All Posts Tagged With: "Abraham Lincoln"
Doc of the Day: Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech
On June 16, 1858, the Republican Party of Illinois convened at Springfield to nominate its candidate for the U.S. Senate. Taking a first step toward the popular election of U.S. senators, the convention bypassed the state legislature and unanimously nominated Abraham Lincoln as its candidate. Anticipating his nomination, Lincoln had been preparing his acceptance speech [...]
16Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Homestead Act
On May 20, 1862, Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. president from the prairie state of Illinois, signed the Homestead Act into law. He enacted one of the most liberal land laws in history, a policy that theoretically gave free land to actual settlers. The act granted adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land, [...]
20May2009 | mdblogger | 1 comment | Continued
Doc of the Day: Jefferson Davis's inaugural address to the Confederacy
On February 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis delivered his inaugural address as president of the newly formed Confederate States of America. In early 1861 representatives of the states seceding from the Union elected Davis as president of their provisional government. His selection as president of the Confederate States of America required that he deliver an inaugural [...]
18Feb2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
In the News: Barack Obama's speech at Lincoln dinner
[Editor's note: Below is a transcript of President Barack Obama's speech at a dinner in Springfield, Illinois, on February 12, 2009, honoring Abraham Lincoln.]
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much. Well, it is wonderful to be back in Springfield, and I see so many familiar faces — to Mr. Hart, to Marilyn, to my Secretary of [...]
Spotlight: Abraham Lincoln
By almost every standard, Abraham Lincoln is rated as America’s greatest president. This recognition stems from five factors. First, Lincoln presided, with ultimate success, over the direst crisis in American history. Had he been less skilled or less determined, the Civil War might very well have ended in the permanent division of the nation. Second, [...]
12Feb2009 | mdblogger | 1 comment | Continued
Top 5 Inaugural Addresses: No. 1
Editor’s note: This week we are counting down the top five inaugural addresses in U.S. history. At number one is Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. Below, the historian Christine Dee of Fitchburg State College explains the importance of Lincoln’s address. Dee’s complete analysis of the document can be downloaded at MilestoneDocuments.com or Amazon.com.
As one of [...]
Doc of the Day: Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. The proclamation freed all slaves in the states that constituted the Confederacy. The document emphasized that this action was a “war measure,” taken, in part, to protect the slaves who were being offered refuge in Union forts, garrisons, and vessels. The proclamation was also offered as [...]
2Jan2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Barry Alfonso on the evolution of political oratory
With the inaugural address of the next president about to be delivered, I can’t help but reflect upon political oratory in general and the old fashioned kind in particular. I don’t mean the sort of folksy speeches Ronald Reagan used to give or even the reassuring talks Franklin D. Roosevelt soothed Depression-era America with. I [...]
29Dec2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Thirteenth Amendment
On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted when three-fourths of the states ratified it. The amendment legally ended slavery in the United States. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, declaring slaves in areas in rebellion against the government to be freed by executive decree. Afterward, [...]
6Dec2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a short speech (lasting no more than two minutes) at the commemoration of a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where more than fifty-one thousand Union and Confederate soldiers had died in a battle lasting three days, from July 1 to 3, 1863. This historic battle ended General Robert [...]
19Nov2008 | mdblogger | 2 comments | Continued