Abraham Lincoln In Depth
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In December 1864, President Abraham Lincoln wrote out a story for his friend, journalist Noah Brooks. It was entitled: “The President's Last, Shortest and Best Speech.” It read: “On Thursday of last week two ladies from Tennessee came before the President asking ...
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Abraham Lincoln's Contemporaries
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The relationship between Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln was problematic long before the Illinois lawyer was elected President. Lincoln scholar Roy P. Basler wrote: “The course of Greeley’s opinion and treatment of Lincoln was peculiar and tortuous.” 1
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Abraham Lincoln's White House
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Just three days after his inauguration in 1861, President Lincoln took an early morning horseback ride to visit the Soldiers' Home. Both President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had summer cottages in the Northeast section of the city to get away from ...
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Abraham Lincoln & Friends
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Mr. Lincoln once told George Julian: "I do not see how he survives, why he is not crushed and torn to pieces. Without him I should be destroyed. He performs his task superhumanly."1 The object of Mr. Lincoln's concern was Secretary of War Edwin M. St...
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Abraham Lincoln & New York
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"I do like Roscoe Conkling of N.Y. a smart man well cultivated, young, handsome, polite, and withal a good listener," wrote Attorney General Edward Bates of the congressman from Utica in upstate New York.1 Conkling was "a statesman of emi...
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Abraham Lincoln & Freedom
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Before the end of the 1847-1848 congressional session, Mr. Lincoln commented on the upcoming presidential contest and slavery on the House floor. "Our democratic friends seem to be in great distress because they think our candidate for the President don't suit ...
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About the Abraham Lincoln Institute
The Lincoln Institute provides resources for scholars and groups involved in the study of the life of America’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, and the impact he had on the preservation of the Union, the emancipation of black slaves, and the development of democratic principles. We also encourage the use of primary sources about Abraham Lincoln for use by students and scholars along with understanding of the contemporaries with whom Lincoln worked.
Visit The Lincoln Institute sites for specific information and resources on Abraham Lincoln’s life including Abraham Lincoln’s White House, Abraham Lincoln & Friends, Abraham Lincoln & New York, Abraham Lincoln & Freedom, as well as Abraham Lincoln’s Classroom for teacher resources.
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A Project of The Lehrman Institute
Lewis E. Lehrman, Founder
When using this research please acknowledge The Lehrman Institute and The Lincoln Institute.


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Lincoln at Peoria The Turning Point
by Lewis E. Lehrman
Lincoln at Peoria explains how Lincoln's speech at Peoria on October 16, 1854, was the turning point in the development of his antislavery campaign and his political career and thought. |

FEATURED ARTICLE
by Lewis E. LehrmanThey were big men. George Washington1 was 6-foot-3. Abraham Lincoln2 was almost 6-4. Their ambitions were equally big -- first for themselves, and then for the nation they would lead. As young men, both future presidents trained as surveyors at periods when Americans were preoccupied by the development of the frontier and the acquisition of land. Historian John Ferling3 wrote: "Starting around age fifteen, George learned surveying through self-help books, such as `The Young Man's Companion,' and it is probable that he was tutored by some of the surveyors employed by the Fairfaxes." In his search for self-improvement, 16-year-old Washington famously wrote out the rules for life and behavior from "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior4 in Company and Conversation." That pursuit would continue the rest of his life.
Surveying helped define both men. In 1834 Abraham Lincoln was named as a deputy surveyor of Sangamon County in Illinois; George Washington had been appointed as Culpepper County surveyor in 1749. Ferling observed that, "surveying ... was a respectable and often lucrative occupation in Washington's Virginia, as the population was growing and new frontiers were opening steadily."
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