Tag: Abraham Lincoln

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The Day Lincoln Met Louis Agassiz, Famous Scientist and Polygenist

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Louis AgassizLouis Agassiz arrived at the White House on January 15, 1865 with Massachusetts Congressman Samuel Hooper. The famous scientist would have his one and only meeting with Abraham Lincoln. While the two influential men had never met before, Hooper was well-known to Lincoln. It was Hooper’s home in Washington DC that George McClellan had used as headquarters when he commanded the Union army. Hooper was also briefly the father-in-law of Charles Sumner, who had married Hooper’s daughter but divorced after only a short marriage. Today, however, the focus was on Agassiz.

Lincoln had a penchant for science. He had given a series of lectures of “discoveries and inventions” shortly before being elected president. The expectation was that the two men would bond over their common interest. Journalist and Lincoln friend Noah Brooks, who was present during the meeting, later reported that the conversation “was not very learned.” The two men seemed unsure how to talk to each other. According to Brooks, Lincoln asked Agassiz for the correct pronunciation of his name, and then “prattled on about curious proper names in various languages, and odd correspondences between names of common things in different tongues.”

Agassiz did ask Lincoln if he had ever lectured, to which Lincoln outlined his previous “inventions” lecture, which he hoped to update so to prove there is nothing new under the sun. “I think I can show, at least in a fanciful way, that all the modern inventions were known centuries ago.” Agassiz encouraged him to finish the lecture. Agassiz departed shortly thereafter and Lincoln admitted to Brooks that he “wasn’t so badly scared, after all.” Lincoln had expected to be intimidated by the great scientist’s learning. Instead, he cross-examined Agassiz on things not in the books, which were readily available to him for reading.

This somewhat anti-climatic meeting belied both Lincoln’s inherent interests in science and Agassiz’s lifetime of scientific leadership. Perhaps the press of time and the drudges of a war finally running down after four years of horrendous conflict hung over the impromptu meeting. One would have liked the two of them to sit down and chat about science for hours on end. But the war took priority.

Born in Switzerland before becoming an American citizen, Agassiz is best known for his knowledge of natural history. He became a professor of zoology and geology at Harvard, from which he became a leading influencer on classification of the fishes, geological history, and the fossil record. He’s considered one of the founders of glaciology, although his views on the role of glaciers and ice on the formation of geological structures weren’t always correct. Agassiz damaged his scientific reputation by being a major advocate for polygenism, the idea that different “races” of humans were separately created, with all of the racist beliefs underpinning that idea.

The arguments over monogenism, polygenism, and “types of man” were entwined with the idea of “scientific racism,” more accurately, pseudoscience, used to rationalize the enslavement of African Americans. Lincoln became aware of these arguments as he read on science and tried to find a path toward removing slavery from the nation.

While they hadn’t personally met, Lincoln knew that Agassiz was one of the fifty charter members of the National Academy of Sciences, which Lincoln had signed into law in 1863. The meeting might have been less exciting than it could have been, but both men played significant roles as influencers of American views on race and slavery.

I’ll delve into this more in my forthcoming book, so stay tuned for more.

[Photo of Louis Agassiz: Wikimedia]

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David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of 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.

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That Time Conservatives Refused to Accept an Election – Lessons from Lincoln

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Obama inauguration 2013The election results were decisive. The new president-elect had won the popular vote by a substantial margin and had won more electoral votes than his competitors combined. The election had been secure, and the results were unequivocal.

Yet the conservative faction rebelled against the result. They said they would not abide by the voice of the people. Elements inside the government tried to override the vote and disrupt the government. Tearing the Union apart was more acceptable to them then living with the election results. Shortly after the election this faction sought to divide the country in half. Before the president-elect could even arrive in Washington to be inaugurated, he knew he would face a divided nation.

The election was 1860 and the president-elect was Abraham Lincoln.

Before Lincoln could take office, the conservative faction (the Democrats in Lincoln’s time), led by South Carolina and joined shortly thereafter by six more Southern states, seceded from the Union. Four more would join not long after the inauguration of its first Republican president (the “liberals” of the time).

The inauguration almost didn’t happen.

