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Lincoln and Viruses on The Railsplitter Podcast

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My interview on “Lincoln and Viruses” is now live on The Railsplitter Podcast. I had been interviewed this past Thursday by Mary, Jeremy, and Nick of the Railsplitter podcast, and the episode (#122) is now on their podcast website. Their podcast has become a “must-listen” site for all things Lincoln. This is the second time I’ve been featured on the podcast. Previously they had selected my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, as the very first book in their new book club installment. Over the course of three podcasts they reviewed the book and interviewed me. You can read about it and listen starting on this post.

Railsplitter podcast Episode 122_4-5-20

This current podcast was initiated based on my recent post, “That Time Lincoln Got a Virus and Almost Died.” That set us off on a deep dive on Lincoln’s bout with smallpox and how it compares to the 2020 COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic we are all currently going through. For much of an hour we seamlessly shifted back and forth from Lincoln’s time to the current era, talking not only about viruses but other diseases Lincoln had and the acceptance of science by presidents through our history (including Grover Cleveland’s secret surgery at sea). My twin science and historian backgrounds helped inform the discussion, leading Railsplitter Nick to comment that the podcast has its version of “Sanjay Gupta of the Lincoln world.” [Disclaimer: I am not a physician, so nothing I said constitutes medical advice other than “wash your hands and maintain social distancing.”]

I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion and have been invited back for future episode(s) on The Railsplitter Podcast. If you haven’t already, check them out.

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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That Time Lincoln Got a Virus and Almost Died

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Since everyone’s mind is on the coronavirus, it’s a good time to remember that Abraham Lincoln once caught a life-threatening virus. As wrote in Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, this occurred during and after his trip to Gettysburg to give his famous address:

As he gave his address, Lincoln was already feeling the symptoms of variola, a mild form of smallpox, which kept him bedridden for weeks after his return to Washington. He eventually wrote out several copies of his address, including one sent to Everett to be joined with his own handwritten speech and sold at New York’s Sanitary Commission Fair as a fundraiser for wounded soldiers.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, smallpox, like coronavirus, is an infectious disease. Caused by two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor, initial symptoms of smallpox include fever and vomiting, followed in extreme cases by sores in the mouth and a skin rash. As it worsens, large fluid-filled bumps appear on the skin, which result in characteristic and deforming scars. Like coronavirus, the smallpox virus was spread as people coughed or sneezed and droplets from their infected nose or mouth spread to other people. The smallpox scabs forming on the skin remained contagious until the last scab fell off. Coronavirus doesn’t form the scabs – it attacks the lung tissue rather than the skin – but both smallpox and coronavirus can be spread by residues left on surfaces from bedding and clothes to handrails and elevator buttons. Which is why it is so important during this coronavirus pandemic to practice social distancing, wash your hands often, and avoid touching your face.

Most scholars treated Lincoln’s case of variola as a mild case of smallpox, but some recent researchers suggest it was much more serious and that he could have died. In 2007, for example, two researchers reported that:

When Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, he was weak and dizzy; his face had a ghastly colour. That evening on the train to Washington, DC, he was febrile and weak, and suffered severe headaches. The symptoms continued; back pains developed. On the fourth day of the illness, a widespread scarlet rash appeared that soon became vesicular. By the tenth day, the lesions itched and peeled. The illness lasted three weeks. The final diagnosis, a touch of varioloid, was an old name for smallpox that was later used in the 20th century to denote mild smallpox in a partially immune individual. It was unclear whether Lincoln had been immunized against smallpox. In that regard, this review suggests that Lincoln had unmodified smallpox and that Lincoln’s physicians tried to reassure the public that Lincoln was not seriously ill. Indeed, the successful conclusion of the Civil War and reunification of the country were dependent upon Lincoln’s presidency.

Indeed, Lincoln’s free African American valet, William H. Johnson, contracted the disease while caring for Lincoln after they had returned from Gettysburg. Johnson ultimately died a few months later. He had traveled with Lincoln from Springfield and, having no other family, Lincoln arranged and paid for Johnson to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Like most 19th-century personages, this wasn’t the first time Lincoln had been seriously sick. At nine years old he was kicked in the head by a horse and “apparently killed for a time.” He also had malaria at least twice. His melancholy (depression) was infamous, especially on a few occasions where friends worried for his life. Debate still roils about whether he had Marfan syndrome or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2B (MEN2B). Neither of these last two seems likely, but that doesn’t stop people from debating the ideas. There is no question, however, over whether he had variola/smallpox, although the severity of it remains undecided.

