Category: Abraham Lincoln

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Abraham Lincoln in Chicago

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In 1860 the city of Chicago hosted the Republican National Convention nominating Abraham Lincoln for President. But Lincoln’s presence is pervasive throughout the city today. Here are a few examples.

The Wigwam where Lincoln was nominated was a temporary structure, long since torn down to make room for skyscrapers and the “L” train overpasses. But recently they installed a marker stone with plaque at the location.

Wigwam marker Chicago

A seated Lincoln as “Head of State” graces Grant Park, not far from the Buckingham Fountain. Designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, this statue is “intended by the artist to evoke the loneliness and burden of command felt by Lincoln during his presidency.” It sits on a pedestal and a 150-foot wide exedra designed by famed architect Stanford White.

Abraham Lincoln Chicago

Another Saint-Gaudens design known by most as the “Standing Lincoln” (officially, “Lincoln: The Man”) can be found further up the lake in Lincoln Park. The sculpture shows a contemplating Lincoln, rising from a chair to give a speech. Copies of this statue stand in London’s Parliament Square and Mexico City’s Parque Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln Chicago

A lesser known statue is in Garfield Park, a short “L” ride west of downtown. Sculpted by Charles J. Mulligan, “Lincoln the Railsplitter” depicts a younger Lincoln, axe in hand, taking a break after splitting rails for fences on the farm.

Abraham Lincoln Chicago

These are the main statues of Lincoln in the windy city, but he appears in many other places as well. That’s him dominating the side of a building down the street from the Chicago History Museum. Inside the Museum itself you can find the actual bed that Lincoln died in after being carried across the street from Ford’s Theatre into the Petersen House in Washington, D.C. At the Art Institute of Chicago I also found miniature versions of two sculptures by Daniel Chester French. One was the familiar seated Lincoln known to all visitors of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The other is a lesser known standing Lincoln statue, the original of which can be found in Lincoln, Nebraska. The newest Lincoln in Chicago is a huge bust located in the lobby of the Palmer Hotel.

Even that wasn’t the last of the Lincoln connections. While in Chicago I also visited an obscure area called Canal Origins Park. Here was the beginnings of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, an internal improvement project that Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in creating, and which helped grow Chicago from a tiny lakeside village to the dominant powerhouse city it is today. The park and its bas-relief sculptures are, sadly, poorly maintained.

Canal Origins Park Chicago

I ran out of time before I could visit another statue of a young Lincoln located about an hour north of town, so perhaps I’ll be visiting Chicago again soon. For now, there are more Chasing Abraham Lincoln plans in the works. Stay tuned.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Chasing Lincoln’s Wigwam

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Wigwam_(Chicago)I’m currently chasing Abraham Lincoln’s wigwam, the name given to the building in which Lincoln received the Republican nomination for President in 1860. Here’s the backstory:

Lincoln’s preparation for the Republican National Convention actually began in the fall of 1859, with old friend Norman Judd serving on the committee to decide when and where to have the assembly. Each of the main contenders for the nomination wanted a site that best benefitted him: New York’s William Seward wanted New York City, Ohioan Salmon P. Chase wanted Cleveland, and Missouri’s Edward Bates wanted St. Louis. Judd suggested Chicago. After all, he explained, there was no prominent candidate from Illinois, so Chicago would be a neutral site. The committee agreed to have the convention in Chicago, demonstrating how little they considered Lincoln a viable candidate.

There was one problem: Chicago did not have a building big enough to handle all the delegates, so the national committee allocated funds for building a suitable temporary space. In a credit to engineering, the hastily erected convention hall—nicknamed the Wigwam—provided seating space for more than 10,000 delegates and observers, all with good views of the speaker’s platform and excellent acoustics.

As was the custom, Lincoln stayed at home in Springfield while David Davis and a cadre of others who knew Lincoln from the Eighth Judicial Circuit took the train to Chicago. Their strategy was to stop the default support for William Seward, then line up around 100 delegates willing to vote for Lincoln on the first ballot, make sure he gained votes on the second ballot, and win the nomination on the third ballot. For two days before the voting began, Davis and his colleagues talked with delegations from Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts to encourage them to fall to Lincoln if their preferred candidate failed to get enough support. Lincoln’s team was coached to talk about Lincoln’s life, character, and great ability. They were instructed to always commend Seward in the highest terms, but point out that he would have difficulty winning the swing states. In stark contrast, Thurlow Weed and other Seward men put on airs of inevitability and put off delegates by telling everyone Lincoln was “greatly the inferior.”