Unwilling to accept the election results, these conservative states attempted to keep the president-elect from reaching Washington. After some smaller attacks failed, they planned to assassinate the president-elect as he approached Washington by train along the corridor between Philadelphia and the nation’s Capital. Their plan to have a mob attack the president-elect as he passed through Baltimore was thwarted as Lincoln altered his schedule to arrive early. With many traitors to the Union present in Washington, and some engaging in active sedition in the Capitol itself, General Winfield Scott to extra precautions to protect Lincoln during his inauguration ceremony.

In his first inaugural address, Lincoln reminded the crowd that as President, he had “the most solemn” oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” the government, even as some were trying to attack the nation from within.

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

In this peroration, Lincoln hoped that the nation could remain united. Conservatives refused, and the war came. Four years and nearly 750,000 dead Americans later, Lincoln was reelected and offered a second inaugural address. In it he called for the nation, without malice, and with charity for all, to “strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

An earlier message to Congress reminded us the choices we make will be remembered.

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves…The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility.

The choice is up to us. Will we “nobly save or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth”?

We must.

We cannot escape history.

 

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.

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David J. Kent is 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.

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Why Was the Emancipation Memorial Statue Removed in Boston?

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Emancipation MemorialAs part of my series on Confederate monuments I recently examined why the Robert E. Lee statue was removed from statuary hall in the Capitol. Not long after, the Emancipation Memorial featuring Abraham Lincoln was removed from a park in Boston. While not a Confederate monument, the Emancipation Memorial removal opens up a similar question: Why was it removed?

If you haven’t read the previous three post on Confederate monuments, the context begins with “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments.” Two subsequent posts looked at whether such removal “erases history” and whether “added context” was possible.

The Emancipation Memorial in Boston is a copy of the original statue by sculptor Thomas Ball erected in 1876 in what is now Lincoln Park, Washington, DC. The Lincoln Group of DC was involved in two teach-ins during the summer after the memorial was targeted by protesters hoping to tear it down. The DC statue currently remains in place. Prior to the teach-ins, in June of 2020, the Boston Arts Commission voted to remove the statue and place it in storage until some appropriate location capable of providing relevant context can be found. They agreed to have the statue removed before the end of the year, and that occurred in orderly fashion on December 27, 2020.  The stated reasons were because of “the statue’s role in perpetuating harmful prejudices and obscuring the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation’s freedoms.”

For those not familiar with the statue itself, it was designed to commemorate the emancipation proclamation of Abraham Lincoln that called for enslaved people to be “henceforward and forever free.” An admirable action. So what is the problem?

I wrote about this in a previous post:

One aspect of that history that remains controversial today is the Freedman’s Memorial in Washington, DC. Often referred to as the “Emancipation Memorial” or “Freedom’s Memorial” or even “Lincoln and Emancipation,” the statue by sculptor Thomas Ball was erected in Lincoln Park east of the U.S. Capitol. It depicts Abraham Lincoln standing over an enslaved black man being released from his shackles and beginning the slow rise to equality. The face of the African American man represents that of a real person, Archer Alexander. Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the 1876 dedication, which was also attended by President Ulysses S. Grant. Importantly, the funding of the statue was solely provided by freedmen (and women), with the first $5 donated by former slave Charlotte Scott of Virginia. While they didn’t have a say in the final design, the statue represents the efforts of African Americans to commemorate their emancipation from centuries of forced servitude.

Much of the controversy stems from the positioning of the figures, in particular the apparent subservient position of Archer Alexander. The original concept of Lincoln freeing the slaves and the depiction of now formerly enslaved men to rise seems to have been lost from current understanding. Another problem with today’s interpretation is the tendency to cherry pick from Frederick Douglass’s dedication speech, a wonderful oratory that delved into the complex relationships between Lincoln, Grant, former slaves, and the continuing struggle for equality. As the statue was being dedicated, so too was the Reconstruction period coming to an end. Whereas Reconstruction had guaranteed the rights of African Americans, the Jim Crow era that arose in response sought to destroy those rights. As W.E.B. Dubois said, “the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” Alas, our long history of systemic racism continues to this day.

In addition to being paid for by former enslaved people and dedicated by Frederick Douglass, the statue was turned 180 degrees in the 1970s to present a pairing with the newly erected statue of African American civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune. Despite this context, the design elements seem inappropriate to many in the modern era. In fact, new research discovered after the controversy erupted in the summer of 2020 showed that soon after dedicating it, Frederick Douglass opined in a newspaper advertisement that he thought the statue’s design could be improved by adding additional statues, e.g., African American leaders of the time.

