the Civil War and tragic assassination.
On March 4, 1865—just a month before Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox—Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. Invoking theological speculation and quoting Scripture, he offered an interpretation of the meaning of the war, which enabled him to summon Americans to a new and more difficult public purpose. In this essay, Caitrin Nicol, managing editor of The New Atlantis, reveals the depths of Lincoln’s address.
Today officially begins the annual celebration of Black History Month, when we as a nation set aside the month of February to celebrate contributions made by African Americans and to examine the legacy left by these civil rights leaders—for today and tomorrow. In the coming weeks, we’ll be using the opportunity to highlight some great teaching resources and primary sources you can use in your classroom to teach … Read more »
Distinguished scholar-teachers Amy and Leon Kass demonstrate how short stories, speeches, and songs can be used to enhance civic education and how a pedagogical approach that stresses learning through inquiry can make primary sources come alive for students of all ages.
View the CurriculumBuy the Book
“What a wonderful collection of American songs, speeches, and stories. It should be valuable for teachers, students, parents, and readers of all kinds.”
— Diane Ravitch