Lincoln survived his smallpox infection; William Johnson and many others did not. As much of the world today battles the current coronavirus pandemic, it is critical that we follow the advice of health professionals. As I write this, most of the USA is under some form of lockdown, from “social distancing” to “shelter-in-place.” Follow medical advice, stay away from people, and wash your hands frequently. Lincoln would agree.

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

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 andEdison: 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.

 

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Coronavirus Cancellations

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Lincoln RoomWell, the worldwide coronavirus outbreak has certainly caused a lot of disruption lately. Like everyone else, I’m social distancing (even more than usual), which means tons of cancellations of upcoming appearances and presentations.

I keep a running list on my Media page, but here’s a rundown of my immediate schedule:

 

March 21st: The Abraham Lincoln Institute symposium has been cancelled. I was expecting to be on stage to introduce the first speaker. We will begin planning for next year.

April 4th: My presentation at the Rock Creek Civil War Roundtable, “Abraham Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation,” has been rescheduled for September 5, 2020.

April 17th: Invited speaker at the Cosmos Club Civil War Roundtable, “Abraham Lincoln and Technology of the Civil War,” is awaiting a final decision. I’ll update shortly.

April 21st: The Lincoln Group of DC dinner featuring Garrett Peck on “Lincoln and Walt Whitman” is cancelled. The speaker will be rescheduled for a later date.

May 19th: The Lincoln Group of DC dinner featuring Burrus Carnahan on “Lincoln and the Use of Presidential Pardons” will continue as scheduled.

September 5th: New date for my presentation at the Rock Creek Civil War Roundtable, “Abraham Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation.”

January 15, 2021: Invited to chair a panel on different methods used to teach Abraham Lincoln. Cosmos Club Civil War Roundtable. Continue as scheduled.

 

I’ll update as new information becomes available. For now, please stay home and flatten the curve. Pay attention to health officials. Stay healthy.

 

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 Runs for the Illinois Legislature – And Loses

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Candidate LincolnDuring Abraham Lincoln’s first year in New Salem he joined a pretentiously named Literary and Debating Society, which was actually an informal discussion group run by James Rutledge. Rutledge was a well-respected leader in town, father of ten children, and proprietor of an inn, Rutledge’s Tavern. He also had an extensive personal library of nearly thirty books, and this became one of Lincoln’s favorite hangouts.

By this time Lincoln was well known as someone ready with a funny story or ribald joke, but in his first debating effort he surprised the audience with a thoughtful, well-reasoned, analytical presentation. Rutledge was impressed, later telling his wife that “there was more in Abe’s head than wit and fun, that he was already a fine speaker; and that all he lacked was culture to enable him to reach the high destiny which he knew was in store for him.”

Reaction from townspeople was so positive that in March 1832 Lincoln put his name into contention for the Illinois state legislature. He composed a lengthy announcement titled “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” which was published in the Sangamo Journal. In it he laid out his political philosophy, which was astonishingly rounded for a 23-year-old man raised on frontier farms. That philosophy largely mimed the American System originated under Alexander Hamilton and promoted by Henry Clay, whom Lincoln later eulogized as his “beau ideal of a statesman.”

The American System was an economic philosophy premised on three mutually reinforcing pillars: a high protective tariff, a national bank, and federal subsidies for internal improvements (roads, canals, railroads). The goal was to facilitate the development of transportation infrastructure and strong markets, particularly for rural farmers who were cut off from much of the market economy. While a stable two-party system had not yet fully developed, the American System quickly became the mainstay of the Whig party in opposition to the policies of Democratic President Andrew Jackson. Lincoln later asserted he “had always been a Whig” (that is, until he was a Republican).

In response to local concerns, Lincoln noted he was not (yet) in favor of railroads because their costs outweighed the benefits. But referring to his own experience on flatboats, he strongly supported improvements to the navigability of the Sangamon River, which was so important to New Salem. Presaging his future as an analytical thinker, Lincoln went into great depth in his discussion of why river navigation presented a more efficient economic opportunity than railroads. He also spoke up against usury, the loaning of money at exorbitant interest rates, and emphasized the importance of central banking. Finally, while not dictating any specific system, he stressed that education was “the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in,” stating that his wish was that “every man may receive at least, a moderate education.”

