president lincoln presentation

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865

• Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s greatest heroes because of his unique appeal. His is a remarkable story of the rise from humble beginnings to achieve the highest office in the land; then, a sudden and tragic death at a time when his country needed him most to complete the great task remaining before the nation. His distinctively human and humane personality and historical role as savior of the Union and emancipator of the slaves creates a legacy that endures. His eloquence of democracy, and his insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations strive to achieve
• Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin in LaRue County , Kentucky.
• Lincoln lived in Kentucky, until a land dispute forced his father to move to Indiana, when Lincoln was a boy. There Lincoln lost his mother at age 9, and gained a new step-mother.
• As was common on the frontier, Lincoln received little formal education. In his young adulthood, he moved with his family to Illinois, where he worked as a boatman, store clerk, surveyor, militia soldier, and ultimately a lawyer.

Political Career

• Abraham Lincoln began his political career and was elected to the Illinois state legislature in 1834 as a member of the Whig Party. He supported the Whig politics of government-sponsored infrastructure and protective tariffs.

Entering Politics

• Abraham Lincoln served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847-'49. He used his term in office to speak out against the Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for president in 1848. His criticism of the war made him unpopular back home and he decided not to run for second term, but instead returned Springfield to practice law.
• In 1840, Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd, a high spirited, well educated woman from a distinguished Kentucky family. In the beginning, many of the couple’s friends and family couldn’t understand Mary’s attraction, and at times Lincoln questioned it himself.

Lincoln’s Political Revival

• In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, and allowed individual states and territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. The law provoked violent opposition in Kansas and Illinois. And it gave rise to the Republican Party. This awakened Abraham Lincoln’ political zeal once again and his views on slavery moved more toward moral indignation. Lincoln joined the Republican Party in 1856.
• In 1857, the Supreme Court issued its controversial decision Scott v. Sanford, declaring African Americans were not citizens and had no inherent rights. Though Abraham Lincoln felt African Americans were not equal to whites, he believed the America’s founders intended that all men were created with certain inalienable rights. Lincoln decided to challenge sitting U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas for his seat.

1858 Senate Campaign

• The 1858 Senate campaign featured seven debates held in different cities all over Illinois. The two candidates didn’t disappoint the public, giving stirring debates on issues ranging from states’ rights to western expansion, but the central issue in all the debates was slavery. Newspapers intensely covered the debates. In the end, the state legislature elected Douglas, but the exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics.

Lincoln Becomes President

• In the general election, Lincoln faced his friend and rival, Stephan Douglas, this time beating him in a four-way race that included John C. Breckinridge of the Northern Democrats and John Bell of the Constitution Party. Lincoln received not quite 40 percent of the popular vote, but carried 180 of 303 Electoral votes.

Trouble Begins

• Before his inauguration in March, 1861, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union and by April the U.S. military installation Fort Sumter, was under siege in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

Emancipation Proclamation

• The Emancipation Proclamation is a military order issued to the Army and Navy of the United States by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, It proclaimed all slaves in Confederate territory to be forever free; that is, it ordered the Army to treat as free men the slaves in ten states that were still in rebellion.

Gettysburg Address

• The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg.
• Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom, "that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensuring that democracy would remain a viable form of government and creating a nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.
• Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago," referring to the Declaration of Independence during the American Revolution in 1776, Lincoln examined the founding principles of the United States in the context of the Civil War, and memorialized the sacrifices of those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and extolled virtues for the listeners (and the nation) to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy, that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Only Pic of Lincoln in Gettysburg

13th Amendment

• The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude. On December 18, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed it to have been adopted. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the American Civil War.

Reconstruction

• Reconstruction began during the war as early as 1863 in areas firmly under Union military control. Abraham Lincoln favored a policy of quick reunification with a minimum of retribution. But he was confronted by a radical group of Republicans in the Senate and House that wanted complete allegiance and repentance from former Confederates

Assassination

• Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln was taken from the theater to a Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. His body lay in state at the Capitol before a funeral train took him back to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois.

Assassination Fords Theater

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U.S. Presidents / Abraham Lincoln

1809 - 1865

Abraham lincoln.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Second Inaugural Address

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South. A bloody civil war then engulfed the nation as Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union, enforce the laws of the United States, and end the secession. The war lasted for more than four years with a staggering loss of more than 600,000 Americans dead. Midway through the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves within the Confederacy and changed the war from a battle to preserve the Union into a battle for freedom. He was the first Republican President, and Union victory ended forever the claim that state sovereignty superseded federal authority. Killed by an assassin's bullet less than a week after the surrender of Confederate forces, Lincoln left the nation a more perfect Union and thereby earned the admiration of most Americans as the country's greatest President.

Life In Depth Essays

• Life in Brief
• Life Before the Presidency
• Campaigns and Elections
• Domestic Affairs
• Foreign Affairs
• Death of the President
• Family Life
• The American Franchise
• Impact and Legacy

Chicago Style

Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Abraham Lincoln.” Accessed March 25, 2024. https://millercenter.org/president/lincoln.

Chair in Lincoln Studies

Michael Burlingame

Professor Burlingame is the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

• Abraham Lincoln: A Life
• With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda and other Writings of John …
• Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks

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Congressman Abraham Lincoln in 1846

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, but he was raised mostly in Indiana. As a young man, Lincoln became a lawyer and served in the Illinois state legislature as a member of the Whig Party.

Lincoln with his son

Lincoln married Mary Todd in 1842, and they had four sons. He is shown here with his youngest son, Tad.

Candidate Lincoln

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the nomination for president from the Republican Party. He won the presidential election and took office in 1861.

Battle of Antietam

In 1862, the Union Army defeated the Confederate Army at the Battle of Antietam. President Lincoln visited with his generals after the battle.

President Lincoln with Pinkerton and McClernand

After the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln, center , was photographed with Allan Pinkerton and Major General John A. McClernand.

President Lincoln

In 1864, Civil War photographer Mathew Brady took this photo of President Abraham Lincoln. Robert Todd Lincoln said it was the best likeness of his father.

Last known photograph of Lincoln

This is the last known photograph of President Lincoln before John Wilkes Booth shot him at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. Photographer Henry F. Warren took the photograph on the White House balcony on March 6, 1865.

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The Gettysburg Address

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 20, 2023 | Original: August 24, 2010

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address, at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. Though he was not the featured orator that day, Lincoln’s brief address would be remembered as one of the most important speeches in American history. In it, he invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government.

Burying the Dead at Gettysburg

From July 1 to July 3, 1863, the invading forces of General Robert E. Lee ’s Confederate Army clashed with the Army of the Potomac (under its newly appointed leader, General George G. Meade ) in Gettysburg, some 35 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . Casualties were high on both sides: Out of roughly 170,000 Union and Confederate soldiers, there were 23,000 Union casualties (more than one-quarter of the army’s effective forces) and 28,000 Confederates killed, wounded or missing (more than a third of Lee’s army) in the Battle of Gettysburg . After three days of battle, Lee retreated towards Virginia on the night of July 4. It was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy, and a month later the great general would offer Confederate President Jefferson Davis his resignation; Davis refused to accept it.

Did you know? Edward Everett, the featured speaker at the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery of Gettysburg, later wrote to Lincoln, "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."

As after previous battles, thousands of Union soldiers killed at Gettysburg were quickly buried, many in poorly marked graves. In the months that followed, however, local attorney David Wills spearheaded efforts to create a national cemetery at Gettysburg. Wills and the Gettysburg Cemetery Commission originally set October 23 as the date for the cemetery’s dedication, but delayed it to mid-November after their choice for speaker, Edward Everett, said he needed more time to prepare. Everett, the former president of Harvard College, former U.S. senator and former secretary of state, was at the time one of the country’s leading orators. On November 2, just weeks before the event, Wills extended an invitation to President Lincoln, asking him “formally [to] set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.”

Gettysburg Address: Lincoln’s Preparation

Though Lincoln was extremely frustrated with Meade and the Army of the Potomac for failing to pursue Lee’s forces in their retreat, he was cautiously optimistic as the year 1863 drew to a close. He also considered it significant that the Union victories at Gettysburg and at Vicksburg, under General Ulysses S. Grant , had both occurred on the same day: July 4, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence .

When he received the invitation to make the remarks at Gettysburg, Lincoln saw an opportunity to make a broad statement to the American people on the enormous significance of the war, and he prepared carefully. Though long-running popular legend holds that he wrote the speech on the train while traveling to Pennsylvania, he probably wrote about half of it before leaving the White House on November 18, and completed writing and revising it that night, after talking with Secretary of State William H. Seward , who had accompanied him to Gettysburg.