In a letter to Samuel Galloway, Lincoln instructed his campaign committee to consider:

My name is new in the field; and I suppose I am not the first choice of a very great many. Our policy, then, is to give no offence to others—leave them in a mood to come to us, if they shall be compelled to give up their first love.

The strategy worked. As expected, Seward received 173.5 votes on the first ballot. Lincoln surprised many by receiving 102, while Cameron, Chase, and Bates attracting only around 50 apiece. On the second ballot, Seward picked up a few votes to 184.5 while Lincoln surged up to 181 as he siphoned votes from the others. After the third ballot Lincoln took the lead with 231.5 out of the 233 needed, with Seward decreasing slightly to 180 and the others falling completely out of contention. Seeing how close Lincoln was, the Ohio delegation switched four votes to give Lincoln enough for the win, further supplemented by a huge wave of changed votes to total 364. Abraham Lincoln was the Republican nominee for President. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was selected by the delegations as Lincoln’s running mate.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. I’ll soon be in Chicago seeking the new stone and plaques marking the location of the Wigwam.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Lincoln Explains to Conkling Why the Emancipation Proclamation Was Necessary

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Emancipation ProclamationOn August 26, 1863, Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to James C. Conkling, his friend and political colleague in Springfield, explaining why the Emancipation Proclamation was necessary. In it he reveals the thought processes he went through to reach his decision. It was a much longer process than most people understood.

In fact, by the early spring of 1862, Lincoln had privately decided to issue an emancipation order. He kept this decision to himself for many months while secretly drafting his arguments. Meanwhile, he publicly voiced apprehension about such a decision, suggesting that turning the rationale of the war from maintaining the Union to freeing the slaves would cause significant loss of northern support, in addition to creating potentially disastrous implications in the border states.

In April 1862, at Lincoln’s urging, Congress emancipated slaves in the District of Columbia and compensated their owners. That June, Lincoln signed a bill prohibiting slavery in all current and future U.S. territories. Most of these steps went largely unnoticed to anyone not directly affected, but they helped move public sentiment toward freedom. Unbeknownst to anyone, Lincoln was preparing a draft of the now-famous document as he shuttled between the Soldier’s Home where he spent his summers and the telegraph office of the War Department. After some surreptitious lobbying of public opinion over the summer, Lincoln finally released his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Written in dry, legal language, the proclamation stipulates that on:

…the first day of January [1863], all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…

The initial reaction was as Lincoln expected. Many of the more radical Republicans were ecstatic, while Democrats and other “peace at all costs” proponents saw it as an unnecessarily extreme act. Many voters agreed; Republicans lost twenty-eight seats in the House of Representatives that November. As Lincoln feared, many northerners were vehemently opposed to a civil war to free the slaves as opposed to preserve the Union. Despite these losses, Lincoln stood by his decision and signed the final Proclamation on January 1, 1863.

Nearly a year later there was still grumbling in the North about the emancipation order. In August 1863, James Conkling invited Lincoln out to Illinois to explain to supporters why he proclaimed slaves free, some questioning whether it was right to do so. Many were worried that the public would not support the idea of fighting for “negro freedom.”

In his reply letter, Lincoln says his wartime duties precluded travel to Illinois, but explained to Conkling why he believed the Emancipation Proclamation was right. He noted their concerns, but reminded them that many African-Americans, both former slave and freemen, had joined the Union army and navy. He also suggested that Union forces and the public sentiment should continue fight to save the Union irrespective of their views on freeing the enslaved population.

You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively to save the Union. I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time, then, for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes.

Near the end of his letter he again reminded white Northerners that the emancipation of enslaved people and the saving of the Union were intertwined, that one assured the other. He also reminded them that all men, black and white, had made sacrifices to maintain the Union, as well as have a Union worth maintaining. Victory was in sight.

Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost. And then, there will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.

As with his earlier letter to Horace Greeley, Lincoln intended and knew that his letter to Conkling would be reprinted in the nation’s newspapers, thus ensure wide distribution of his policy explanation. This was one mechanism by which Lincoln both heeded public sentiment and helped influence it. [He also had John Hay and John Nicolay ghostwriting editorials, but that’s a topic for another post.]

Lincoln wasn’t finished, of course. He understood that the Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure but a more permanent solution was necessary once hostilities ended. Lincoln then set on both winning the war and pushing for what became the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, banning slavery and making all men and women “thenceforward, and forever free.”