This was an extraordinary treatise for a man who had only recently moved into the county. Lincoln mentioned that his “peculiar ambition” was to be “truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem,” but also seemed to understand that he had a slim chance of winning a seat, noting “if elected [the independent voters of this county] will have conferred a favor upon me,” but that if he lost he had “been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined.”

He lost.

It is not clear whether Lincoln was chagrined over this loss. Immediately after publishing his announcement to enter the race, he volunteered for service in the Black Hawk War. This left him only a few weeks upon his return to canvass the outer portions of the county, while his many competitors had the entire summer. On a positive note, he won 277 of the 300 votes cast in New Salem. This was testament to his popularity in the short time he had lived in the village, especially considering that support came from a precinct that overwhelming voted for Jackson’s reelection that year (Lincoln was well-known backer of Jackson’s opponent, Henry Clay). In his 1860 Presidential campaign biography, Lincoln took solace in the fact that this was the only time he was ever “beaten on a direct vote of the people.” It would not, however, be the last time he lost an election.

[Adapted from 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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Lincoln in Ecuador – Wiegers Calendar February

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Lincoln in QuitoAs Lincoln’s birthday week begins I turn to the David Wiegers calendar for another international statue of Abraham Lincoln. This one is in Quito, Ecuador.

Shockingly, I have yet to make it to Ecuador. I say shockingly because the Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador and my past history as a marine biologist almost demands I make a pilgrimage. I have two potential options for doing so this year, which makes David’s February calendar photo even more appropriate.

So why does the capital of a South American country have a statue of the 16th President of the United States? Certainly the Union had diplomatic relations with Ecuador during the war. Lincoln authorized a “Convention for the mutual adjustment of claims between the two parties,” although it’s unclear what claims he was referring to. Oddly, Frederick Hassaurek, editor of a German-language newspaper in Cincinnati, was appointed Minister to this Spanish-speaking nation. [Lincoln would later free Hassaurek’s half-brother from Libby Prison at his request]

But that isn’t why there is a statue in Quito. Instead, in 1959, to mark the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, the statue was donated by a committee of Americans living in Quito. The dedication was part of a city-wide renovation to make way for a large international conference. A re-dedication ceremony was held on Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009.

Lincoln in Quito

The statue itself depicts Lincoln from belly-button up hovering over the top of a lectern, presumably giving one of his great speeches. He is beardless so he had not yet been elected President. The half-figure sits on top of a stone pedestal. In the background stands a wall with a plaque, although the wall sits back a ways and off to the side so is only visible in photos taken from a certain angle. As you might expect, the statue sits in Abraham Lincoln Plaza just off Calle Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln in Quito

Unlike last month’s photo from Scotland (and some upcoming photos), I didn’t miss seeing this because I haven’t been there yet. But I will (go there, not miss it). I’m thankful that David Wiegers has been to these places and taken such great photos.* For more of his wonderful Lincoln photos, check out his Facebook page, “Images of Abraham Lincoln.”

Until next month!

*In a comment left on Facebook, David clarifies: “This picture is of the original statue on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN. The one in Ecuador is a copy of this original.” After checking my photos I realized I had seen the original at LMU during my visit a couple of years ago.

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!

Photo credits: Two photos by me of David Wiegers 2020 calendar photos. Photo on pedestal from Frederic Calvat on Twitter.

 

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Black History – Abraham Lincoln and Black Voting Rights

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Lincoln MemorialAbraham Lincoln is best known for his Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, and saving the Union during the Civil War. But in this Black History Month it’s important to remember that Lincoln also pushed for black voting rights.

The Emancipation Proclamation declared “that all person held as slaves” within the states in rebellion “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Issued as a war measure – the only authority he had under the Constitution – Lincoln then began work that led to the 13th Amendment to permanently end slavery in all the United States. The struggle to pass the amendment was dramatically characterized in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 movie, Lincoln.

These two major steps set the stage for further African-American rights, which were enhanced by passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. While these two acts occurred after Lincoln’s assassination, they were set in motion by Lincoln’s leadership at the end of the Civil War.