The Historic Gettysburg Address

On the morning of November 19, Everett delivered his two-hour oration (from memory) on the Battle of Gettysburg and its significance, and the orchestra played a hymn composed for the occasion by B.B. French. Lincoln then rose to the podium and addressed the crowd of some 15,000 people. He spoke for less than two minutes, and the entire speech was fewer than 275 words long. Beginning by invoking the image of the founding fathers and the new nation, Lincoln eloquently expressed his conviction that the Civil War was the ultimate test of whether the Union created in 1776 would survive, or whether it would “perish from the earth.” The dead at Gettysburg had laid down their lives for this noble cause, he said, and it was up to the living to confront the “great task” before them: ensuring that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The essential themes and even some of the language of the Gettysburg Address were not new; Lincoln himself, in his July 1861 message to Congress, had referred to the United States as “a democracy–a government of the people, by the same people.” The radical aspect of the speech, however, began with Lincoln’s assertion that the Declaration of Independence–and not the Constitution–was the true expression of the founding fathers’ intentions for their new nation. At that time, many white slave owners had declared themselves to be “true” Americans, pointing to the fact that the Constitution did not prohibit slavery; according to Lincoln, the nation formed in 1776 was “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” In an interpretation that was radical at the time–but is now taken for granted–Lincoln’s historic address redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.

Gettysburg Address Text

The full text of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is as follows:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Gettysburg Address: Public Reaction & Legacy

On the day following the dedication ceremony, newspapers all over the country reprinted Lincoln’s speech along with Everett’s. Opinion was generally divided along political lines, with Republican journalists praising the speech as a heartfelt, classic piece of oratory and Democratic ones deriding it as inadequate and inappropriate for the momentous occasion.

In the years to come, the Gettysburg Address would endure as arguably the most-quoted, most-memorized piece of oratory in American history. After Lincolns’ assassination in April 1865, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts wrote of the address, “That speech, uttered at the field of Gettysburg…and now sanctified by the martyrdom of its author, is a monumental act. In the modesty of his nature he said ‘the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.’ He was mistaken. The world at once noted what he said, and will never cease to remember it.”

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President Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

On the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln ’s first presidential inauguration on March 4, 1861, David Zarefsky talked about the origin, stru… read more

On the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln ’s first presidential inauguration on March 4, 1861, David Zarefsky talked about the origin, structure, and language of the inaugural address that the new president delivered on the eve of Civil War .

“Defining the Secession Crisis: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address” was a presentation of the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Inauguration Symposium held at the Union League Club of Chicago, in partnership with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Chicago History Museum , Chicago Public Library , Civil War Round Table of Chicago, Lincoln Academy of Illinois, Newberry Library , and the Pritzker Military Library. close

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History Resources

Lincoln and Presidential Power

By roberta mccutcheon, introduction.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States in 1860, his experience in politics and government included serving in the Illinois legislature and the US House of Representatives. He had also studied law and was licensed to practice law in Illinois at age twenty-seven. This seems like scant experience for a man who would lead a country through its greatest internal challenge. However, Lincoln found a way to draw on his life experience and his professional knowledge to lead the nation with an astuteness and skill that might have escaped a more seasoned politician.

Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861. He served until 1865, and during this tenure he led the country through the crises of secession and civil war. His presidency, which was defined by a Constitutional challenge and forged in a bloody war, has been judged among the greatest in US history. Though the distinction awarded Lincoln was warranted in part by the high position he held and by the magnitude of the crises, it was also earned by the intelligence and the political savvy of the man. This lesson will ask students to analyze Abraham Lincoln, the man, as President of the United States.

• Students will be able to create a model for evaluating the validity of historical evidence.
• Students will read appropriate sections of the Constitution and letters from the Federalist Papers in order to identify the powers of the President of the United States.
• Students will examine primary documents and secondary sources to analyze the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
• Students will be able to examine the effects of secession and Civil War on the office of the president and on the sixteenth president.
• Students will be able to read Supreme Court decisions that challenged the power of the president and identify Lincoln’s response.
• Students will be engaged in historical research and the critical analysis of the significant social, economic and political events of this era.  

Student Exercise One

• The Constitution  (Article II) , The National Archives
• The Federalist Papers  (Numbers 69 and 70) , Constitution.org
• Overview of the Presidency , Brittanica.com

Student Exercise Two

• Abraham Lincoln Biography , The White House
• Secession and the Civil War , GilderLehrman.org
• The Secession Crisis , U-S-History.com
• An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union  (PDF)
• Abraham Lincoln (The American President) , Miller Center

Student Exercise Three

• Lincoln Responds to Secession , Digital History
• Lincoln’s Declaration of War ,  Harpers Weekly
• Lincoln’s Address upon Declaration of War , Furman University
• Second Confiscation Act , Furman University
• Review of First and Second Confiscation Acts , Answers.com
• Miller v. United States , US Supreme Court Center
• Emancipation Proclamation Introduction, Gallery, and Timeline , Library of Congress
• Emancipation Proclamation Full Text , Our Documents

Student Exercise One: Define the Presidency

• Have students read Article II of the Constitution of the United States and the Federalist Papers, number 69 and 70. Have them also read secondary accounts (see links above) of the era in order to gain a better understanding of the office.
• The students should work together to develop a description of the powers of the President of the US from the sources.

Student Exercise Two: Lincoln and Secession, A Debate

Using the research (see links both above), set up a debate using the following resolution:

Resolved: Secession violated the Constitution of the United States

The format for the debate will depend on the size of the class.

Student Exercise Three: War Powers of the President

Panel Discussion: Was Lincoln in compliance with the Constitution when he declared war on the seceded states, passed the Second Confiscation Act, and issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

The class should be divided into three groups and assigned one of Lincoln’s actions as president. The group will research the assigned topic and prepare for responses to the discussion question. The format for the discussion will depend on the size of the class.

Extension Activity

Essay: To what extent did Lincoln’s response to the Civil War alter the power of the President of the United States?

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Abraham Lincoln

The 16th President of the United States

The biography for President Lincoln and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

Abraham Lincoln became the United States’ 16th President in 1861, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy in 1863.

Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you…. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.”

Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union. The Civil War had begun.

The son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Lincoln had to struggle for a living and for learning. Five months before receiving his party’s nomination for President, he sketched his life:

“I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families–second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks…. My father … removed from Kentucky to … Indiana, in my eighth year…. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up…. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all.”

Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, “His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest.”

He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860.

As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.

Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion.

The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…. ”

On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln’s death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died.

Learn more about Abraham Lincoln’s spouse, Mary Todd Lincoln .

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Abraham Lincoln

Jul 09, 2014

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Abraham Lincoln. 16th President of The United States of America «Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.» . Family and childhood : Early life.

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Presentation Transcript

Abraham Lincoln • 16th President of The United States of America • «Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.»

Family and childhood:Early life • Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln (née Hanks), in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky (now LaRue County).Nancy Hanks married Thomas, who became a respected citizen. When Abraham was born, Thomas owned 240 ha farms, several town lots, livestock, and horses. • The family moved north across the Ohio River to free territory and made a new start in what was Perry County but is now Spencer County, Indiana. In Indiana, when Lincoln was nine, his mother Nancy died of milk sickness in 1818. After the death of Lincoln's mother, his older sister, Sarah, took charge of caring for him until their father remarried in 1819; Sarah later died in her 20s while giving birth to a stillborn son. • Thomas Lincoln's new wife was the widow Sarah Bush Johnston, the mother of three children. Lincoln became very close to his stepmother, and referred to her as "Mother". As a pre-teen, he did not like the hard labor associated with frontier life. Some in his family, and in the neighborhood, for a time considered him to be lazy. As he grew into his teens, he willingly took responsibility for all chores expected of him as one of the boys in the household and became an adept axeman in his work building rail fences. He attained a reputation for brawn and audacity after a very competitive wrestling match to which he was challenged by the renowned leader of a group of ruffians, "the Clary's Grove boys". Lincoln also agreed with the customary obligation of a son to give his father all earnings from work done outside the home until age 21. In later years, Lincoln occasionally loaned his father money. Lincoln became increasingly distant from his father, in part because of his father's lack of education. While young Lincoln's formal education consisted approximately of a year's worth of classes from several itinerant teachers, he was mostly self-educated and was an avid reader and often sought access to any new books in the village.