[Adapted in part and expanded from my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln’s Introduction to Slavery

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Lincoln and slaveryAbraham Lincoln didn’t see much slavery as a small child growing up in northern Kentucky, or through his formative years in Indiana. But he did get an introduction of sorts.

First, the church that his family belonged to in Kentucky began splitting off into northern (anti-slavery) and southern (pro-slavery) factions. Lincoln’s father Thomas followed the anti-slavery group and then moved into the free state of Indiana. When he was nineteen years old Lincoln made his first of two flatboat trips down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where he encountered his first slave markets and was attacked by escaping slaves. But largely he had little contact with slavery until adulthood.

While still living in New Salem, Lincoln was elected to the first of four terms in the Illinois state legislature. Most of his time was focused on economic issues such as internal improvements but the slavery issue did play one important role. As I wrote in my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. 

Although the Illinois constitution banned slavery, it did have highly restrictive “black laws” that effectively limited the ability of free blacks to live and work in the state. At the same time, abolitionists who wanted a nationwide ban on slavery were gaining strength and influence. This led pro-slavery forces to push for anti-abolition resolutions. While Lincoln abhorred slavery—he later said, “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong”—he also felt the abolitionists were doing more harm than good. When the Illinois legislature passed an anti-abolitionist resolution, Lincoln was one of only six house members to vote against it. To clarify this seemingly counterintuitive position, he later wrote a protest, co-signed by Dan Stone, one of the Long Nine who was not seeking reelection. In the protest, the two men made clear they believed:

… that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy; but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate its evils.

And further, he said they believed:

… that the Congress of the United States has no power, under the constitution, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different States.

Lincoln wanted everyone to understand he was anti-slavery, but also felt bound by the Constitutional restrictions on taking action against the “peculiar institution.” These were fairly radical thoughts for a young western legislator, and would set the stage for Lincoln to become a national leader on the issue of slavery.

Lincoln knew that slavery was tacitly acknowledged in the Constitution by its “three-fifths rule” and “fugitive slave clause.” He also knew that the framers of the Constitution had believed slavery would eventually go away. They took steps to help that process by passing the Northwest Ordinance (banning slavery in territories that became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin) and, as soon as possible, banning the international slave trade. For most of his early career, Lincoln also believed that slavery would eventually disappear (“founded on injustice and bad policy”). Unfortunately, the invention of the cotton gin and vast expansion of the U.S. territories through the Louisiana Purchase and Mexican War had the opposite effect. Rather than dying away, slavery was threatening to expand into all the western territories and even the free northern states.

Something had to be done. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, pushed through Congress by Lincoln’s rival Stephen A. Douglas, “aroused him as he never had been before.” It was time for Lincoln to get back into politics.

[Adapted and expanded from my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Abraham Lincoln and the McCormick Reaper

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One of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous cases is one in which he never actually tried. On my second Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour I made an unplanned stop at the McCormick Farm, now part of the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

As populations grew the need for improved crop yields increased, and the mechanical reaper made that possible. Cyrus McCormick had invented a reaper that became the gold standard and stimulated others to “borrow” his ideas. McCormick sued rival John Manny for patent infringement, accusing him of stealing the McCormick reaper design. Manny’s lawyers called in Lincoln because of his jury skills and his local presence in Illinois, but then the case was transferred to the district court in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lincoln spent considerable time preparing for the case and writing a technical brief, but when he arrived in Cincinnati he was shocked to learn that an esteemed Ohio lawyer, Edwin Stanton, had been hired and his own services were no longer needed. Worse, Stanton treated Lincoln poorly, writing him off as a hick western lawyer of little value. While angry at being tossed out of what he thought was his case, Lincoln turned it into an educational experience, watching the trial and learning a great deal about how more classically educated eastern lawyers worked a case.

The era of farm mechanization had begun, and Lincoln the President later relied on his experience to push for and begin the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enhance the use of science in farming. McCormick’s reaper eventually led to the modern combine harvester; his company eventually merged with others to form International Harvester.

The McCormick Farm is a well preserved set of eight original buildings, including a grist mill, blacksmith shop, slave quarters, carriage house, manor house, smoke house, schoolroom, and housekeeper’s quarters. The original ice house was torn down in the 1960s. Outside the grist mill a wooden water wheel creaked eerily as it continued to turn after all these years. Inside, the mostly wood gear mechanisms showed how the grain was ground into meal. There are two sets of mill apparatuses: one solely for corn, the other for wheat and other grains. Grain is fed from a hopper in the upper level and ground at mid level while the main drive shaft and gears take up most of the lower level.

