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.
In his desire to bring the Civil War to a close while maintaining northern support for the war while it lasted, President Abraham Lincoln tolerated what the New York Herald called "amateur peace negotiators" to open channels of communication with the Confederate g...
In late October 1860, Mr Lincoln wrote a Tennessee lawyer: "I appreciate your motive when you suggest the propriety of my writing for the public something disclaiming all intention to interfere with slaves or slavery in the States; but in my judgment, it would do n...
Willard's Hotel was the capital's pre-eminent hotel, located close to the White House at the corner of E Street and 14th Street. Before the war, it had been frequented by both northerners and southerners. The Willard Brothers had expanded the hotel along 14th Stre...
Many of Mr. Lincoln's ideas about friendship were formed in New Salem and the Black Hawk War in 1832.1 George M. Harrison served with Mr. Lincoln in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and returned to Sangamon with him by canoe and on foot. "I think, that I ...
The Cooper Union speech which Abraham Lincoln delivered on February 27, 1860 "probably did more to secure his nomination, than any other act of his life," wrote contemporary biographer Isaac Arnold, who was like Mr. Lincoln a prominent Illinois Republican. On the ...
One day in April 1864, President Abraham Lincoln walked across the hall to the office of aide John Hay. Mr. Lincoln "picked up a paper and read the Richmond Examiners recent attack on Jeff Davis," wrote Hay in his diary. "It amused him. 'Why' said he 'the Examine...
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 24, 1863 Accompanied by Wisconsin Senator James R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, President Lincoln visits soldiers in three military hospital around the nation’s capital, according to the New York Herald. “The President expressed his gratification at the excellent condition of the hospitals and the comfortable condition of the patients. He shook hands with over one […]...Read More