Marriage and children • In 1840, Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd, who was from a wealthy slave-holding family in Lexington, Kentucky. They met in Springfield, Illinois, in December 1839 and were engaged the following December. A wedding set for January 1, 1841, was canceled when the two broke off their engagement at Lincoln's initiative. They later met again at a party and married on November 4, 1842, in the Springfield mansion of Mary's married sister. While preparing for the nuptials and feeling anxiety again, Lincoln, when asked where he was going, replied, "To hell, I suppose.“ • In 1844, the couple bought a house in Springfield near Lincoln's law office. Mary Todd Lincoln kept house, often with the help of a relative or hired servant girl. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in 1843 and Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie) in 1846. Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children", and the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their children. When Edward died on February 1, 1850, in Springfield, probably of tuberculosis, he suffered. "Willie" Lincoln was born on December 21, 1850, and died on February 20, 1862. The Lincolns' fourth son, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and died of heart failure at the age of 18 on July 16, 1871. Robert was the only child to live to adulthood and have children. His last descendant, grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985. • The deaths of their sons had profound effects on both parents. Later in life, Mary struggled with the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and Robert Lincoln committed her temporarily to a mental health asylum in 1875. Abraham Lincoln suffered from "melancholy," a condition which now is referred to as clinical depression. • Lincoln's father-in-law was based in Lexington, Kentucky; he and others of the Todd family were either slave owners or slave traders. Lincoln was close to the Todds, and he and his family occasionally visited the Todd estate in Lexington. He was an affectionate, though often absent, husband and father of four children.

Marriage and children

Early career and militia service • In 1832, at age 23, Lincoln and a partner bought a small general store on credit in New Salem, Illinois. Although the economy was booming in the region, the business struggled and Lincoln eventually sold his share. That March he began his political career with his first campaign for the Illinois General Assembly. He had attained local popularity and could draw crowds as a natural raconteur in New Salem, though he lacked an education, powerful friends, and money, which may be why he lost. He advocated navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. • Before the election, Lincoln served as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. Following his return, Lincoln continued his campaign for the August 6 election for the Illinois General Assembly. He was tall 193 cm and "strong enough to intimidate any rival". At his first speech, when he saw a supporter in the crowd being attacked, Lincoln grabbed the assailant by his "neck and the seat of his trousers" and threw him. Lincoln finished eighth out of 13 candidates (the top four were elected), though he received 277 of the 300 votes cast in the New Salem precinct. • In the 1835–36 legislative session, he voted to expand suffrage to white males, whether landowners. He was known for his "free soil" stance of opposing both slavery and abolitionism. He first articulated this in 1837, saying, "The Institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." He closely followed Henry Clay in supporting the American Colonization Society program of making the abolition of slavery practical by helping the freed slaves to settle in Liberia in Africa.

Congressman Lincoln • From the early 1830s, Lincoln was a steadfast Whig and professed to friends in 1861 to be, "an old line Whig, a disciple of Henry Clay". The party, including Lincoln, favored economic modernization in banking, protective tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and espoused urbanization. • In 1846, Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served one two-year term. He was the only Whig in the Illinois delegation, but he showed his party loyalty by participating in almost all votes and making speeches that echoed the party line. Lincoln, in collaboration with abolitionist Congressman Joshua R. Giddings, wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation for the owners, enforcement to capture fugitive slaves, and a popular vote on the matter. He abandoned the bill when it failed to garner sufficient Whig supporters. On foreign and military policy, Lincoln spoke out against the Mexican–American War, which he attributed to President Polk's desire for "military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood". It have banned slavery in any U.S. territory won from Mexico. • Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, Lincoln, who had pledged in 1846 to serve only one term in the House, supported General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election. Taylor won and Lincoln hoped to be appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office, but that lucrative patronage job went to an Illinois rival, Justin Butterfield, considered by the administration to be a highly skilled lawyer, but in Lincoln's view, an "old fossil". He resumed his law practice.

Republican politics 1854–60 Slavery and a "House Divided" • By the 1850s, slavery was still legal in the southern United States, but had been generally outlawed in the northern states, such as Illinois. Lincoln disapproved of slavery, and the spread of slavery to new U.S. territory in the west. He returned to politics to oppose the pro-slavery Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854); this law repealed the slavery-restricting Missouri Compromise (1820). Senior Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois had incorporated popular sovereignty into the Act. Douglas' provision, which Lincoln opposed, specified settlers had the right to determine locally whether to allow slavery in new U.S. territory, rather than have such a decision restricted by the national Congress. • On October 16, 1854, Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery, which he repeated en route to the presidency. Speaking in his Kentucky accent, he said the Kansas Act had a "declared indifference, but as I must think, a covert real zeal for the spread of slavery. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. • After the state Republican party convention nominated him for the U.S. Senate in 1858, Lincoln delivered his House Divided Speech: "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. The speech created an evocative image of the danger of disunion caused by the slavery debate, and rallied Republicans across the North. The stage was then set for the campaign for statewide election of the Illinois legislature which would, in turn, select Lincoln or Douglas as its U.S. senator.

1860 Presidential nomination and campaign • On May 9–10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur. Lincoln's followers organized a campaign team led by David Davis, Norman Judd, Leonard Swett, and Jesse DuBois, and Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency. Exploiting the embellished legend of his frontier days with his father (clearing the land and splitting fence rails with an ax), Lincoln's supporters adopted the label of "The Rail Candidate". On May 18, at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Lincoln's friends promised and manipulated and won the nomination on the third ballot, beating candidates such as William H. Seward and Salmon P. Chase. A former Democrat, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, was nominated for Vice President to balance the ticket. Lincoln's success depended on his reputation as a moderate on the slavery issue, and his strong support for Whiggish programs of internal improvements and the protective tariff. On the third ballot Pennsylvania put him over the top. • As Douglas and the other candidates went through with their campaigns, Lincoln was the only one of them who gave no speeches. Instead, he monitored the campaign closely and relied on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party. The party did the leg work that produced majorities across the North. There were thousands of Republican speakers who focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, emphasizing his childhood poverty. The goal was to demonstrate the superior power of "free labor", whereby a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts. The Republican Party's production of campaign literature dwarfed the combined opposition.

Emancipation Proclamation

Other enactments • Other enactments • Lincoln adhered to the Whig theory of the presidency, which gave Congress primary responsibility for writing the laws while the Executive enforced them. Lincoln only vetoed four bills passed by Congress; the only important one was the Wade-Davis Bill with its harsh program of Reconstruction. He signed the Homestead Act in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost. The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed in 1862, provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state. The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad, which was completed in 1869. The passage of the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Acts was made possible by the absence of Southern congressmen and senators who had opposed the measures in the 1850s. • Other important legislation involved two measures to raise revenues for the Federal government: tariffs (a policy with long precedent), and a new Federal income tax. In 1861, Lincoln signed the second and third Morrill Tariff, the first having become law under James Buchanan. Also in 1861, Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861, creating the first U.S. income tax. This created a flat tax of 3 percent on incomes above $800 ($20,800 in current dollar terms), which was later changed by the Revenue Act of 1862 to a progressive rate structure. • Lincoln also presided over the expansion of the federal government's economic. The creation of the system of national banks by the National Banking Act provided a strong financial network in the country. It also established a national currency. In 1862, Congress created, with Lincoln's approval, the Department of Agriculture. In 1862, Lincoln sent a senior general, John Pope, to put down the "Sioux Uprising" in Minnesota. Presented with 303 execution warrants for convicted Santee Dakota who were accused of killing innocent farmers, Lincoln conducted his own personal review of each of these warrants, eventually approving 39 for execution (one was later reprieved). President Lincoln had planned to reform federal Indian policy. • In the wake of Grant's casualties in his campaign against Lee, Lincoln had considered yet another executive call for a military draft, but it was never issued. Lincoln's ordered the military to seize the two papers. The seizure lasted for two days. • Lincoln is largely responsible for the institution of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Before Lincoln's presidency, Thanksgiving, while a regional holiday in New England since the 17th century, had been proclaimed by the federal government only sporadically and on irregular dates. In 1863, Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November of that year to be a day of Thanksgiving. In June 1864, Lincoln approved the Yosemite Grant enacted by Congress, which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as Yosemite National Park.