Most notable was Lincoln’s April 11, 1865 speech from the White House. Among other points, Lincoln spoke about reconstruction efforts in Louisiana. He encouraged all Louisianans to join in the process of bringing the state back into the Union. He pressed for black voting rights:

It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.

While this seems a rather mild support for African-American suffrage, it was actually radical for its time. Lincoln understood that for many, if not most, Northerners, being anti-slavery did not necessary mean they were for equal rights for free or freed black men. [The fact that women of any color were not allowed to vote was not lost on Lincoln, who years before had suggested women might also be allowed to cast their ballots. This is an important point in this 100th anniversary year of women’s suffrage.] In any case, Lincoln was pushing as gently as he could the idea that black men should have the same rights under the law as did white men, including but not exclusively the right to vote.

His inclusion of this point in the speech was not an ad lib. The previous night when a gathering crowd had asked for a speech he deferred, stating that such a speech should be thought out and not given off-the-cuff. He spent the next day carefully wording his remarks, from which he read verbatim, dropping each page behind him as he orated out the White House window. He meant to push the idea of black voting rights. This was his first public statement of such, and one member of the audience on the White House lawn who heard it – John Wilkes Booth – stated that Lincoln’s advocacy for the black vote was what made Booth decide to assassinate the President.

Lincoln had also been pressing the Louisiana government and the U.S. Congress in private letters to allow African-American voting. It was not a popular sentiment, and as such Lincoln walked a fine line between pushing the idea and not wanting to force the issue for fear of losing any progress toward reconstruction. He was careful, but he still encouraged the idea. April 11th was his way of bringing the pressure public so the public themselves could start getting used to the idea. He knew, like the Emancipation itself, that leading the public with small doses of progressivism made it easier to swallow large changes. Pressing too hard created defensive postures and worked against progress.

Black leaders like Frederick Douglass were understandably impatient with incremental approaches like Lincoln’s, but Douglass himself understood the limitations of coercive force. It would be for Douglass and his fellow activists to keep the issue public, while allies like Lincoln pushed internally for change. We see this repeatedly in history, including the sometimes painful but effective interactions between Dr. Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson to pass the 1960s era Civil Rights Acts.

Current presidential candidates would be wise to study Lincoln and his times (and Lyndon Johnson and his times) as they deal with a resurgence in voter suppression activities that strive to disenfranchise the votes of racial, religious, and other minorities in this nation.

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 in Scotland – Wiegers Calendar January

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Wiegers calendar JanuaryDavid Wiegers is a photographer. He is also an Abraham Lincoln fan. He has combined those two interests into a calendar featuring photos of Lincoln statues from around the world. January is the statue in Edinburgh, Scotland.

This particular statue represents one of those “argh” moments for me. I was in Edinburgh and yet didn’t see the statue. And when I say I was “in” Edinburgh, I don’t just mean for a few days on vacation – I actually lived there for three months in the summer of 2005. The company I worked for at the time had an office in Edinburgh. As manager of the Washington DC office I had the opportunity to work out of the Edinburgh office for that summer (which I’m told was the sunniest summer they had had in a decade, and that’s all I’m going to say about that). I lived in an apartment about a mile or two away from the center of town, so although the actual work facility was a drive in the opposite direction, I did hike downtown fairly often.

On one such foray I walked up to the top of Calton Hill, one of seven in the city. What I didn’t know at the time was that right across the street was Old Calton Burial Ground. And that is where the Lincoln statue stands.

Old Calton Burial Ground

 

When I found out years later I had missed the statue I was, let’s say, more than a little disappointed. I had literally been steps from it without noticing. Worse, that was the first summer I had finally ditched my old 35-mm film SLR and purchased a digital SLR, only to have most of my photos lost in a once-in-a-lifetime comedy-of-errors involving my computer and all of my layered backup options. [A story for another time]

Which means I need to get back to Edinburgh.

Luckily, David Wiegers has been there and has photographed the statue. Seeing it in the very first photo of his calendar brings back both good and bad memories of my brief life in Edinburgh.

Wiegers Calendar January

So why is there a Lincoln statue in Scotland? Because of the six Scottish men who fought on behalf of the Union during the American Civil War. The names of those men are etched into the large dual-figure monument erected in 1893. The lower figure represents an enslaved man being released from shackles at the feet of Lincoln. A bronze shield bears the flag of the time, with thistles to the left and cotton to the right. Two regimental flags complete the grouping.

