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.
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 ...
The scope of the President's "visits" around Washington rather limited. He arrived in Washington at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, near the capitol, which was the only railroad station in Washington, from which one could only take trains to and from the No...
Mr. Lincoln was notable for his ability to maintain cordial relations with Democrats as well as Whigs and Republicans. In the midst of the September 18, 1858 debate in Charleston, Mr. Lincoln reached out and pulled up former Congressman Orlando B. Ficklin to attes...
"The train bearing the President-elect left Buffalo at a quarter before six o'clock this morning. He was accompanied to the depot by Company D of the Seventy-fourth Regiment. Notwithstanding the early hour several hundred people were present to bid Mr. Lincoln fa...
Mary Todd Lincoln was an original. "Mrs Lincoln is like no human being I ever saw. She is not easy to get along with, though I succeed pretty well with her," wrote one Federal official who had frequent dealings with her.1 Mary Todd Lincoln was descri...
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.
June 19, 1863 Three Louisiana conservatives – E. E. Malhiot, Bradish Johnson, and Thomas Cottman – write President Lincoln regarding reconstruction of that state: “The undersigned, a committee appointed by the Planters of the State of Louisiana, respectfully represent, that they have been delegated to seek of the General Government a full recognition of all […]...Read More