Assassination • John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland; though he never joined the Confederate army, he had contacts with the Confederate secret service. In 1864, Booth formulated a plan to kidnap Lincoln in exchange for the release of Confederate prisoners. • After attending an April 11, 1865, speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks, an incensed Booth changed his plans and became determined to assassinate the president. Learning that the President, First Lady, and head Union general Ulysses S. Grant would be attending Ford's Theatre, Booth formulated a plan with co-conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William H. Seward and General Grant. Without his main bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin on April 14. Grant, along with his wife, chose at the last minute to travel to Philadelphia instead of attending the play. • Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker, left Ford's Theater during intermission to join Lincoln's coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door. The now unguarded President sat in his state box in the balcony. Seizing the opportunity, Booth crept up from behind and at about 10:13 pm, aimed at the back of Lincoln's head and fired at point-blank range, mortally wounding the President. Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped. • After being on the run for 10 days, Booth was tracked down and found on a farm in Virginia, some 70 miles (110 km) south of Washington, D.C. After a brief fight with Union troops, Booth was killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26. • An Army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, was sitting nearby at the theater and immediately assisted the President. He found the President unresponsive, barely breathing and with no detectable pulse. Having determined that the President had been shot in the head, he made an attempt to clear the blood clot, after which the President began to breathe more naturally. The dying President was taken across the street to Petersen House. After remaining in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 15. Presbyterian minister Phineas Densmore Gurley, then present, was asked to offer a prayer, after which Secretary of War Stanton saluted and said, "Now he belongs to the ages."

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Portraying Abraham Lincoln

By Robert Brugler

Portraying Lincoln seemed like a good idea.  I have been studying Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War for decades, have taught at Gahanna Lincoln High School, was born on the day after his birthday, and have the height, the beard, even the stovepipe hat.

Using hindsight, what was I thinking?  In portraying President Lincoln, I would be giving a first-person presentation of one of the most loved (in some areas most hated) and most well-known persons of the American History.  There is more to Living History than simply putting on clothing. There is a great amount of research that must go into becoming a first person interpreter.  You must know the man.

A historical interpreter of Abraham Lincoln is not just growing a beard and donning a stovepipe hat and other period garb.  A true first person presenter is not an actor saying lines.  He is a person with the knowledge of Lincoln, the President and his era. 

How to appear as Mr. Lincoln

In every way possible there must be an effort to provide an accurate impression. It takes time, determination and discipline to learn. 

I do not play dress-up.  The appearance of Mr. Lincoln must include period correct clothing and grooming.   Examples of Abraham’s clothing are readily available & should be followed: a black frock coat, a shawl vest, a cravat (a type of bow tie of the period), a pocket watch, black shoes, etc. and having an accurate stovepipe hat is imperative.

A Lincoln styled beard is essential.  Children will want to know if it is real and may attempt to give it a tug. If a false beard is used, it is vital that is stays on.  Nothing ruins the aura of a historical presentation more than when the beard falls off.

How to learn about the President

Every attempt to READ accurate and important materials is made.  While it is impossible to read all of the 16,000+ books that have been written about Abraham, but there are reliable primary sources and books that are considered the “cream of the crop”.

Primary Sources

• Angle, Paul McClelland; Earl Schenck Miers (1992). The Living Lincoln: the Man, his Mind, his Times, and the War He Fought, Reconstructed from his Own Writings .
• Basler, Roy P. et al., eds. (1953). The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln . 9 vols. Available and searchable on line at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/

Biographies

• Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln (1999) The most useful scholarly biography. 
• Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005)
• Nicolay, John George and John Hay. Abraham Lincoln: a History (1890)
• McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln (2009).
• Thomas, Benjamin P. Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (1952; 2nd ed. 2008) 
• White, Jr., Ronald C. (2009). A. Lincoln: A Biography .

Specialty topics

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988). Pulitzer Prize winner surveys all aspects of the war.

I never under any circumstances knowingly give incorrect information. Through study, a Lincoln presenter must develop a thorough knowledge of him and be able to share that knowledge in a way that represents the President in his mannerism, style, and language.  He should be able to answer questions in the language of his day whenever practicable & understandable to the visitors.  Be the best Lincoln you can be. 

Presenting Lincoln

While I am “Being Lincoln” in full Lincoln garb I do not say or do anything that would be out of character for the President.  The information I know goes up to April 14, 1865.  When asked questions after that time, my reply is “is that so” or “interesting, what have you heard?”

Adjustments must be made when presenting Mr. Lincoln.  I gear my interpretation of his thoughts, speeches, and methods of interacting to my audience.

With very young children, after my presentation, I tell them that I am not the real Abraham Lincoln.  If I was, I would be 205 years old.  It is not good to be a ghost.   Young children typically prefer a ‘show & tell’ presentation.  For example: the stovepipe hat, the beard, the pocket watch, and period correct straight shoes that I carry around in my carpet bag containing photographs from the 1860s, Lincoln’s life masks, shackles, Minié balls, hardtack & tooth extractors to name a few.

At schools, I ask the teacher to have the students to make three of their own questions they would like to ask Mr. Lincoln and then narrow it down to their top choice.  The students will then ask the questions in a press conference format; standing up, saying “Mr. President”, then asking their questions.  In working with the curriculum, I can examine it and cover come of the areas for them.

Often during a question and answer period at the end of my presentation, there will be questions that I cannot answer.  I typically say, “I don't know, but I will try to find the answer for you. Please provide me with a method of communication with you.” 

It is important to know the Gettysburg Address , to understand its background and meaning.  I use the Bliss copy as the version I give (Lincoln wrote five copies to give to others; the Bliss copy was the last and was version placed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial).

Dr. Martin Johnson in his award winning book, Writing the Gettysburg Address , has concluded that the President read the speech not wanting to be misunderstood.  In the three paragraphs, he spoke to the past, the present and the future.  I believe the most important sections of speech are found in the third paragraph in which he talks about the “unfinished work” and the “great task remaining before us."  The war must continue and the Union be saved.

In giving the address, a presenter should speak slowly because Lincoln spoke about 105 words per minute in compared to the normal 150 words per minute.  Also he was speaking to thousands of visitors and needed to be heard.  Many in the audience had lost loved ones while others wondered why we should continue with the war.

I also like to provide a source of information for guests so they may continue to learn about Lincoln, the Civil War and its history in general.  If they are interested, they may go to my web site to see the links found under Lincoln resources that I recommend, or to www.AbrahamLincolnOnline.org , or to the Civil War Trust's Lincoln resource hub .

Finally, as a presenter, I believe that if you acquire a person’s heart first and the head will follow.   Interact with audience before a presentation, get to know them, make them feel comfortable and important. Abe would do the same. 

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Abraham Lincoln Presenters

The Association of Lincoln Presenters

Mr. Donald Ancell

1361 Offshore St Oxnard, CA 93035 [email protected] (805) 985- 2535

Available year round

“Lincoln, with a Union soldier, relates how a poor boy made good, encouraging honesty, reading, and integrity. The Union soldier tells of camp life.  Using history, music, and humor, programs captivate students (K-8), birthday parties, luncheons and special events. Lincoln also speaks

When Don allowed his sideburns to become a beard, his friends urged him to become Lincoln.  He then began to study about Lincoln and the Civil War, gaining experience portraying at re-enactments.

Don met Roger Knox (Union) at a re-enactment. A very successful team was formed to the delight of students and teachers alike.”

Mr. Connor Baete

14801 Fox Bend Ct. Louisville, KY [email protected] (502) 593-9219

Connor Baete is a student in Louisville, KY with a passion for Civil War history. A cousin to Mary Todd Lincoln, Connor believes that history is alive and participates in the annual Lincoln Days celebration in Hodgenville, KY. Connor has won prizes twice in the Lincoln “Look-alike” competition, once recreating the “Now” speech from the Spielberg Lincoln bio-pic and once as “Rail-splitter” Lincoln.

Connor competes annually in the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon in Springfield, Illinois and the Kentucky History Half Marathon in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Mr. Richard D. Benach

One South Schlueter Avenue St. Louis, MO 63135

Mr. Jeff Bloomquist

32 Blanchard St. Jamestown, NY 14701 (716) 487-9962

Mr. Dennis Boggs

209 Cottage Place Nashville, TN 37214 (615) 874-8028 [email protected]

http://www.meetmrlincoln.com

Mr. Robert Broski

Covina, CA 91724 (909) 227-2531 [email protected]

http://AbrahamLincolnLives.com

Available all year round. Will travel.

Subject material tailored to meet your specialized needs: Meet & Greet, Q&A’s, conventions, trade shows, libraries, museums, book readings, parades, churches, political & social groups, organizations, TV, radio, films, modeling, and civil war reenactments.

