Reconstruction
100 Years After the Springfield Race Riot
Thursday, August 14th, 2008Today marks the 100th anniversary of the darkest day in Springfield history. A two-day race riot ravaged Abraham Lincoln’s hometown. We’ve talked about the race riot before on this site. As I recall, the topic came up during a series of posts on Vachel Lindsay. Instead of recounting the details of the riot, I want to call [...]
“The Jewel of Liberty”
Thursday, March 13th, 2008Good news is sweet to hear, especially when recent news has been particularlly sour. Abraham Lincoln had reason to be happy on this date in 1864. The war was still going on, but Louisiana was already on the road toward Reconstruction. On February 22, 1864 the state held an election. The results were encouraging. The [...]
“That is the last Speech He Will Ever Make.”
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant just days earlier. The end of the most tragic war in American history was finally at hand. From a second floor window, Lincoln spoke to a celebratory crowd that had gathered on the White House lawn. “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness [...]
Lincoln’s Reconstruction?
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007What would Reconstruction have been like had Lincoln lived? I understand some of why alternative history is attractive. Certainly, history does not always unfold the way we’d like it to. It can be fun and I suppose it can even give one a sense of power to re-write the historical script. But historians are leery [...]