Tag Archives: Abraham Lincoln

Today in history: Lincoln delivers Lyceum Address

Yesterday marked the 175th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address, which he delivered on January 27, 1838, to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois. The Lyceum was an educational civic organization that hosted public speeches and debates, and Lincoln’s remarks were informed by the recent lynchings of suspected gamblers and murderers (which he references in the speech) and the shooting of the abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy at Alton, … Read more »

Leon Kass and Walter Berns discuss Spielberg’s “Lincoln”

As Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln continues to win accolades and Oscar nominations from movie critics, we bring you another review of the film—though instead of focusing on the specifics of Spielberg’s filming or Daniel Day Lewis’s performance, our critics are much more interested in Abraham Lincoln himself. In December, WSPWH editor Leon R. Kass joined AEI scholar and professor emeritus at Georgetown University Walter Berns to … Read more »

“If my name goes into history, it will be for this act…”

Earlier this week marked the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which Abraham Lincoln signed on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation declared that the roughly 3.1 million slaves held in bondage in the “States and parts of States wherein the people thereof […] are this day in rebellion against the United States […] are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including … Read more »

Second Inaugural essay contest

On January 21, President Barack Obama will take the oath as President for the second time. To help students think about the event, the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago is hosting an essay contest for Illinois high school students to create their own versions of the second inaugural address. 

A White (House) Christmas

Over at the Washington, Jefferson, and Madison Institute blog, J. David Gowdy points out a great resource for students interested in learning about Christmas at the White House: WhiteHouseChristmasCards.com. The website has collected accounts of the Christmas celebrations held by each president—from George Washington to Barack Obama—and provides examples of Christmas cards and other Christmas messages offered by each president and his family. 

Here’s an excerpt that … Read more »

Remarkable Radical: Thaddeus Stevens

Writing in Humanities Magazine, Steve Moyer takes a look at the life and legacy of Thaddeus Stevens, a Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania. Played by Tommy Lee Jones in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Stevens was a leader of the Radical Republicans and an ardent abolitionist who spent much of his life defending the rights of blacks—both in Congress and in his home town, where his home became a station on the Underground … Read more »

Today in history: Thirteenth Amendment adopted

On December 6, 1865, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, making the Amendment ratified by three-quarters of the states and thereby adopted. Slavery in the United States was, at last, formally abolished.

The Senate had passed the Amendment in April of 1864, but it took nearly another year for the House of Representatives to do so. As Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln shows, President Abraham Lincoln took … Read more »

Lincoln’s Constitutional Leadership

On Tuesday, we highlighted WSPWH editor Leon R. Kass’s close reading of the Gettysburg Address as a good way to take advantage of enthusiasm over Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln movie and teach students about our nation’s 16th president. 

To complement Kass’s reading, today we bring you another article on Lincoln: Steven B. Smith’s recent essay in National Affairs on “Lincoln’s Constitutional Leadership.” Like Kass, Smith emphasizes Lincoln’s understanding of political … Read more »

Abraham Lincoln’s Re-founding

With Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln out in theaters, it’s a good time to use the movie as a teaching device to focus students’ attention on our nation’s 16th president. As many commentators have noted, the film presents an opportunity to compare the politics of Lincoln’s time with that of our own. David Brooks, writing at the New York Times, argues that the movie shows the “nobility of politics,” revealing “that you … Read more »

The Man Who Saved the Union

With all the (much deserved) attention Abraham Lincoln is getting as Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln prepares to hit theaters nationwide this weekend, we think it appropriate to highlight a recent review of a book about another man who helped to save the Union: Ulysses S. Grant. 

Reviewing The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, by H.W. Brands, a historian at the University … Read more »