Born and raised in a southern state; Southern California, of humble origins. I was destined to play Abe Lincoln. Because of a desire in my heart, I decided to make a commitment to bring Abraham Lincoln “ALIVE” to whomever is interested in knowing more about this great President. Through the years, it appears Mr. Lincoln is “ALIVE” in the hearts and minds of many people. I am blessed and honored to be a President Lincoln presenter!

Mr. Robert Brugler

5312 Parkhurst Xing McCordsville, IN 46055 [email protected] (614) 312-7461

www.visitwithabe.com

For 15 years, Robert has brought President Lincoln to life with hundreds of entertaining and thought-provoking presentations at family gatherings, senior citizen centers, schools, libraries, museums, dinners, benefits, Civil War reenactments and many other events.  He is a former teacher at Gahanna Lincoln High School (35 Years) and a Lifetime Member of Association of Lincoln Presenters.

Robert has portrayed the President at Gettysburg, Washington, D. C., the Ohio Statehouse, the Ohio homes of Presidents Grant, Hayes and Garfield. Since he moved to the Indy area, he has become a volunteer at Conner Prairie.

Please contact Robert through GigSalad: www.gigsalad.com/visit_with_abe_mccordsville

Schedule:  Available throughout the year.

Mr. Ted Bruzas

1410 Laurel Oak Dr. Avon, IN 46123 [email protected] 317-272-0014

Available year round in central Indiana

Ted has brought Lincoln to life in presentations to senior groups, elementary schools, as a greeter at the Indiana State Museum and participation in the Lincoln Days Celebration in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Has enjoyed studying Lincoln for several years and collected over 260 books. Ted portrays the life of Lincoln as the greatest U.S. President who faced the greatest constitutional crisis of our country and kept the nation together changing the fate of generations to come and the course of history.

Proud life member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters.

Mr. Nicholas Bur

18575 Brookfield Lake Drive, Unit 60 Brookfield, WI 43045 [email protected] (262) 650-9697

Mr. Jeff Burgess

1919 Sawmill Road Clinton, AR 72031 [email protected] (501) 745-1249

Presently inactive as Lincoln. Available locally only, as biblical characters.

Mr. Ron Carley

8208 Parkside Dr. Westland, MI 48185 [email protected] (734) 680-3708

Mr. Phillip Chetwynd

P. O. Box 1916 Wakefield, MA 01880 (781) 224-0530 [email protected] or [email protected]

www.lincolnfortheages.com

Mr. William Ciampa

22 Baltimore St. Gettysburg, PA 17325 (717) 337-2122

Mr. Jim Conine

97 Water St. Brunswick, GA 31525 [email protected] (912) 265-4188

http://www.abespeaks.com

Mr. John D. Cooper

11781 Julie Dr. Baltimore, OH 43105 (740) 862-6373 [email protected]

http://www.fourscore7yearsago.com

First person presentations covering Lincoln’s entire life.  Making memories and bringing history alive.  Tailored presentations; you name topics.  Q & A available all presentations.  Programs for schools, fairs, festivals, lunches, dinners, churches, libraries, historical societies, and civic groups since 1988.  Topics like Civil War, Presidency, biography, family life, law cases, religious faith, leadership, coupled with humorous anecdotes and the Gettysburg Address. Meet and greet at all presentations.  School presentations geared to grade level.  Accurate, historical presentations of our greatest President.

Ms. Jami Coren

531 Park Ridge Ct. Grand Junction, CO [email protected] (970) 424-2377

Jami has been presenting as Abraham Lincoln since 2012, and has been a serious student of the great man since the late 1990’s. She got her love of history from her father, as well as her height, which helps her achieve a convincing portrayal of the late president. It was upon request from a niece to have Jami help with a school project – dressed as Lincoln – which led her to becoming a presenter.

Her current programs are designed for young audiences, as she has recurring classroom visits every winter at local school classrooms.

Mr. Murray Cox

3979 S. Bailey Rd. Wabash, IN 46992 [email protected] (260) 563-7126

Available year-round

Civil War & Living History events.

Presentations for all ages, telling of:

• Lincoln’s youth in Indiana
• His career as a Lawyer
• God in the Nation’s life
• His contacts with Quakers
• The Lincoln Family Tree
• Emancipation-Why not sooner?

Murray has been presenting Lincoln since 1985, appearing before elementary classrooms and college forums, Boy Scouts pageants and pilgrimages, Worship Services and Sunday School groups, community and patriotic groups, and even a wedding reception. He has been part of the documentaries about Lincoln presenters “Men in Hats”, and “Life as Lincoln.”

Murray tries to inform people of parts of Lincoln’s life which are not widely known, or which may be misunderstood. His goal is for the listener to have a better understanding of the real Abraham Lincoln and his life.

Mr. Jim Crabtree

610 Royal Springs Dr. Springboro, OH 45066 (937) 886-0241

Mr. Skip Critell

12294 Hidden Valley St. Boise, ID 83709 [email protected] (208) 841-8784

http://www.lincolnremembered.org

Available year round.

Presentations for all age groups. Custom programs for schools,churches, historical events, and fund raisers.

Background: I have portrayed President Lincoln for public and home schools, libraries, Sunday school and youth groups, Awana conferences, historical museums and societies, theater movie openings, Civil War events, retail stores, parades, television commercials, and a PBS film.

Member of the Idaho Civil War Volunteers.

Involved in an on-going study of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln.

I have been portraying our 16th President since 1999, and am a Life Member of The Association of Lincoln Presenters.

Mr. Max Daniels

202 N. Pierce Wheaton, IL 60187 [email protected] (630) 462-7286

http://www.abeandthebabe.com

Max & Donna Daniels have been portraying Abraham & Mary Todd Lincoln since 1988. They are past Vice-Presidents of the ALP, and have received many of the awards given by the Association.

They have been featured on numerous television programs, have performed at many of the Lincoln Sites in Springfield, IL, and were especially honored to perform at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

They have been popular attractions at Civil War reenactments throughout the Midwest, and are available for programs at schools, libraries, trade shows, conventions, senior groups/retirement communities, CWRT’s and fund raisers.

Mr. Stan DeHaan

3883 Jefferson Ave. Orange City, IA 51041 (712) 737-8209

Mr. Dean Dorrell

5 1/2 Daviess Dr. Washington, IN 47501 [email protected] (812) 617-1806

http://www.honest-abe.com

At 6’6” tall, Mr. Dorrell is similar in stature to Mr. Lincoln. He has been portraying Mr. Lincoln since 1996.

He has appeared in commercials and at festivals, Civil War reenactments, and schools. He has also appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at Symphony on the Prairie, and as President Abraham Lincoln in the outdoor musical drama “A Pioneer Tale” at Lincoln Boyhood State Park in Lincoln City, Indiana.

Mr. Randy Duncan

16328 Nicholas Rd. Carlinville, IL 62626 [email protected] (217) 854-2411

Mr. Larry Elliott

9221 Springbrooke Circle Louisville, KY 40241 [email protected] H-502-394-0694 C-502-599-6830

http://www.larrylikelincoln.com

I have been portraying Abraham Lincoln for 10 years. My family is from Hodgenville, KY where he was born. My great grandmother four times removed, Mary Brooks LaRue, was the mid-wife that delivered Abraham Lincoln.

I am the same height (5 ft. 16 inches, as I tell the kids), same weight and many other similarities.

I have a great desire to keep his legacy alive and have read numerous on him and The Civil War. I present in schools, assisted living communities, battle reenactments, churches civic organizations, etc.

I can tailor my program to fit your needs. Let me bring Lincoln to life!

Mr. Mat Freeman

PO Box 3426 Kodiak, AK 99615 [email protected] (907) 486-3358

Mr. Joe Hamilton

851 Bellows Mill Road Harrodsburg, KY 40330 (859) 325-0452

Mr. James Hayney

37 N. 19th St. Camp Hill, PA 17011 [email protected] (717) 763-6858

http://lookingforalincoln.com

James Hayney has the rare combination of striking physical resemblance to Lincoln, a wealth of historical knowledge, and acting ability. He can tailor his presentation to fit your time schedules, topic interest, and age of audience.

Mr. Joe Hobbs

802 Jefferson Pl Elizabethtown, KY 42701 (270) 765-6294

Mr. Milburn Howard 9246 Bardstown Rd. Hodgenville, KY 42746 (270) 549-8307

Mr. Philip Jessen

74 Gilchrist Hill Rd. Hartford, NY 12838 [email protected] (518) 632-5922

Available by appointment

A wide variety of presentations for all ages.

I have been a Lincoln Presenter for 18 years now.