As I flip through the calendar I see many places that I’ve visited and realize that I missed Lincoln in a few of them. Each month I’ll write one of these posts featuring David’s calendar photo and my own story associated with the statue and/or location. One thing is sure – I’m getting many more ideas for future Chasing Abraham Lincoln tours.

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!

Photo credits: Two calendar photos are my photos of David Wiegers calendar photo; Old Calton Burial Ground photo by Kim Traynor – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17821287.

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Abraham Lincoln and the Forces of Nature

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Lincoln Quote BustSeveral times in 1858 Lincoln delivered a lecture he called “Discoveries and Inventions.” Not a particularly successful lecture – the fragments we have remaining suggest it was a bit rambling and lacking in his later eloquence – it presented what was essentially the “American System” of economics based on continuing intellectual and technological improvements.

In his lecture he notes that man has figured out to substitute for his own brawn other “forces of nature” such as “the power of the wind” and of “running streams.” Lincoln strongly highlights the power of the wind:

“Of all the forces of nature, I should think the wind contains the largest amount of motive power—that is, power to move things. Take any given space of the earth’s surface—for instance, Illinois—- and all the power exerted by all the men, and beasts, and running-water, and steam, over and upon it, shall not equal the one hundredth part of what is exerted by the blowing of the wind over and upon the same space. And yet it has not, so far in the world’s history, become proportionably valuable as a motive power. It is applied extensively, and advantageously, to sail-vessels in navigation. Add to this a few wind-mills, and pumps, and you have about all. That, as yet, no very successful mode of controlling, and directing the wind, has been discovered; and that, naturally, it moves by fits and starts—now so gently as to scarcely stir a leaf, and now so roughly as to level a forest—doubtless have been the insurmountable difficulties. As yet, the wind is an untamed, and unharnessed force; and quite possibly one of the greatest discoveries hereafter to be made, will be the taming, and harnessing of the wind. That the difficulties of controlling this power are very great is quite evident by the fact that they have already been perceived, and struggled with more than three thousand years; for that power was applied to sail-vessels, at least as early as the time of the prophet Isaiah.”

Here is Lincoln fifty years before Nikola Tesla, using much of the same language, referring to motive power and the taming of the power of the wind. He also advocated for the power of running streams as “a motive power,” in particular its “application to mills and other machinery by means of the “water wheel” – a thing now well known, and extensively used.” In fact, Lincoln supposedly invented a water wheel as early as the spring of 1834, long before his lecture on Discoveries and Inventions.

Of course, Lincoln’s water wheel provided mechanical power. We would have to wait a few more decades before Nikola Tesla invented a means for large-scale use of the motion of water to create hydroelectric power, but Lincoln was already anticipating the idea. A few years later in the Civil War Lincoln worked closely with Joseph Henry, who prior to becoming the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution had developed the precursors to the induction motor.

Ah, but this wasn’t the first foray into science for Abraham Lincoln. More to come.

[The above is adapted from my e-book, Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate, available for download on Amazon.com.]

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 Book Acquisitions for 2019

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Books 2019This was a big year in Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions. My average number of new books acquired has been a fairly consistent 58 books over each of the last five years. This year was 82. While that’s a big jump from my average, it still falls short of the 98 I acquired back in 2013.

Part of the reason was that I started receiving books from publishers because of my book reviews. I write two book reviews per quarter (eight per year) for The Lincolnian, the Lincoln Group of DC‘s newsletter. I’ve also had two reviews published in Civil War Times this past year and expect to have more next year. The magazines, journals, and newspapers in which I publish reviews should expand in 2020. I also received books as part of my responsibilities for the Abraham Lincoln Institute book award evaluation committee. Still, most of the books I purchase through various bookselling outlets, including the onsite bookstore at the annual Lincoln Forum.

Of the total acquired in 2019, 18 are new books published this year. Ten books on the list are signed, most directly to me by the author (e.g., during this year’s Lincoln Forum or when they are guest speakers for the Lincoln Group of DC’s monthly dinners). While many of the books are new, most go back in time. The oldest acquired this year is a 1944 pamphlet style book by Isaac Frost comparing Oliver Cromwell and Abraham Lincoln. The next oldest is a classic book by Lincoln scholar J.G. Randall called Lincoln: The Liberal Statesman, published in 1947. There are also important reference works like Fehrenbacher’s Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln and Boritt’s book of Lincoln quotations.

