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.
Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner presented his ideas of "state suicide" in resolutions he presented to Congress in February 1862. According to biographer Moorfield Storey, Sumner said that "Congress must provide for the termination of slavery in fact througho...
"The Great Commoner," Thaddeus Stevens was a Pennsylvania Congressman (Whig, Republican 1849-53, 1859-68) and Radical Republican who often pressed President Lincoln on war and emancipation policies. As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee throughout the Civil W...
In January 1861, as a member of the House Committee of 33, Illinois Congressman William Kellogg sought President-elect Lincoln's help in achieving a compromise with secessionists. Lincoln rejected such a compromise. Kellogg had written President-elect Lincoln in...
Dean Richmond "was one of those original men of great brain-power, force, and character, knowledge of men, and executive ability, of which that period had a number," wrote New York Republican Chauncey M. Depew, who followed Richmond into the railroad business. "Fr...
His friends believed Abraham Lincoln loved life on the Eighth Circuit. There was a simple camaraderie on the circuit that Mr. Lincoln enjoyed as he moved from town to town each spring and fall. "The vanity of human wishes, it appears to me, could in no case be, w...
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 25, 1863 Navy Secretary Gideon Welles writes in his diary: “Am anxious in relation to the South Atlantic Squadron and feel daily the necessity of selecting a new commander. Du Pont is determined Charleston shall not be captured by the Navy, and that the Navy shall not attempt it; thinks it dangerous for the […]...Read More