Mr. Kenneth Jones

1510 Lake Road Dyersburg, TN 38024 [email protected] (731) 288-0658

Mr. Jones performs Lincoln for schools, civic clubs, historical societies and other interested parties. There is no charge for performances, however, any gratuities offered are accepted as donations to a Lincoln student scholarship offered through Dyersburg State Community College.

Mr. Jones is a research and teaching biology professor, with interests in riparian habitats, endangered species. In March, 2001, Mr. Jones portrayed Abraham Lincoln in the play “Mr. Lincoln” and has been “hooked” ever since.

Mr. Matt Jordan

1028 E. Park Ave. Vineland, NJ 08360 (856) 697-6255

Mr. Thomas S. Katsis

13659 Victory Blvd. #679 Valley Glen, CA 91401 [email protected] (818) 404-1446

http://www.tomkatsis.com

Tom’s available to travel anywhere in this fine nation when booked in advance. Based on presentation requirements, Tom will give amount charged once client and he are clear on what’s expected.

Schools, Universities and colleges, Daughters of American Revolution, Political affiliations, churches, synagogues and any proper venue for the 16th President to enlighten!

Tom’s been portraying Lincoln in films, commercials and live theater for over ten years now. At 6′ 3″ he really inhabits the spirit and nature of this great man and president.

To see reviews of tom’s work simply go to www.tomkatsis.com and enter Lincoln section.

Mr. James Keeran

1513 W. Graham Bloomington, IL 61701 (309) 829-3640

Mr. John Kemple

294 South 13th Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 (702) 601-5331

[email protected]

Mr. John W. King

3747 State Route 47 South Rock Creek, OH 44084 [email protected] (440) 479-9435 cell (440) 563-9598 home

http://wemadehistory.com

Log cabin to the white house Was Lincoln a christian? Lincoln the lawyer Lincoln and his generals

Mr. Charles Kleiner

4142 Copperfield Ln Cincinnati, OH 45238 [email protected] (513) 251-6940

Mr. David Kreutz 40 Princeton Ave Depew, NY 14043 (716) 681-2806

Mr. Lee Lewis

Louisville, KY 40208 [email protected] (502) 533-6643

http://www.iamhonestabe.org

Mr. Ralph Lincoln

713 Stewart St. Berlin, PA 15530-1507 [email protected] (814) 442-6367

http://www.alincolncousin.com

Mr. Robert Lindsey

P.O. Box 259356 Chicago, IL 60625 [email protected] (773)544-5448

http://www.rjlindsey.com

Mr. Ronald Lowe

660 Plymouth Rd. Plymouth, MI 48170 [email protected] (734) 781-0107

Mr. Abe Maier

6081 150St. NW Clearwater, MN 55320 (320) 558-6386

Mr. Patrick McCreary

2116 Hummingbird Road #2 Portales, NM 88130 [email protected] (618) 920-7764

http://www.LincolnOnStage.com

Year round as available

• National/ International Touring Completely self contained one-man MainStage shows: LINCOLN (his entire life in his own words and the words of those who knew him well); Lincoln and Booth (an original work tracing the significant turning points in their lives leading up to that fatal meeting) • School presentations for all ages • Film/ Television/ Radio • Motivational speaker

Over thirty years in professional theater as an actor/ director/ writer/ producer/ designer

Performance in forty-four states and Europe

Appearances before three other Presidents of the United States: Carter, Reagan, Bush (’41)

Member of Actors Equity Association

MFA in Theater

Former college professor

Former city Mayor

Internationally ranked triathlete

Mr. Leon McKinney

702 Briarwood Dr. East Wenatchee, WA 98802-8301 [email protected] (509) 393-8301

Leon’s “Lincoln Live” presentation’s include:

The True Story of the Gettysburg Address

The 8 Habits of America’s Greatest Leader

The Happiest Day of My Life (the day I went to Ford’s Theater)

How I learned to read (for elementary students).

Why I Love the 4th of July

A Sermon by Lincoln: “Lincoln Wrestles with God” based on several of the best books on Lincoln’s spiritual life.

Personal Achievements:

Award winning High School Music Educator (25 years); Investments and Insurance (25 years); Fund raising for financially needy student’s College scholarships ($300,000 to date);

“The Frugal Philanthropist” founder of nonprofit to help high school students.

Mr. Whit McMahan

1310 Lila Drive Murfreesboro, TN 37128

[email protected] (615) 988-0107

http://www.abelincolnportrayals.com

Whit was born in Christian County, KY (county of Jefferson Davis birth) and has been interested in President Lincoln all his life, visiting his birthplace on several occasions as a child.

Whit offers a one-hour adult presentation, interspersed with period music, which features the life story of Mr. Lincoln. A children’s program is also available. Presentations are generally done in the Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky areas.

Whit has won first place in the annual “Look-a-like” contest in Lincoln’s hometown of Hodgenville, KY on three occasions and has portrayed President Lincoln in film, theater, and in a TV documentary. He is also a lifetime member of the Association of Abraham Lincoln Presenters.

Mr. Rick Miller

409 Leatherbark Dr. Cranberry Twp, PA 16066 [email protected] (724) 321-7085

Mr. James Mitchell

307 North 1st Street Hope, KS 67451 [email protected] (785) 512-0390

Can travel, present Abraham Lincoln and adapt to whatever the customer needs are.

Mr. Glenn Edward Murray, Esq.

295 Main Street, Room 484 Buffalo, NY 14203 [email protected] (716) 884-0139

He is a former US Army paratrooper, attorney, photographer, author, judge and law school professor, who has portrayed President Abraham Lincoln for students, festivals, historical societies, Civil War events and Bar Association events.

For historical reenactments, Attorney Murray portrayed the lawyer defending Leon Czolgosz (President William McKinley’s assassin in 1901) and portrayed the US Supreme Court Justice who presided over the trial of Susan B. Anthony, who was convicted of illegally voting in 1873.

Dr. Jack Olsen

61 Magnolia Street Casper, WY 82604 [email protected] (307) 277-7797

Dr. Jack Olsen of Casper Wyoming has done Abraham Lincoln presentations for about 28 years, primarily in schools and churches.  He portrays Mr. Lincoln as the man who didn’t give up – from failures in business and politics until the White House, he didn’t give up learning, his dreams, his humor or his beliefs even in the midst of sorrow.   He includes many stories from Mr. Lincoln’s childhood and adult life illustrating his determination.  He is a lifetime member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters.  Dr. Olsen is a retired pastor with a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois and is currently chairman of the board of Casper Christian Middle/High School which he helped start.

Mr. Gerald Payn

768 Greenwood Blvd. Wooster, OH 44691 [email protected] (330) 345-5547

Speaks in character on a large variety of topics re:  President Lincoln (at any age) and the War Between the States.  He is a full height Lincoln who began presenting in 1999 after being inspired by James Getty of Gettysburg, PA.  Payn is a life member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters.  He has been fascinated with his study of Lincoln and has a considerable collection of books, papers, and other memorabilia regarding Lincoln.  He has enjoyed visiting places related to Lincoln and the War. Payn considers it an honor and blessing to portray our greatest of presidents.

Mr. Gerald Pitts

134 Highland Dr. Greenwood, SC 29649-8957 [email protected]

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/GeraldYPitts

Mr. Robert Quinn 200 E. Columbia Danvers, IL 61732

Mr. Mark Steven Rehagen

1104 Swifts Hwy Jefferson City, MO 65109 [email protected] 573-680-2520

www.therailsplitter.net

Cast in the musical The Civil War as Abraham Lincoln in 2002, many commented that Mark looked “just like Lincoln,” so he felt inclined to continue to bring Abraham Lincoln to life, especially for students. Since that time, Mark has portrayed the Rail Splitter to countless grade school classes and fraternal organizations at Civil War reenactments, historical events, and civic events in the Midwest.

Mark treasures the times he can bring Abraham Lincoln alive for others, and has been a member of the ALP since 2007.

Mr Eric Richardson

1140 Starmount Court Bel Air, MD 21015 [email protected] (443) 253-5662

www.bookastar.com/EricRichardson

Notice a striking resemblance to a legendary Hollywood actor? It’s because Eric is a professional tribute artist (impersonator) to Gregory Peck. One of Mr. Peck’s favorite roles was portraying Mr. Lincoln in “The Blue & The Gray”. Eric has been presenting his “Mr. Lincoln” regularly in the Washington, DC area, and is a corporate favorite. (See his Lincoln auto commercial on his website)

Eric Richardson is represented by The Summit Tribute Group LLC , is a longtime member of SAG/AFTRA and Actors’ Equity , and is proud to be a Life Member of ALP.

