Lincoln Ballots from the Election of 1864
byLincoln Ballots from the Election of 1864 In the Civil War Era, political parties were responsible to design, print and distribute their own ballots. When Lincoln ran for reelection in 1864, Republicans utilized pro-Union words and symbols to appeal to voters. Patriotic slogans were common, including phrases like “For the Union,” “E Pluribus Unum,” […]
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From the Collection: Gettysburg
by Jessie Cortesi, Kayla GustafsonFrom the Collection: Gettysburg by Jessie Cortesi & Kayla Gustafason By the time the Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1–3, 1863, the Civil War had been raging for two years. Stopping the Confederate advance into the North at Gettysburg was a critical development of the war. The items featured here from the […]
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The Uses & Abuses of Presentism
by Rob KaplanThe Uses & Abuses of Presentism By Rob Kaplan “The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there,” wrote L. P. Hartley in his novel The Go-Between. For good or ill, we cannot literally travel to that foreign country. But if we could, as thoughtful visitors we would presumably endeavor to learn […]
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Book Review: Getting Right With Lincoln: Correcting Misconceptions About Our Greatest President and Lincoln Illuminated and Remembered
by Jason EmersonBook Review Getting Right With Lincoln: Correcting Misconceptions About Our Greatest President by Edward Steers Jr. Lincoln Illuminated and Remembered by William C. Harris Review by Jason Emerson There’s always something new to learn about Abraham Lincoln despite the abundance of books and articles about him. He remains a popular and top-selling subject […]
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James G. Randall and the Revisionists: The Great War, the Good War, and the Civil War
by Robert L. DietleJames G. Randall and the Revisionists: The Great War, the Good War, and the Civil War By Robert L. Dietle September 10, 1945 Mr. Darryl F. Zanuck 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation Beverly Hills, California Dear Mr. Zanuck: On the off chance that it may […]
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Book Review: Delivered Under Fire: Absalom Markland and Freedom’s Mail
by Frank W. Garmon Jr.Book Review: Delivered Under Fire: Absalom Markland and Freedom’s Mail by Candice Shy Hooper Review by Frank W. Garmon Jr. Although Absalom H. Markland is an unknown figure in the twenty-first century, his life intersected with many of the leading characters of the Civil War era. As a special agent for the Post Office Department, […]
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Review Essay: Law and Order in Lincoln’s America
by Mark S. SchantzReview Essay: Law and Order in Lincoln’s America Mark S. Schantz Writing in The American Historical Review in October 1972, historian Philip Shaw Paludan reflected on the forces that propelled the United States into civil war. It was easy enough, he thought, to understand why the South seceded in the days after Abraham Lincoln’s […]
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Abraham Lincoln and “the Most Dangerous Man” in Baltimore
by Sean A. ScottAbraham Lincoln and “the Most Dangerous Man” in Baltimore Sean A. Scott Francis Lister Hawks was a distinguished clergyman and man of letters whose southern sympathies during the Civil War brought him to the attention of Abraham Lincoln. Born in 1798 in Newbern, North Carolina, Hawks graduated from the University of North Carolina in […]
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“To Appreciate the Relation…to the Defence of Washington”: Lincoln and the Shenandoah Valley in 1864
by Jonathan A. Noyalas“To Appreciate the Relation…to the Defence of Washington”: Lincoln and the Shenandoah Valley in 1864 Jonathan A. Noyalas As Confederate general Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley withdrew from its position in front of Fort Stevens on Washington, D.C.’s northern outskirts during the night of July 12, 1864, Early’s veterans attempted to assess the […]
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From the Collection: Lincoln Assassination Mourning Ribbons
by Jane Gastineau, Jessie CortesiJessie Cortesi & Jane Gastineau – Upon President Abraham’s Lincoln death on April 15, 1865, the nation turned from celebrations for Union victory to mourning for their fallen chief. Immediately, the nation’s manufacturers turned to supplying the public’s demand for mourning accessories.
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An Interview with Kate Masur
by Jonathan WhiteAn Interview with Kate Masur Jonathan W. White Kate Masur is the Board of Visitors Professor in History at Northwestern University. She is the author or editor of several books, including Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction, which won the Littleton-Griswold Prize, the John Nau Book Prize, […]
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The Biblical Texts in Memorial Sermons for Abraham Lincoln
by Mark NollThe Biblical Texts in Memorial Sermons for Abraham Lincoln Mark Noll In the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, churches and synagogues became the most prominent sites for the nation’s most fervent memorials to the slain president. Usually the centerpiece in these memorial events was a sermon, and almost always the sermon began with a […]
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An Interview with Harold Holzer
by Jonathan WhiteAn Interview with Harold Holzer Jonathan White Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City. The author or editor of 56 books, he won the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for Lincoln and the Power of the Press (2014) and a second-place […]
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From the Collection: CHRISTMAS WITH THE LINCOLN FINANCIAL FOUNDATION COLLECTION
by Jessie CortesiFrom the Collection: CHRISTMAS WITH THE LINCOLN FINANCIAL FOUNDATION COLLECTION Jessie Cortesi For Americans, there was little “peace on earth” on the Christmases of 1861–1864. But even as the Civil War raged, the holiday was celebrated in soldiers’ camps and civilian homes. Though most of the traditions that we associate with a Victorian Christmas—greeting […]
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ALFRED ZACHER: A Profile of a Lifetime of Service
byALFRED ZACHER: A Profile of a Lifetime of Service Tim Harmon Al Zacher, who literally wrote the book on the challenges of the second terms of U.S. presidents, has been particularly fascinated by how Abraham Lincoln was preparing for his. “Lincoln had four years, and look what his achievements were,” the longtime board member of […]
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