With over 15,000 books on Lincoln extant, this seemed to be the year for books on peripheral figures close to Lincoln. Newspapermen were well covered, including books on Horace Greeley, Charles A. Dana, Noah Brooks, and Lincoln’s private secretary, John G. Nicolay. Books ranged from blockbuster’s like Sidney Blumenthal’s All The Powers of Earth to the lesser known but important Timothy Good’s We Saw Lincoln Shot. Books also covered Abe’s Youth in Indiana and Lincoln and the Blackhawk War in Illinois. On the more technical side was the most recent assessment of Lincoln’s use of Euclid in his speeches by David Hirsch and Dan Van Haften called The Tyranny of Public Discourse.

Since I’m a big fan of both, one of my favorite books acquired this year is Abraham Lincoln Crossword Puzzles, although I have as yet not figured out how to do the puzzles but leave the book unblemished.

Collecting all these books means I do a lot of reading. While I can’t claim to have read all of them, I have read many of them and plan to read the rest over time. And, of course, acquire even more. Note to publishers: I’m always open to receiving books in return for an honest review via my various venues, including Goodreads and Amazon.

See the 2019 list showing author/title/publication date below my signature blurb below.

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!

Here is the 2019 list! [Author, Title, Date of Publication]

The Lincoln Country: From These Humble Beginnings…to Immortality
Abraham Lincoln Crossword Puzzles 2014
Bartelt, William E. and Claybourn, Joshua A. (Eds) Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President 2019
Bartelt, William E. and Claybourn, Joshua A. (Eds) Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President 2019
Bayard, Louis Courting Mr. Lincoln (A Novel) 2019
Bayne, Julia Taft Tad Lincoln’s Father 2001
Bennett, Jr., Lerone Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream 1999
Blumenthal, Sidney All the Powers of Earth 1856-1860: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 2019
Blumenthal, Sidney All the Powers of Earth 1856-1860: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 2019
Blumenthal, Sidney All the Powers of Earth 1856-1860: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 2019
Bordewich, Fergus M. America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union 2012
Boritt, Gabor S. (ed) Of the People, By the People, For the People and other Quotations 1996
Brands, H.W. Heirs of The Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, The Second Generation of American Giants 2018
Brown, Thomas J. The Public Art of Civil War Commemoration: A Brief History with Documents 2004
Carden, Allen and Ebert, Thomas J. John George Nicolay: The Man in Lincoln’s Shadow 2019
Cartmell, Donald The Civil War Up Close 2005
Casson, Herbert N. Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work 1971
Chadwick, Bruce Lincoln For President: An Unlikely Candidate, An Audacious Strategy, and the Victory No One Saw Coming 2009
Conwell, Russell H. Why Lincoln Laughed 1922
Coulson, Thomas Joseph Henry: His Life & Work 1950
Delbanco, Andrew The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War 2018
Donald, David Herbert and Hozler, Harold (Eds) Lincoln in the Times: The Life of Abraham Lincoln as Originally Reported in the New York Times 2005
Efflandt, Lloyd H. Lincoln and the Black Hawk War 1991
Eifert, Virginia S. The Buffalo Trace 1957
Fehrenbacher, Don E. Lincoln in Text and Context: Collected Essays 1987
Fehrenbacher, Don E. and Fehrenbacher, Virginia (Compiled and Edited by) Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln 1996
Fleischner, Jennifer Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave 2003
Foot, Isaac Oliver Cromwell and Abraham Lincoln: A Comparison 1944
Freehling, William W. The South vs The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the course of the Civil War 2001
Gates, Henry Louis Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow 2019
Good, Timothy S. We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts 1995
Grafton, John (Compiler and Historical Notes) Abraham Lincoln Great Speeches 1991
Guarneri, Carl J. Lincoln’s Informer: Charles A. Dana and the Inside Story of the Union War 2019
Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President 1999
Handlin, Oscar and Lilian Abraham Lincoln and the Union 1980
Harris, Laurie Lanzen How to Analyze the Works of Abraham Lincoln 2013
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan The Tyranny of Public Discourse: Abraham Lincoln’s Six-Element Antidote for Meaningful and Persuasive Writing 2019
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan The Tyranny of Public Discourse: Abraham Lincoln’s Six-Element Antidote for Meaningful and Persuasive Writing 2019
Horner, Harlan Hoyt Lincoln and Greeley 1953
Jefferson, Thomas (edited and notes by David Waldstreicher) Notes on the State of Virginia 2002
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Kantor, MacKinlay Andersonville 1955
Kimmel, Stanley Mr. Lincoln’s Washington: A Panorama of Events in Washington from 1861 to 1865 Taken From Local Newspapers and with over 250 Illustrations 1957
Klingaman, William K. and Klingaman, Nicholas P The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History 2013
Knoles, George Harmon (Ed) The Crisis of the Union 1965
Larson, John Lauritz Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States 2001
Lonn, Ella Salt as a Factor in the Confederacy 1965
Lorant, Stefan Lincoln: A Picture Story of His Life 1979
Lowry, Thomas P. Don’t Shoot That Boy!: Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice 1999
Lundberg, James M. Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood 2019
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Patterson, Matt Union of Hearts: The Abraham Lincoln & Ann Rutledge Story 2000
Paull, Bonnie E. and Hart, Richard E. Lincoln’s Springfield Neighborhood 2015
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Soodhalter, Ron Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader 2006
Spielvogel, J. Christian Interpreting Sacred Ground: The Rhetoric of National Civil War Parks and Battlefields 2013
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Stephenson, Nathaniel Wright Abraham Lincoln and the Union, A Chronicle of the Embattled North 1918
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Temple, Wayne C. “The Taste Is In My Mouth A Little…”: Lincoln’s Victuals and Potables 2004
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Varon, Elizabeth R. Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War 2019
Weber, Karl (Ed.) Lincoln: A President for the Ages (Companion Essays to the Movie) 2012
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Wilson, Steven President Lincoln’s Spy 2008
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Abraham Lincoln and the Supreme Court

