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By William F. Walsh Jan. 22, 2026 “I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that those men struggled for.” It was exceedingly rare for Abraham Lincoln to speak of his childhood. Yet, he was doing just that on Feb. 21, 1861, as he reflected on the Revolution’s Battle of Trenton before the members of the New Jersey Senate. Gen. George Washington, victor at the Battle of Trenton The president-elect was introducing him

David J. Kent Washington, DC Thursday, January 15, 2026 The Gettysburg Address is Abraham Lincoln's most famous speech. In 272 words delivered in slightly over two minutes, Lincoln set the tone for the remaining years of the war and steered us to a new birth of freedom . But in another sense, Lincoln made a major error. Most know the opening line: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to t

By David J. Kent Washington, D.C. Jan. 12, 2026 The Abraham Lincoln Institute, with co-sponsorship from the Lincoln Group of D.C., will present the annual ALI Symposium at Ford's Theatre on Saturday, March 21, 2026 . As I previewed before , the Lincoln Group proposed that ALI do a special program that honors Abraham Lincoln's commitment to the Declaration of Independence and the aspiration that "all men are created equal" to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration in 20

By Jeffrey Boutwell Columbia, MD. Jan. 10, 2026 In April 1859, Abraham Lincoln set forth his views on the importance of the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence in a little-known letter to a political meeting in Boston that would help propel him to the presidency.  Thomas Jefferson The occasion was that year’s Thomas Jefferson Birthday Dinner organized by the Massachusetts Republican party.  Chaired by George Boutwell, former Massachusetts governor and Presi

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Dec. 31, 2025 The dawning year of 2026 will bring the 250th anniversary -- the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence -- and amid all the celebrations it's important to remember the message of Abraham Lincoln, the Declaration's fiercest, most-steadfast advocate. Lincoln250.org Lincoln understood that the Declaration's "proposition that all men (all people in today's terms) are created equal" was not a statement of fact, but rather

By Bill Shepherd Dec. 5, 2025 Abraham Lincoln’s faith in the promise of the Declaration of Independence - that all people are created equal and that they should get opportunities to succeed in life - was shaped in good part by his often overlooked ancestral roots in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, These played a significant role in shaping his identity and values. The Lincoln Family Cemetery in Harrisonburg, Virginia. My recent trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia, included visits to

The Annual Abraham Lincoln Association will hold its banquet celebrating the 217th anniversary of the birth of our 16th President on Thursday, February 12, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. The evening’s keynote address will be delivered by Professor Allen Guelzo , one of the nation’s leading Lincoln scholars, speaking on “Walking in the Old Paths: Abraham Lincoln and the Inheritance of the Revolution.” His lecture will explore how Lincoln understood and carried forward the founding generat

By Wendy Swanson Washington, D.C. November 2025 At a time of division, Abraham Lincoln steadfastly focused on fulfilling the promise of the Founding Fathers to strive toward “a more perfect union.” Several weeks before traveling to Gettysburg, where Lincoln spoke of that “unfinished work,” he created a National Day of Thanksgiving, a step toward his goal of unification. Despite chaotic times, Lincoln remained firm in his mission to achieve Jefferson’s proposition “that all me

By Tom Peet Nov. 22, 2025 Here are suggested topics for classroom discussion, student essay projects or reports on Abraham Lincoln and the founding of the United States. Great ideas as students dig into the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. The list was complied by Tom Peet, a longtime Ohio high school history and government teacher. He is co-author of “Reading Lincoln: An Annotated Bibliography,” which offers capsule reviews of hundreds of books a

By David J. Kent Washington, DC Nov. 10, 2025 Abraham Lincoln made his way to Washington, D.C. by a roundabout rail route in February 1861. Among his many stops was the city of Philadelphia, where on George Washington’s birthday he raised the American flag at Independence Hall. Lincoln acknowledged the import of the spot where the Declaration of Independence was signed: “I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place where were collected together t

By David J. Kent Washington, DC Monday, November 3, 2025 Abraham Lincoln was many things in his life - farmer, laborer, shopkeeper, postmaster, surveyor, lawyer, politician - and wrestler! In fact, Lincoln was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. You could say that Lincoln wrestled with the great issues of his time - promoting the idea that the Declaration of Independence's "all men are created equal" applied to ALL men (and women), grappling with the "peculiar

By Joshua Claybourn Oct. 30, 2025 On Nov. 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln stood on a Pennsylvania battlefield still scarred by war. Only four months earlier, Union forces had turned back Robert E. Lee’s army in the three-day clash at Gettysburg. Now the ground was consecrated as a cemetery, and Lincoln was asked to offer “a few appropriate remarks.”  What he delivered in less than three minutes became one of the most enduring speeches in American history. Rather than dwell on milit

By Joshua Claybourn Oct. 22, 2025 When Abraham Lincoln spoke of a “new birth of freedom,” he was naming the moral fault line of the Civil War. The Declaration of Independence, with its claim that “all men are created equal,” was, for him, the nation’s moral compass.   The Founders planted that ideal knowing it was incomplete. They compromised with slavery to create the Union, but they did so believing that freedom, once declared, would grow. The contradiction between the Decl

By Ed Epstein Washington D.C. Oct. 14, 2025 Big-time sports betting didn’t exist in Abraham Lincoln’s time – the mid-19 th  century – yet he made a “proposition” wager that some day America would live up to its founding promise in the Declaration of Independence that all people are created equal. A proposition bet in today’s booming market for legal sports betting covers some long-shot, idiosyncratic wagers – such as whether a football, basketball, hockey or soccer game will

In his long political career, Abraham Lincoln had to deal with groups he felt were out to betray his beloved Declaration of Independence

One of America's great 20th-century philanthropists, whose long life of giving was inspired by Abraham Lincoln's vision of equality and opportunity for all, is the subject of a new film documentary that has been nominated for an Emmy award.

Lincoln250.org is all about Abraham Lincoln's views on the founding of our nation some 250 years ago, and the impact those views had during the tumultuous years of his presidency during the Civil War and continue to have today.

Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer and a politician, not a historian. But as the 16th president, he saw the challenges of the Civil War against a backdrop of history, and particularly the history of the American Revolution.