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Abraham Lincoln In Depth

Abraham Lincoln In Depth

Abraham Lincoln and Slavery

Abraham Lincoln & Freedom

Abraham Lincoln & Freedom

Compensated Emancipation

Historian Olivier Frayssé noted Mr. Lincoln's support for compensated emancipation dated to the 1840s. "Lincoln came down in favor if indemnifying the owner of a slave stolen by the English in 1814 and against the abolition of the slave trade in the District...

Abraham Lincoln's White House

Abraham Lincoln's White House

Non Public Areas

Shortly after the Civil War broke out, one of the pumps in the basement of the White House that supplied water to the upper levels broke down. No one knew how to fix it so the President got in his carriage and hunted down a Union officer who was supposed to be fam...
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

The Boys

"There were two elements in the place," wrote historian Benjamin Thomas about New Salem. "One was a rough and boisterous, happy-go-lucky crowd known as the Clary's Grove boys. They lived in and around the community of that name, but came to New Salem to drink, go...

Abraham Lincoln & New York

Abraham Lincoln & New York

Buffalo to Albany, February 18, 1861

"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...

Lincoln's Contemporaries

Abraham Lincoln's Contemporaries

Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley

The relationship between Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln was problematic long before the Illinois lawyer was elected President. Lincoln scholar Roy P. Basler wrote: "The course of Greeley's opinion and treatment of Lincoln was peculiar and tortuous."1

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 18, 1863 Journalist Noah Brooks writes: “The morning is magnificent, and the air is alive with the songs of birds.  There is hardly a soldier to be seen, except the warm and indolent-looking patrols, who saunter along their posts in the warm sunshine as if they were only ‘playing soldier.” The National Republican, owned […]...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