Another main building had the wood shops in the lower section and a museum in the upper section. Here there were many models of different McCormick reapers, a full-size original reaper, and tons of information about the history of the farm and the inventor. On the wall hung an old scythe and cradle, hand tools used to mow and reap crops before invention of the reaper. While onsite I also checked out the small blacksmith shop and water well.

Before leaving I left my name and website address in the guest book. Shortly after my return home I received an email from Amanda Kirby, an assistant at the Research and Extension Center, thanking me for my visit and providing some additional information and resources for the book I’m researching. All along my Chasing Abraham Lincoln road trip routes I’ve met many hugely interesting and helpful people, from local librarians to small museum curators to volunteers at courthouses. The tours have been a great way to study all things Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Upcoming Abraham Lincoln Talks in Washington, DC

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David J Kent 2019This has been a very busy summer in Lincoln world. For me personally I have two upcoming presentations in Washington, D.C., including keynoting a major annual event at Fort Stevens. And both are free (so come on down).

The Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am a Vice President, suspends our monthly dinner meetings and author lectures for June, July, and August. That doesn’t mean we’re not active. In early June we held our annual guided tour, this year at Manassas Battlefield Park. Our monthly Lincoln book study group continues to meet every month except August. And members and officers are busy preparing for future events, publishing the newsletter, reviewing books, and lining up speakers for our fall and spring dinner meetings. [See the Lincoln Group website for the great slate of speakers we have scheduled.]

Lincoln’s Nomination: The next summer event arrives in about ten days from this post. I will join Lincoln Group President John O’Brien and Lincoln Group Recording Secretary Ed Epstein in a special mini-symposium at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (“Lincoln’s Church”) in downtown Washington DC. The event takes place Saturday, August 3rd from 10 am to 12 noon. Even better – it’s FREE! The focus will be “Lincoln’s Campaign for the Presidential Nomination” and John, Ed, and I will delve into Lincoln’s renewed political zeal after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and his ensuing path to the surprise Republican nomination. We will also relate it to the eerie parallels to today’s political climate. It’s a program not to be missed. More information on the Lincoln Group website.

Lincoln-Thomas Day Keynote: I’m happy to announce that I will give the keynote address at the annual Lincoln-Thomas Day event to be held Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 12 noon to 2 pm at Fort Stevens, Washington, D.C. The event jointly honors Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862 and Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, the free African-American owner of the land that became Fort Stevens (where Lincoln was chastised with “Get down you fool” as he stood in enemy fire on the Fort’s wall). This event is also free to public so please come on down and support me, the National Park Service, and the Military Road School Preservation Trust. More info soon as the organization updates their website.

Beyond that I’m already scheduled to give a talk at a private club in D.C. next April and will be at the annual Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg in November. The Lincoln Group of DC has already scheduled speakers throughout the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, so check out the Lincoln Group of DC website for more information and join us.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Lincoln’s Rocking Chair – The Ford Museum and Greenfield Village

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Abraham Lincoln rocking chairMy Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour took me to Dearborn, Michigan to see the chair. “The Chair.” The rocking chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in the moment he was assassinated. The chair is in the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, which along with its outdoor venue, Greenfield Village, is a treasure trove for Abraham Lincoln aficionados.

After spending the previous day in the bowels of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Emily Rapoza helped me research their incredible Lincoln collection, I drove from Fort Wayne up to Dearborn to see the original rocking chair. After it had languished for decades in storage at the Smithsonian Institution, the aging widow of Ford’s Theatre co-owner Harry Ford reclaimed it in 1929, and it was soon auctioned for $2,400. The buyer? An agent for automobile pioneer Henry Ford (no relation to the Ford’s Theatre Fords). Henry Ford had revered Lincoln, the “humble, self-made man, the ordinary man who seized opportunity and raised himself up.” The Lincoln rocking chair now sits in a temperature and humidity controlled glass enclosure in the Henry Ford Museum.

But there was more Lincoln to the visit. Prior to the protected spot in which it now sits, the chair was held in the Logan County Courthouse in the adjoining Greenfield Village. This is the actual courthouse from Postville, Illinois (since renamed Lincoln, Illinois) in which Lincoln practiced in during his long months on the 8th Judicial Circuit. Ford had it transported to Michigan and restored to depict Lincoln’s visits between 1840 and 1847.

