Emancipation
« Previous EntriesLincoln Hits the Campaign Trail Yet Again
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008Abraham Lincoln made yet another appearance in the 2008 Presidential Election. Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden invoked the sixteenth president’s name yesterday while on the stump in Greenville, North Carolina. According to Biden, Barack Obama is hardly the first presidential candidate to endure harsh personal attacks. Biden cited a number of examples, which included attacks on Thomas Jefferson’s Christianity, Abraham Lincoln’s [...]
The Problem with Statues
Thursday, June 26th, 2008The United States Supreme Court is making headlines today. They have struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year ban on handguns, claiming it is a clear violation of the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people [...]
A $5 Million Letter for Auction?
Friday, March 7th, 2008As I was getting out of the car this morning, I caught the end of an interesting news report. Sotheby’s will offer a very special letter for auction next month. It was written in 1864 by Abraham Lincoln and dealt with slavery. The reporter said the winning bid is expected to reach as high as [...]
Protest Statement: Lincoln & Dan Stone
Monday, March 3rd, 2008I think the advertisement pictured at the top of this post is extremely interesting. It reads: OUTRAGE. Fellow Citizens, AN ABOLITIONIST, of the most revolting character is among you, exciting the feelings of the North against the South. A seditious Lecture is to be delivered THIS EVENING, at 7 o’clock, at the Presbyterian Church in [...]
2008 Lincoln Prize…A Split Decision
Friday, February 15th, 2008The results are in. The winner of this year’s coveted Lincoln Prize, the most prestigious (and generous) award in the field of Lincoln Studies, is… Wait a minute…we have a split decision! The award goes to two different books: The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics [...]
Apologizing for Slavery
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008New Jersey has become the first Northern state to officially apologize for slavery. According to the New Jersey legislature’s website, the House of Representatives passed the resolution by an overwhelming 59 to 8 margin, with eight members abstaining. The resolution was carried in the Senate by a 30 to 1 margin. Here is the resolution [...]
“Ain’t I a Woman?”
Monday, November 26th, 2007Isabella Baumfree was born a slave in New York around 1797. Before she turned ten, her owner sold her. Two years later, she was sold again. Eighteen months later, she was sold yet again. And then she escaped. “I did not run off, for I thought that wicked,” she later said, “but I walked off, [...]
Castro’s Lincoln?
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007I thought it was going to be a slow news week as far as Lincoln was concerned, but as it turns out, Fidel Castro proved me wrong. The Cuban leader published an essay last Sunday, in which he criticized U. S. foreign policy and Geroge W. Bush. Nothing much new there. However, my eyes were [...]
Refusing to Let the Vandals Win
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007Vandals defaced a train depot in Peekskill, New York. They painted swastikas on the door post and sprayed the “n-word” and other offensive language on the building, reports the Journal News. But this is not merely a local story about vandalism or hate speech. No, the national media has picked up the story because the [...]
Lyman Trumbull & Robert E. Lee
Friday, October 12th, 2007Webster defines coincidence as “the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection.” Consider a couple of my favorite examples: Americans observed the one year anniversary of 9-11 on September 11, 2002. Print and broadcast media ran tributes to the victims, the nation observed a moment [...]
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