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Abraham Lincoln

Listening to Lincoln on Presidents’ Day

Gillis Harp   |  February 17, 2025

“In these early days of Trump’s second term, one recognizes the catastrophic consequences of unpunished lawlessness.”

The Author’s Corner with Richard Carwardine

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 30, 2025

Richard Carwardine is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. This interview is based on his new book, Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union (Knopf, […]

What Franklin Graham could have learned from Abraham Lincoln today

John Fea   |  January 20, 2025

During the first Trump term, Franklin Graham was one of the many “court evangelicals,” the phrase I coined to describe the evangelical Protestants who frequented the White House—Trump’s “court”—to flatter him, get photo-ops with him, and influence him on public […]

What the Emancipation Proclamation did

John Fea   |  January 2, 2025

The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863. It was an executive order stating that all enslaved people in the rebellious states were free and would be recognized and maintained as such by the Union government. Here is […]

The Author’s Corner with Mark A. Neels

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 20, 2024

Mark A. Neels is a History Teacher at Chaminade College Preparatory School. This interview is based on his new book, Lincoln’s Conservative Advisor: Attorney General Edward Bates (Southern Illinois University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write Lincoln’s Conservative Advisor? […]

The Author’s Corner with Frank W. Garmon Jr.

Rachel Petroziello   |  August 26, 2024

Frank W. Garmon Jr. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership and American Studies at Christopher Newport University. This interview is based on his new book, A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era […]

“I am confident that Lincoln did not order Jefferson Davis’ assassination. The claim is phony: ‘preposterous’ is le mot juste!”

John Fea   |  June 3, 2024

Did Abraham Lincoln order the assassination of Confederate president Jefferson Davis? The quote in the title comes from Oxford University Lincoln scholar Richard Carwardine. It appears at the end of Tom Mackaman‘s review of two recent attempts by Apple TV […]

“At the end of the day, who we are is who we were”

John Fea   |  May 26, 2024

Here is a short snippet of historian Allen Guelzo’s interview with Jonah Goldberg on The Remnant Podcast: Watch the entire interview here.

Ann Sprigg’s boarding house and the end of slavery

John Fea   |  August 1, 2023

Here is historian Bennett Parten at Zocalo Public Square: In the early 1840s, where the steps of the Library of Congress now stand, a group of American abolitionists gathered in a modest boardinghouse to plot the destruction of slavery. The […]

Lincoln’s model for reflective, humble patriotism

Daniel K. Williams   |  July 3, 2023

Today—the day before the Fourth of July—is the 160th anniversary of the end of the largest and most significant battle of the Civil War. There were more casualties in the Battle of Gettysburg than in any other battle of the […]

Abortion, slavery, and Lincoln

Jon D. Schaff   |  May 4, 2023

When Donald Trump recently came out against any kind of federal ban on abortion he was on the receiving end of ire from various pro-life groups. Most notably the Susan B. Anthony List said a position like Trump’s is a […]

Abraham Lincoln and democracy

John Fea   |  April 24, 2023

Here is Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo at National Affairs: Lincoln’s “idea of democracy” only establishes what democracy is not, or at least what it cannot include. He never offered a more thoroughgoing definition of what democracy is. But it’s not […]

The Author’s Corner with W. Dale Weeks

Rachel Petroziello   |  February 23, 2023

W. Dale Weeks is Instructor of History at Blinn College. This interview is based on his new book, Cherokee Civil Warrior: Chief John Ross and the Struggle for Tribal Sovereignty (University of Oklahoma Press, 2023). JF: What led you to […]

Abraham Lincoln: Working class hero?

John Fea   |  February 21, 2023

Everyone wants to claim Lincoln. Even socialists. Here is University of Arkansas history professor Matthew Stanley at Jacobin: Would Lincoln’s sincere hatred of the Slave Power have translated after the war to a critique of the Money Power and other […]

Historian Jeremi Suri on Abraham Lincoln’s funeral

John Fea   |  October 25, 2022

Here is an excerpt of Suri’s new book Civil War By Other Means. It is published at Lit Hub: The reverence for the slain president grew in coming days. On April 19, a horse-drawn hearse carried Lincoln’s body to the […]

The Author’s Corner with Paul Escott

Rachel Petroziello   |  June 8, 2022

Paul Escott is Reynolds Professor of History Emeritus at Wake Forest University. This interview is based on his new book, Black Suffrage: Lincoln’s Last Goal (University of Virginia Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Black Suffrage? PE: My two […]

Thursday night with the North Jersey Civil War Roundtable

John Fea   |  May 24, 2022

Looking forward to this ZOOM talk. Request link by Tuesday, May 24 at NJCivilWarRT@aol.com This is a free event and open to the public. SPEAKER AND PROGRAM “BOTH PRAYED TO THE SAME GOD” PRESENTED BY PROF. JOHN FEA The Civil War […]

“We’d prefer you talk about the good work Lincoln did, not the fact that so much work remains to be done”

John Fea   |  March 30, 2022

Robert Russa Moton was the second principal of Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute and the only African American invited to speak at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. But he was almost cut from the program because organizers […]

The Author’s Corner with Jonathan White

Rachel Petroziello   |  February 3, 2022

Jonathan White is Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of the Pre-Law Program at Christopher Newport University. This interview is based on his new book, A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House (Rowman […]

No Virginia, Frederick Douglass did not debate Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas debates

John Fea   |  January 13, 2022

A delegate of the General Assembly of Virginia wants better citizenship education for the students of the Commonwealth. Earlier this week Wren Williams proposed a bill (House Bill 781) to amend the Code of Virginia to strengthen “student citizenship skills.” […]

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