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.
When Abraham Lincoln visited his friend Joshua Speed in Kentucky in the summer of 1841, Speed's mother gave him an Oxford Bible. When Mr. Lincoln returned to the judicial circuit that fall, he wrote Speed's sister back in Kentucky: "Tell your mother that I have n...
Pressure grew on President Lincoln during December 1862. Two Washingtonians, Dr. Byron Sunderland and Zenas. S. Robbins, visited Mr. Lincoln to lobby for emancipation on the Sunday before the final Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Historian Allen C. Clark wr...
A shady lawyer-businessmen who promoted arms purchases during the Civil War, Oliver 'Pet' Spencer Halsted was an unsuccessful politician who was more successful behind the political scenes. He was described by the New York Tribune's reporter as "Gifted wi...
In 1854 at age 23, Henry C. Whitney relocated to Urbana and entered the practice of law. "I became acquainted with Lincoln," Whitney wrote over three decades later. "It was about the time of my first appearance at the bar. I did not feel the slightest delicacy i...
"The gray-bearded poet-editor of the Evening Post introduced Lincoln to the Cooper Institute audience Monday night. Greeley was seated on the stage, ready to say a few words after Lincoln finished. When Lincoln walked to the front of the stage, he looked d...
Abraham Lincoln was "psychologically astute," according to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. He had "a first-rate emotional intelligence." As President, Lincoln separated his personal feelings from his analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of colleagues. His ow...
They were big men. George Washington was 6-foot-3. Abraham Lincoln 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 Ferling 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 Behavior 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."
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.
May 21, 1863 Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles writes in his diary: “Had an early call from the President, who brought a communication from Tassara to Seward, complaining of violation of neutral rights by a small pilot-boat, having a gun mounted amidships and believed to be an American vessel, which was annoying Spanish and […]...Read More
