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Abraham Lincoln In Depth

Abraham Lincoln In Depth

Abraham Lincoln and Literature

Shakespeare can be a politician's best friend. He certainly was Abraham Lincoln's favorite author. In an 1860 biography of candidate Lincoln, journalist William Dean Howells wrote that Mr. Lincoln was "a diligent student of Shakespeare, to know whom is a liberal...

Abraham Lincoln & Freedom

Abraham Lincoln & Freedom

Congress

The first settlers of Illinois came predominantly from slave-holding states like Kentucky. Later settlers came from northern states with strong anti-slavery traditions. Lincoln chronicler Blaine Brooks Gernon wrote: "Sentiment in central and northern Illinois aga...

Abraham Lincoln's White House

Abraham Lincoln's White House

William H. Seward (1801-1872)

Secretary of State in Lincoln's Cabinet, William H. Seward was the Senator from New York (Whig, Republican, 1849-61) who was the leading candidate for Republican presidential nomination in 1860. His association with New York Republican boss Thurlow Weed tainted hi...
Abraham Lincoln:
The Impact on the War, Part A
Abraham Lincoln:
The proclamation, Part A
Abraham Lincoln:
New Years Day Reception

Abraham Lincoln & Friends

Abraham Lincoln & Friends

Ebenezer Peck (1805-1881)

"I have just written [Norman] Judd that I wish him and you to meet me at Freeport next Friday to give me the benefit of a consultation with you," Mr. Lincoln wrote Chicago lawyer and Republican political leader Ebenezer Peck in August 1858. Senator Stephen "Dougla...

Abraham Lincoln & New York

Abraham Lincoln & New York

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)

New York Evening Post William Cullen Bryant was a very serious man. In addition to being the editor of New York Evening Post, he was one of America's most distinguished poets. "The thinking of few men of the nineteenth century has been proved by ...

Lincoln's Contemporaries

Abraham Lincoln's Contemporaries

Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and Their Friend John Calhoun

Featured Article

by Lewis E. Lehrman

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."

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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.

A Project of
The Lehrman Institute
Lewis E. Lehrman, Founder
When using this research please
acknowledge The Lehrman Institute
and The Lincoln Institute.

Lincoln is Here!
Nationwide release -- November 16



Watch the Trailer

Learn More About the Characters in "Lincoln"

The Lincolns

Daniel Day Lewis
Sally Field
Gulliver McGrath
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Chase Edmunds
   

Lincoln at Peoria

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.

DAILY ABRAHAM LINCOLN BLOG

May 20, 1863 Journalist Noah Brooks, a regular visitor to the White House,  writes that Secretary of State William H. Seward is under attack from Radical Republicans: “The President is exceeding loth to give up his wise and conservative counsels, and retains him against the wishes of a respectably large fraction of his own party […]...Read More
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Visit The Lincoln Institute Sites
Mr. Lincoln's White House Mr. Lincoln and Friends
Mr.Lincoln and New York Mr. Lincoln and Freedom
Abraham Lincoln's Classroom Mr. Lincoln and the Founders
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War