The process for rolling out my new book, Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours continues. I previously shared an article that was published in the For the People newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association based in Springfield, Illinois. Today I’m sharing my article published in the Lincoln Forum Bulletin, which comes out twice a year. This one revisited a letter Lincoln wrote to his wife from New Hampshire in 1860, in which he complained about how he had been “unable to escape this toil” of giving a dozen speeches over two weeks in New England. Here is the article as published (continues on the bottom of the second page):
This is one of several articles I have written that have already or will soon appear in various media outlets. I continue to write for other venues that will appear at some point in 2026. Meanwhile, I continue to schedule presentations and interviews for around the time the book comes out in March 2026, so feel free to contact me if you would like me to speak to your organization, either in person or via Zoom.
Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours
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David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.
His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Abraham Lincoln became nationally famous in large part because of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the series of joint political debates between himself and incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. Lincoln lost that senate race to Douglas, but it positioned him as a potential presidential candidate. The following spring, Lincoln was invited along with other likely presidential contenders to attend an April 1859 dinner in Boston celebrating Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. That may have been a recognition of his minor celebrity status following the debates, but later that year, business magnate and influencer Jesse Fell coaxed Lincoln into providing an autobiographical sketch that was expanded and widely distributed across the country. In addition to enough viability to garner an invitation to give the Cooper Union speech, several of his New England hosts introduced him as presidential or vice-presidential material.
