Abraham Lincoln

Does Lincoln Hold the Key to the Debt Ceiling Crisis?

by Roger Lowenstein

Issuing "greenback" paper currency backed by the government's credit instead of gold was seen as a radical move in 1862, but Lincoln and Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase recognized the paramount importance of safeguarding the nation's credit and did it anyway. 

Was the Civil War Inevitable?

by David W. Blight

As a growing number of Americans entertain the idea that dissolving the nation might be better than holding its incompatible parts together, it's worth revisiting the series of decisions that led to the Civil War, and to ask whether the nation has, or will, experience the equivalent of the Dred Scott decision. 

Now More than Ever, America Must Commit to Ensure the Transition of Presidential Power

by David Marchick and Valerie Smith Boyd

The latest evidence presented by the January 6 Commission underscore the urgent need for all parties to renew the commitment the core principle of an orderly transition of power from one elected president to another.

Lincoln Would have Had an Answer for the "Originalists"

by Richard Striner

The 16th President looked to the constitutional crises of his time and asked whether the document was created to serve the people or the other way around. Today he might ask the same of the Supreme Court. 

The Democrats, Not the "Party of Lincoln," are the Best Hope to Protect Abe's Legacy

by Eli Merritt

Abraham Lincoln went to Washington as president-elect animated by the commitments to justice and liberty defined in the first Republican Party convention. If the Republicans won't honor these commitments, the Democrats must do it. 

The Dangerous Misunderstanding of America's History of Mob Action

by Stefan Lund

Contrary to the protestations of January 6th apologists, mob action in America has usually worked to suppress, rather than defend, democracy.

"Oh, We Knowed What Was Goin’ On": The Myths (and Lies) of Juneteenth

by Clyde W. Ford

After the myths of Juneteenth are stripped away, the day symbolizes the incompleteness of the promise of emancipation. 

How Lincoln and Douglass Joined Forces for Freedom

by Jonathan W. White

Lincoln's discussions with Frederick Douglass should make clear the difference between the president's public statements and his inner convictions on emancipation. 

Spielberg was the Director Lincoln Deserved

The director, with writer Tony Kushner and star Daniel Day-Lewis, nailed the idea of Lincoln as an imperfect leader nevertheless "fitted to the times we were born into," in a film that holds up after ten years.

Look to Lincoln's Interactions with Black Americans to Understand His Racial Attitudes

by Michael Burlingame

As Lincoln's personal racial views have come under scrutiny, a biographer says that the prominent and ordinary Black Americans the 16th president dealt with didn't have the doubts today's activists do about where Lincoln stood. 

The Lincoln Family and Pennyroyal: Re-Evaluating Medicines in the Archive and Beyond

by Emma Verstraete

An examination of Abraham Lincoln's family purchases of medicinal herbs highlights the need to use the lens of oral history and folk knowledge to interpret sources. 

April 6, 2021: On the Republican Party

by Heather Cox Richardson

Since the time of Lincoln, the Republican Party has been part of a bipartisan understanding that expanding the nation's infrastructure – meaning investing in all sorts of supports to economic and social activity – has been a boon to prosperity. That commitment is fraying today. 

The Problem With CNN’s Lincoln Documentary

by Kevin M. Levin

In a brief review, history educator and civil war scholar Kevin M. Levin says CNN's latest Lincoln documentary doesn't use the knowledge of a great roster of historians to full advantage. 

Take Down Chicago’s Lincoln Statues? It’s Iconoclasm Gone Mad

by Sidney Blumenthal and Harold Holzer

Two biographers of Lincoln question the Chicago Monuments Project, which has placed famous statues of the 16th president on a list of public memorials subject to possible removal.

Lincoln and the Lesson of Leading From Behind

by Michael J. Gerhardt

Joe Biden's inaugural address signals his willingness to follow Abraham Lincoln in "leading from behind" by listening and lifting the voices of others. 

Politicians Quote Abraham Lincoln a Lot. Historians Say They Don't Always Do His Words Justice

by Olivia B. Waxman

Kate Masur, Eric Foner, Manisha Sinha, Nina Silber and Thavolia Glymph describe the selective and deceptive quotings of Lincoln that have sprung up in this political climate and suggest some futher reading. 

What Lincoln Understood About Unity

by Harold Holzer

"The fact is, even the most eloquent calls for harmony seldom repair a house divided — not without the accompaniment of painful but unavoidable choices about national policy and purpose."

"Hands Off Until He Was Safe Over": David Reynolds Urges Biden to Look to Lincoln

by James Thornton Harris

Historian David S. Reynolds recently published Abe: Abraham Lincoln and his Times, a cultural biography that shows how the 16th president was shaped by the many social currents swirling in the young United States.

Biden Isn't the First President to Have to Change Tracks en Route to Inauguration

by Jeff Rogg

The threat of violence forced Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel from Wilmington to Washington by Amtrak, as he famously did during his Senate years. The decision recalls Lincoln's efforts to avoid the (possibly apocryphal) Baltimore Plot. 

Review: Was the Constitution a Pro-Slavery Document?

by Gordon S. Wood

Gordon Wood says James Oakes's new book examines the dialectical relationship between 19th century interpretations of the Constitution as a pro-slavery and anti-slavery document and argues that that debate steered Lincoln toward a commitment to racial equality as inextricable from abolition.