The chilly, rainy day I visited made the warm and dry courthouse a welcome retreat. A somewhat bored docent was happy to see someone he could entertain. Finding a knowledgeable patron, his love for talking about Lincoln cascading out like the water Lincoln saw flowing over the lip of Niagara Falls. I decided not to tell him about my own book about Lincoln and let him run on with an incredible font of information about the courthouse, Lincoln, and legal circuit. He also told me the wardrobe sitting in the corner of the courthouse was believed to have been built by Lincoln’s father, Thomas. The knowledge and enthusiasm the docent exhibited was exhilarating. He was so enthralling I didn’t even tell him I had written a book on Lincoln.

One of my previous books was about Thomas Edison and Greenfield Village also has a replica of Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park lab, including some original outbuildings and even soil carted in by train from the New Jersey site. I had visited the current Menlo Park site museum and its towering lightbulb, as well as his West Orange (NJ) and Fort Myers (FL) laboratories, so it was a great treat to see one of his first labs as it was. Even more exciting, I fortuitously was there during one of the periodic visits by Edison himself, an actor who came into the lab in character and told us all about his current work. Afterwards I toured some old saw and grist mills important for my research.

Lincoln furniture, Ford Museum

Back inside the Ford Museum I found a small center table and side chair once owned by Abraham and Mary Lincoln in their Springfield, Illinois home. Furniture owned by other writers like Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe were a thrill to see. I also spent some time in the Agriculture section of the museum where I could see some of the technological improvements (e.g., a McCormick reaper) that I’m researching for my next Lincoln book. For the science geek in me they had a Mathematica section with all sorts of cool exhibits.

Both the Museum and the Village have much more worth seeing and I highly encourage everyone to make the trip. There truly is something for everyone here and one can’t help but learn some history and science while being entertained.

My Chasing Abraham Lincoln tours continue! Much more to come.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Chasing Lincoln’s Almanac Murder Trial in Beardstown

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On my most recent Chasing Abraham Lincoln trip I stopped in Beardstown, Illinois to visit the site of one of Lincoln’s most famous cases – the Almanac Murder Trial. Beardstown has the only active courthouse that Lincoln practiced in, and the 1858 trial was both sensational and controversial.

Almanac trial

I arrived at the Beardstown Courthouse Museum around 3:50 pm. The sign said it was open only until 4 pm, so I rushed in to find a nearly empty foyer and some locked doors. As my hopes began to fade I encountered a resident volunteer guide named Paula Woods. I felt intrusive as I told her I would like to see the museum, as she fumbled for an old-fashioned keychain reminiscent of a jailhouse. Before we were finished, I actual did see the jailhouse cell that had held Duff Armstrong, the man charged with murder.

Even before she opened up the first door leading to a small room filled with Lincoln and trial-related artifacts, the visit turned into something special. In the foyer Paula pointed out a tall sign highlighting the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area and the Looking for Lincoln campaign. I had indeed heard of it, I said, and had in fact just participated in the LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Leadership Academy program (hence my late arrival to Beardstown). It turns out Paula isn’t just a volunteer, she is the Chair of the Commission that runs the courthouse museum and other historical locations in Cass County. She is also on the LEAD program Board!

The 4 pm closing time quickly sped away as Paula showed me the exhibits and then unlocked the door to the stairs leading to the second floor courtroom. The court is still in session, she explains, with cases heard about once a month. Entering the doorway I was standing in the very court where Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong. The key witness in the trial claimed he clearly saw the fight by “the light of a high moon” around 10 or 11 pm that night. Aha, thought the scientifically minded Lincoln and produced an almanac showing the moon “runs low” that night and was already setting by the time of the incident. Having shown the witness lying, Duff Armstrong was acquitted. On the wall is a large painting depicting the moment Lincoln pointed out the discrepancy to the jury, the almanac clear on this point.

The almanac most often depicted was the Old Farmer’s Almanac for that date, although no one actually knows if it was that one or another of the several available at the time. There is even a suggestion that the almanac was forged, but modern recalculations show the moon would indeed have been unusually low that night, part of an 18.6-year lunar cycle that affects lunar declination.

As people started to show up for a pre-arranged community meeting in the courtroom, Paula took me around other parts of the courthouse, including the jailhouse. It was here that Duff Armstrong spent his days and nights waiting for his trial to start. Lincoln had been friends with the Armstrong family for many years and wrote Hannah Armstrong as soon as he heard about her son Duff’s predicament. Lincoln refused payment, citing his work as thanks for all the favors done by the Jack and Hannah over the many years of Lincoln’s life.