Garry “Abe” Rissman

Times Square New York, NY 10036 [email protected]

AVAILABLE ALL YEAR ROUND FOR ALL HOLIDAYS!

BA in Communications from the University of Iowa;  2 year diploma from the Hamburg Design Academy in Germany.

Experienced photographer and videographer will include a high quality iPhone X video of the event on a tripod for no extra charge.

Experience as Lincoln in movies, TV shows plus had one of the leads as Lincoln in 3 plays at the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY.

I love teaching children plus I have endless questions for the audience with prizes; historical lectures are something I relish.

Availability for all kinds of historical lectures at schools, colleges and universities;

Available for all events, birthday parties, weddings, promotions, product endorsements, parades, political events, TV commercials, etc.

Mr. Vernon Risty

103 E Brittany Dr. Arlington Heights, IL 60004 [email protected] (847) 577-0304

www.theabelincoln.com

Mr. Danny Russel

3767 Christina Court Carmel, IN 46033 [email protected] (317) 899-1254

www.famoushoosiers.com

A seven-time grant recipient honored by the Indiana Arts Commission for outstanding theatrical achievement, Russel fully embodies Lincoln’s amazing journey from a log cabin to the White House.

Hilarity, heartbreak and humanity abound during those formative boyhood years in southern Indiana (age 7-21), his numerous business failures, years as a prairie lawyer, life with Mary and their sons, political aspirations, Civil War tragedy and triumph, brilliant speeches, and ultimate freedom for slaves. “Abraham Lincoln: Hoosier Hero” is a fascinating panoply of uproarious comedy, tearful reminiscence, political intrigue and always insightful commentary on the human condition.

Mr. Cortland Savage

P. O. Box 4272 Roswell, NM 88202 [email protected] (817)457-1953

Mr. Jim Sayre

Lawrenceburg, KY

Now after my 35th year of portraying Lincoln I have decided to retire. From a farm wagon stage in Hodgenville, Kentucky to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D C, from ocean to ocean, and border to border, and across the wide Pacific; I have had the honor of taking the president to some far away places with strange sounding names.

I wish to thank everyone that has made this possible.

Mr. Homer S. Sewell III

P.O. Box 13 Jasper, GA 30143 [email protected] (770)402-0917 (Cell); (706)692-3682 (Res/Ofc)

http://www.abeusa16.com

Since 1975 he has presented in ALL 50 states as of 2020, at 2,261 locations & been seen by two million people.

Even without his top hat & frock-tailed coat total strangers still call him ABE.

Homer is the author of a 346 page autobiography entitled “IMAGE IN THE MIRROR”.

Whether you want to have ABE help you with a school program for your students; speak to your church, Scouts, Lions, Rotary, Optimist, Kiwanis; TV spots; be there to help draw attention at your trade show; or, be the keynote speaker for your annual meeting, Homer & “ABE” can be there for you. HONESTLY!

Homer is a Life Member of the ALP.

Rev. Christopher Small

160 Roanoke Rd. Fletcher, NC 28732 [email protected] (423) 620-3604

http://www.thelincolnproject.com

Programs tailored to your needs:

Mr. Lincoln’s Civil War Overview

Mr. Lincoln & the American Dream

Mr. Lincoln & Emancipation

Mr. Lincoln & Learning

Mr. Lincoln’s Values

Mr. Lincoln’s Faith

Mr. Lincoln’s Family

Mr. Lincoln’s Poetry

Mr. Lincoln’s Speeches

Chris Small, M.A., first appeared as Abraham Lincoln in 1997 and joined the Association of Lincoln Presenters in 2000. Serving as a Seventh-day Adventist Pastor for almost six years, Chris is uniquely suited to give Lincoln Presentations to many organizations, especially for churches.

Chris recently served as an adjunct lecturer at Concordia (Ann Arbor) and Eastern Michigan Universities, with teaching specialties in Communication (Interpretation Performance Study) and Religion.

Mr. Bruce Spear

7003A East Girard Ave. Denver, CO 80224 [email protected] 757-348-5236

Mr. Daniel Storck

8512 Stable Drive Alexandria, VA 22308 [email protected] (703) 799-4639

Mr. Allen Taylor

16101 S. Hilltop Rd. Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 359-3759

Dr. Duke Thompson

Havre de Grace, MD (443) 243-7265 [email protected]

Abraham Lincoln is perhaps our most revered President.  He was a statesman, a father, a public servant, a husband. a music lover, an animal lover, and a man of high morals.  Dr. Duke Thompson is Lincoln.  He brings Lincoln to life in familiar and unfamiliar capacities from a short speech about the present day to a one-man show on any parts of his 56 year-long life.  His shows can depict the agony of the Civil War, Lincoln’s love of music and animals, or focus on your chosen topic.  He strolls among, and speaks with the audiences. Lincoln is truly with you!

Mr. Jacob Truax

Murfreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 545-7676 [email protected]

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/09/23/my-journey-to-lincoln/

I currently star in a one-man show, An Evening with Abraham Lincoln, featuring an overview of Lincoln’s life with a variety of jokes and anecdotes that Lincoln used to tell.  This one-hour show portrays Lincoln as a lighthearted storyteller bent on entertaining his public, ending with his two most famous speeches, the Second Inaugural Address and the Gettysburg Address.

Mr. Richard Veit

7860 Central Coloma, MI 49038 (269) 468-4479

Mr. Roger Vincent

61 Westgate Circle Santa Rosa, CA 95401 [email protected] (707) 539-5808; Cell (707) 495-7640

Mr. John Voehl

9572 Elk Mountain Circle Littleton, CO 80125 [email protected] (303) 932-0752

http://www.abelincolnalive.com/

In his first 22 years of Lincoln work, John Voehl has provided over 1,300 Lincoln presentations and appearances in 45-states, to become a nationally recognized Lincoln Historian and Presenter. John utilizes over 50 different motivational and historically accurate portrayals to make the person of Abraham Lincoln come alive. Frequently, audiences comment that they felt that they were in the presence of the real Abraham Lincoln.

John Voehl is a retired aerospace business professional, with a BA from UC Santa Barbara. He is a Life Member of ALP and other historical organizations, married with 4 adult children and 7 grandchildren

Mr. John Walther

111 Rust Rd. #107 Bloomington, IL 61701 [email protected] (309) 663-2620

John was raised in the Lincoln Hills of Southern Indiana and passed from a young to an old man in Central Illinois. Since being cast as Lincoln in “Lincoln’s Lost Speech, John has periodically presented Lincoln in various places such as schools, courthouses, museums, convention centers, rest stops, parks, stages, and parades  for various roles including formal and informal 1st and 3rd person presenter, after dinner speaker, judge, ribbon cutter, and meet and greeter.

Often tailored, these are some presentations.

“Why I love America.” Lincoln explains American ideals though his life story.

“You desire peace;”  Lincoln explains the Emancipation Proclamation and his handling of the war to supporters and critics.

“I love books.”  Lincoln’s early education and the power of books.

Mr. J.P. Wammack

Montrose, CA 91020 [email protected] (818) 481-5354

Speeches, stories, Civil War history, life of Lincoln. The remarkable story of Abraham Lincoln, who overcame poverty and little formal education, to lead our country through its worst struggle, is a story that deserves to be retold.

J.P. Wammack has been in the life insurance business for 28 years with Northwestern Mutual. He has a Degree in history from UCLA. He is a lifelong Civil War buff having read 100 books on the subject. He enjoys exploring Civil War battlefields and has been known to drive 1000 miles out of his way to do so.

In 2002 he began Lincoln impersonations following a 15 year tradition set by his father, H.M. Wammack.

Mr. Kevin Weinert

2367 El Monte Drive Oakley, CA 94561 [email protected] (925) 679-8624

http://themanwithtwohands.com/

Mr. Stan Wernz

266 Compton Ridge Drive Cincinnati, OH 45215 [email protected] (513) 761-6120

Stan, a life-member and ALP President (2005-2022), President Emeritus (2022), is recognized in street clothes for his ”Lincoln look-alike” features. When dressed in Lincoln attire, he fascinates listeners from pre-school to senior citizens while relating the life, thoughts and comments of our 16th President. Audiences of all ages are captivated by the humor and wide range of topics included. Presentations use Lincoln’s words, are designed for the specific audience, and conclude with questions and answers.

Stan appears in two documentaries: “Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom” (Best Documentary, Houston Film Festival 2006) and The Smithsonian’s “The Fighting Irish.”.