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Abraham Lincoln may have been a “merely country lawyer,” as some of his critics avowed, but he had many far-reaching interactions with the  U.S. Supreme Court that changed the face of jurisprudence. I’m reminded of this today because on December 6, 1864, Lincoln nominated former Treasury Secretary, and constant foil, Salmon P. Chase to be the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and thus ended the nearly 30 year reign of the recently deceased Roger B. Taney.

As much as Chase had been an irritant while sitting in Lincoln’s “team of rivals” cabinet, Taney had been a major thorn, twisting the wounds as much as he could possibly do. As Commander-in-Chief during a time of insurrection, Lincoln felt he could take drastic steps to save the Union, including the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus when necessary. Taney disagreed, and in his duel role as circuit court judge ruled against Lincoln. Lincoln ignored Taney but did get Congress to pass the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act to officially legalize his actions.

Taney’s earlier Dred Scott Decision in 1857 had an even greater impact on Abraham Lincoln’s career. This widely despised decision played center stage in the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, and while Lincoln lost that Senate race on the vagaries of state-legislature-picked Senators, it set him up as the Republican party’s leader on the slavery question. In a sense, it helped make him President.

Even earlier, Lincoln had tried two cases in the U.S. Supreme Court to go along with his 175 cases pled at the Illinois State Supreme Court.

But Lincoln also had another major influence on the U.S. Supreme Court while President. The two dissenting judges on the Dred Scott case needed to be replaced (one died within weeks of Lincoln’s inauguration while the other had quit the court in disgust after the Dred Scott decision). One of the majority judges in the Dred Scott case also needed replacement; he quit the court after Lincoln’s inauguration and became the Confederate Assistant Secretary of War. So Lincoln filled three Supreme Court judgeships with Noah Haynes Swayne, Samuel Freeman Miller, and David Davis.

Ah, but this is where it gets interesting. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to determine how many Supreme Court justices will sit. That number had ranged from five to nine during our history, but Congress decided to deal with the many leftovers from the Dred Scott case by adding a tenth justice. Lincoln thus was able to appoint an extra new justice to the court, which he did in 1863 with Steven Johnson Field. It should be noted that Congress, in order to keep Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, from appointing pro-slavery justices to the court, reduced the number of justices down to seven. Immediately after Johnson was out of office, Congress reset the number once again to nine, so since 1869 that number has been the standard up to today.

With Salmon P. Chase’s appointment as Chief Justice, Lincoln put a total of five judges on the Supreme Court, one of the most prolific appointer-in-chief in our history.

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.

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