Long after the official closing time I thanked Paula for staying late on my behalf. We discussed the work of the LEAD program and Heritage Area, as well as how my book has successfully brought Lincoln to a broad swath of the American public. Having started the day with the LEAD students, it was time to head north for more adventures Chasing Abraham Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln LEADing Emerging Leaders

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LEAD sweatshirtLast week I had the privilege of visiting with the LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Youth Leadership Academy in Jacksonville, Illinois. Led by Sarah Watson and George Buss, I discovered an amazing group of emerging leaders and their equally amazing mentors. I came away thoroughly impressed.

And the program is indeed impressive. When I arrived the group of 40 seventh grade students were watching Steven Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln. After the movie, and after they asked questions to George Buss about it, the students all moved back to the classroom where they split into their color-coded groups (Red, Gold, Silver, etc.) to do a verbal and written debriefing. Each student was encouraged to offer their views of the movie and wrote comments on large poster sheets of paper. The goal was to help them think about what they just saw or experienced. The Academy participants did this for each event they participated in, which included visits to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (where they saw the original Gettysburg Address), New Salem (where they experienced Lincoln’s early life in Illinois), the old State House (where Lincoln practiced law), and several other venues.

Beyond the emerging leader students themselves, I was struck by the high level of leadership shown by the group of eight mentors. These college age men and women each were responsible for a group of approximately six students and worked with some autonomy from Sarah and George’s overall guidance. I was truly impressed with their ability to encourage, guide, and inspire the students. Without these amazing mentors, the program wouldn’t work. Congratulations and thank you to all of you.

I played only a tiny part in the program but it’s an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. On the first evening I watched the groups debrief after the Lincoln movie and then joined them for dinner in the Illinois College cafeteria. The next morning I gave them some background on my own leadership experience and lessons I had learned about how to lead. I then answered some incredibly insightful questions from both students and mentors.

Why me? In part because my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, was given to each student and mentor for the second year in a row. But also because I’ve somehow risen from being the quiet, non-participant (i.e., “the shy kid”) in my younger years to a series of leadership roles in my life and career. I told them how I accidentally became President of my college Biology Society, then President of a regional chapter of an international scientific organization (twice!), President of a second scientific organization, Chair of the scientist group at my former employer, Chair of the Program Committee organizing a North American conference with 2500 attendees, and a variety of other leadership positions.

I’m currently Vice President of Education and Outreach for the Lincoln Group of DC, the most active Abraham Lincoln group in the nation. From the LEAD program I learned a lot that can benefit the outreach and education activities of the Lincoln Group of DC. So I learned as much from the students and mentors as they did from me.

After my session I was happy to sign copies of my book to each and every student and mentor. Each one also had a photo taken with me (or I had my photo taken with them), along with a group photo for each of the color-coded groups with their mentors.

My fondest memory is watching the students become engrossed in my book after the signings. One student, upon flipping through the graphics-heavy pages, told George Buss that “This is so cool.”

This is so cool.

That absolutely made my day. This is why I wrote the book. I wanted to reach the public that might not be reading – or reading yet – the big Lincoln tomes that dominate the market. I wanted the graphics to both grab the reader’s attention and provide another means of educating them. I wanted people, both students and adults, to read my book and think, “This is so cool.”

So thank you Sarah and George and all the mentors and students for allowing me to learn from all of you. I’ll never forget the experience.

[And thanks to Sarah, George, Heather, and the LEAD staff for all the great photos!]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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The Belly Ache Abraham Lincoln

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In Manchester, England there stands a statue of Abraham Lincoln. The statue was supposed to be given to London, but no one there wanted it. Robert Lincoln was aghast. “No, no, no,” he mightily exclaimed. “No way. It looks like Lincoln has a belly ache.” So it was sent to Manchester and a copy of the more acceptable statue of Lincoln standing in front of a chair found its way to London instead.

Today I saw the original “belly ache” statue in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Abraham Lincoln, Cincinnati, OhioTo be honest, it does look like Lincoln is feeling some distress (and not just because I was dodging rain drops to take the photo). The sculptor, George Grey Barnard, intended a frontier Lincoln, dressed his usual frumpy, with his arms clasped in front of him. At 11 feet tall, plus a pedestal, the statue is rather impressive.

But apparently not dignified enough for the Brits.

So a copy of the Barnard statue is in Manchester (with another in Louisville, KY) and a copy of the more famous statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens sits in Parliament Square, London.

I’ve seen several other statues on this trip…and will see more before I’m done. I’ll be posting more about them as I sort through thousands of photos, most of them better than this phone shot.

Check back soon.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!