Archive for January, 2008
« Previous EntriesThey’ve Done it Again
Thursday, January 31st, 2008The folks at the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Project in Springfield have done it again. The State Journal-Register is reporting that the project has located a four-page letter written by President Lincoln just before the election of 1864. In the letter, Lincoln explains why he is refusing to interfere in a political dispute between his [...]
Lincoln’s Friends
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008Who was Abraham Lincoln’s closest friend? It is not an easy question to answer, but it is one that comes up occasionally. From 1837 to 1842, for example, I think the answer is pretty clear: Joshua Speed was as close to Lincoln as anyone. When Lincoln was crippled by depression in January 1841, Speed remained [...]
But What Exactly was a Lyceum?
Monday, January 28th, 2008Yesterday marked the anniversary of one of the most curious speeches of Abraham Lincoln’s public life. On January 27, 1838, the 28 year old lawyer addressed The Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield. The title of his lecture was curiously titled “The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions.” It was published a few days later in the [...]
Happy Birthday Robert Burns!
Friday, January 25th, 2008Happy birthday today to one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite poets, the inimitable Robert Burns! Born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1759, the national poet of Scotland was the oldest of seven children, attended school sporadically, and seemed destined to spend his life toiling on the farm. But his pen saved him. His brother convinced him [...]
The ‘Fatal First’ and Things We Just Don’t Know
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008The specifics are hard to pin down. We can reconstruct events, analyze evidence, and form a number of convincing interpretations, but there are times in which we must simply admit that there are things we just don’t know. Take, for example, the “fatal first” of January 1841. Something caused Abraham Lincoln to plunge into a [...]
Happy Martin Luther King Day!
Monday, January 21st, 2008Making Us Laugh
Friday, January 18th, 2008With Super Tuesday still a few weeks away, I thought I’d attempt to inject some levity into the political discussion. The Christian Science Monitor recently ran a piece dealing with humor on the campaign trail. The article details some of Abraham Lincoln’s best one-liners while on the stump, including a particularly good bit on being [...]
“More Painful than Pleasant”
Thursday, January 17th, 2008Abraham Lincoln and his father had a complicated relationship. Search Lincoln’s letters and try to find a “word of praise” for his father. You won’t succeed. Consider the final letter he sent to his father. Harriett Hanks Chapman, Dennis Hanks’ daughter, sent Lincoln a letter in early January 1851. She had just visited his father [...]
Did Lincoln Have a Secretary Named Kennedy?
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008This semester I am assisting Professor John Y. Simon with the second half of his American history course. Today we talked about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I admit that the assassination has not always been one of my favorite topics. However, I have recently become quite interested in it. If you aren’t familiar with [...]
Judge Napolitano Takes DiLorenzo’s Word for it
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008I want to thank fellow blogger Brian Dirck for calling my attention to a strange new book by Fox News Senior Legal Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. Apparently, his book, The Constitution in Exile, features a chapter titled “Dishonest Abe.” I’ll let you make your mind up about the book, but this chapter looks like a [...]
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