Abraham Lincoln

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 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 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 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

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

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.