Mr. Lee Williams

62495 690th St Wiota, IA 50274 [email protected] (712) 774-5781

Mr. Candler Willis

2858 Green River Rd. Zirconia, NC 28790 [email protected] (828) 693-3164

Mr. David Wolfe

2309 Wintergreen Loop South Owensboro, KY 42301 [email protected] (270) 313-5596

Facebook David Wolfe II

Available all year around, willing to travel any where!

Contact Dave by phone or email for:

• Corporate meetings
• Civic events
• Historical events
• Business promotions
• Debates and panel discussions
• School and Library programs
• Lincoln: Kentucky never left me!
• Lincoln the Christian
• Life of Lincoln
• Lincoln Children’s program
• Lincoln Adult Program

2006 to 2010 Student at Brescia University, Owensboro, Kentucky.  Graduated with a history degree.

1990-1990 – Owensboro Community College, Owensboro, Kentucky.  Studied The Arts

1986-1990 –  Diploma, Apollo High School, Owensboro, Kentucky

Experience: 2007-Present –  Developed Haunts of Owensboro Ghost Walk Tour Company. Developed President Abraham Lincoln Persona

Lavega Clements History Award, 2009 Dean’s List, 2009 Brescia Student Services Outstanding Participant, 2009 Honorary Member of the Spurs 2012. Lifetime member of ALP.

Mr. Kevin Wood

605 Stockford Dr. Adrian, MI 49221-1401 [email protected] 517-920-4849 or (708) 979-3093

http://www.mrlincoln.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/MrLincolnKevinWood

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MrLincoln_KWood

I am available for engagements year-round.

My motto is “ Bringing history – and his story – to life! ”  I do portrayals for libraries, museums, schools, senior residences, churches, historical events, civic events, etc.  I offer 14 standard programs including “A New Birth of Freedom” (basic historical program), “Lincoln as Story-Teller”, “Lincoln and Thanksgiving”, “Lincoln on the Gettysburg Address”, “Lincoln the Lawyer”, “Lincoln on Immigration”, “Lincoln on Literature and the Theatre”, etc.  I am a “multi-lingual Lincoln”, offering complete presentations in Spanish and more limited presentations in French and German.  I also offer “virtual” programs via video conferencing (Zoom), live-streaming, and pre-recorded videos.  See my website for more information.

Mr. Stephen Wood

43 Centennial St. Claremont, NH 03743 [email protected] (603) 542-6454

http://his-story.atspace.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Telling-His-Story-and-Hers-156876327665058/

Steve Wood has been portraying Lincoln at schools, libraries, historical societies and community events since 1995.

His program, “A Visit With Abraham Lincoln,” includes stories of Lincoln’s 1860 trip to New York City where he delivered his Cooper Union Address, and to New Hampshire to visit his son Robert at Phillips Exeter Academy.

He will tailor his program to specific audiences, including addressing soldiers at Civil War reenactments, students from kindergarten through high school, and adult groups.

Send an email to be put on mailing list or check their Facebook page at Telling His-Story (and Hers) for events listings.

Mr. Howard Wright

6 Foxcroft Lane Canton, CT 06019 [email protected] (860) 693-2131

http://simplylincoln.com

I have been performing as Abraham Lincoln since 2005. Attired in authentic clothing, my delivery is finely tuned to give close approximation to how Lincoln sounded, and I only use verified source material for the programs.

I have performed for historical societies, schools, Civil War events, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center; please see my website for more details.

A Life Member of the ALP, I served as co-chair of the Connecticut Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. It was a high honor for me to participate in the commissioning events of the USS ILLINOIS submarine in 2016.

Mr. Thomas Wright . Oak Ridge, TN 37830 [email protected] (865) 482-1680; (865)621-2093

http://www.abelincolnoakridgetn.com

Portrayals of Abraham Lincoln

I have portrayed Abraham Lincoln since 2009.  I frequently appear with my wife Sue as Mary Lincoln.

Life member of the ALP; 2016 recipient of ALP Excellence Award.  Member of Knoxville Civil War Roundtable.

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‘Lincoln had something to say’: historians ponder lessons for the age of Trump

NPR host Steve Inskeep joins other authors of books on the 16th president at annual Ford’s Theatre symposium

A sked what Abraham Lincoln might have to say to Americans in 2024, an election year in a country as divided as at any time since the civil war Lincoln won, the NPR host Steve Inskeep said the 16th president would advise that a big part of “building a political majority is making alliances with people you believe to be wrong”.

“One of the things that drew me to the topic of Lincoln was the present and the dilemmas and difficulties of democracy right now,” Inskeep said on Saturday, appearing in connection with his book Differ We Must : How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America, at the 27th Annual Abraham Lincoln Institute Symposium , at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC.

“I did feel like Lincoln had something to say,” Inskeep said, “and I’ve tried to express it. And it has to do with dealing with differences in a fractured society. And it has to do with building a political majority, which is a skill that I think some of us perhaps have forgotten, or we’re being told to forget.

“And part of building a political majority is making alliances with people you believe to be wrong. And hopefully you don’t believe they’re wrong on everything. But maybe out of 10 things, you think they’re very wrong about three things and can find some way to agree on some of the other seven and move forward and at least agree fundamentally on the idea that we have a constitution, we have a republic, we have a democracy. We have a system to mediate our differences. We have institutions and we should uphold them.”

The 46th president, Joe Biden, has made Donald Trump’s threat to that constitution, republic and democracy a central plank of his re-election campaign.

Trump, the 45th president, refused to admit defeat in 2020, inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Congress in an attempt to stop certification of that election. Despite that – and while facing 88 criminal charges, multimillion-dollar civil penalties and attempts to keep him off the ballot by constitutional means – he stormed to a third successive presidential nomination by the party that still calls itself the party of Lincoln .

Three weeks short of the 159th anniversary of Lincoln’s death – he was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s on 14 April 1865, Good Friday, and died the following morning – Inskeep and other historians gathered in the very same theatre. James Swanson , author of Manhunt : The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, now the basis for an Apple TV drama , was among those in the stalls.

The event took place at the end of another tumultuous week in US politics, in which Trump railed against Democrats while struggling to pay a $454m bond in his New York civil fraud case; sought to have federal criminal charges over his election subversion dismissed; was accused by the White House of employing “unhinged antisemitic rhetoric”; called for the jailing of Liz Cheney, a conservative opponent; and stoked huge debate over what he meant when he predicted a “ bloodbath ” if Biden beat him again.

Appealing to the better angels of Americans on both sides of the partisan divide, Inskeep said Lincoln’s example, including his magnanimous approach to defeated Confederates after the civil war, might help voters decide not “to simply denounce, isolate or ostracise those we believe to be wrong.

“It is an approach to political difference that I think is a little bit out of fashion now, but it is fundamentally what Lincoln did. It is fundamentally the reason we decided the civil war” and thereby ended slavery.

Lincoln “understood that the north had the population, they had the economy, they had the advantages that become real in wartime, that eventually come to tell on the battlefield. And Lincoln had to keep enough people unified to have that political majority, and in order to have that majority win.

“It’s a central message and matter for our time.”

after newsletter promotion

Also appearing were Callie Hawkins, chief executive of President Lincoln’s Cottage , a national monument in Washington; Gordon Leidner, author of Abraham Lincoln and the Bible ; George Rable, author of Conflict of Command : George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, and the Politics of War; and Michael Zuckert, author of A Nation So Conceived : Abraham Lincoln and the Paradox of Democratic Sovereignty.

As moderator, Lucas Morel, professor of politics at Washington & Lee University in Virginia, returned to a persistent theme of audience questions: how can Americans use Lincoln’s example today.

Inskeep said: “Lincoln … understood that people would act in their self-interest but tried to harness that into something larger. And part of recognising that people have self-interest lay in trying to work out who that person was, which I feel is another thing we’re discouraged from doing.

“We’re encouraged to speak our truth, which is great, because there’s lots of truths, lots of experiences that were suppressed and ignored and less so now. But the next step is to put yourself in the shoes of the other person, to understand where they’re coming from. And an additional step for a politician, of course, is to appeal to them.”

Rable, meanwhile, said voters could learn from viewing Lincoln not as some perfect figure from the past, but as a politician and leader with faults like any other.

“Here you have a full-bodied human being” Rable said. “He has strengths, he has weaknesses. And I think [we should] look at leaders that way, rather than saying, ‘OK, this leader does this, I’m just going to dismiss him,’ or, ‘I’m going to believe everything that this leader says’.”

• Abraham Lincoln
• American civil war
• US politics
• Washington DC
• History books

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