Which is why a memorial dedicated to celebrating emancipation from slavery is the subject of reevaluation.

So how does this relate to the ongoing reevaluation of Confederate monuments? The Emancipation Memorial is obviously not a Confederate monument, but it does have design elements that can be interpreted as promoting white supremacy, notwithstanding the original intent. It highlights the issue presented in my original post, “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments,” in particular that modern interpretation is relevant to the discussion. Of course, also relevant is the context of the original funding and dedication, as well as the event depicted – emancipation from slavery.

The Boston Arts Commission, by whatever process they used, has determined that the statue should be removed from its place of prominence. So far the original statue in Washington, DC remains in place. Who is right? Is either right? That’s not a question that has a solid right or wrong answer. It is important that the Boston statue was removed after public input and removed respectfully and officially rather than by violent mob action or defacement. There is disagreement among historians as to whether the statue should remain. This is in contrast to Confederate monuments where there has been a noticeable shift in thinking toward removal, although not universally so.

All this highlights that a reevaluation of our memorialization history is necessary and appropriate. While the focus was originally on Confederate statues, there has been spillover into non-Confederate statues and school namings such as Lincoln, Grant, Washington, Jefferson, Columbus, and others. Each of these has a different set of issues to be evaluated, from each other and from Confederate statues. I’ll examine that issue more closely in future posts.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of 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.

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The Year in a Writer’s Life – 2020

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David J KentHeck of a year, wasn’t it? I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that the year in a writer’s life didn’t go exactly as planned. And yet, looking back on what I wrote for 2019, I realize 2020 wasn’t that different, at least as far as the writing part goes. There was, however, one huge difference, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Royalties continue to trickle in for my three previous traditionally published books on Tesla, Edison, and Lincoln. Okay, maybe royalties have fallen to a drip. But my editor sent word in the spring that the Edison book would be coming out in a Chinese-language edition. Those licensing fees and royalties haven’t shown up yet, at least in part because of something called COVID.

Oh, you’ve heard of COVID? Of course you have. The rather unplanned pandemic did what pandemics tend to do, completely mess with everything previously considered normal in the world. Publishing was no exception. With stores closing temporarily in the spring and only partially reopening (and in some cases, reclosing) over the rest of the year, it was a tough time for actual bookstores. Barnes & Noble was already reworking its business model before being hit with guards standing outside the doors metering potential shoppers to a few at a time. Independent bookstores were especially hard hit. That said, Amazon and big box stores that also sell groceries (e.g., Target) had increasing book sales as the year progressed. With people sequestered at home, more people read more books. Like Amazon, publishers also did well as books replaced lost restaurant, movie, and bowling nights. Overall, print sales were up about 8% for the year and some publishers were reporting their best year ever. So I should see those Edison royalties eventually, maybe even in the spring. My two e-books also occasionally send royalties my way.

The writing life itself kept me incredibly busy in 2020. With my travel schedule reduced to zero, I spent more time reading and writing. Here’s some writing highlights:

  • Began a series of posts on whether Confederate monuments should be removed. I’m hoping to turn this into a book.
  • Wrote and delivered three presentations on Zoom (not counting my participation in dozens of additional Zoom meetings). I’ll moderate a panel in two weeks.
  • Three book reviews for the Lincoln Herald, an academic journal.
  • Produced eight book reviews for the Lincolnian, the newsletter of the Lincoln Group of DC.
  • Wrote an article for the Lincolnian on Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation.
  • Wrote an article for The Lincoln Forum Bulletin.
  • Had three separate contributions in the “From Our Readers” section of Writer’s Digest magazine.
  • Was interviewed on Facebook Live by filmmaker Annabel Park on Lincoln’s views of the current election.
  • Entered nine writing contests. Of these, seven are still under review (two didn’t win, although for one I received very helpful feedback).
  • Collaborated with Ru on a planned travel book.

And that isn’t even the BIG NEWS!

[For those with good hearing, that’s a drum roll in the background]

On December 31, 2020, the very last day in the year of the corona, I signed a formal contract with a well known publisher, who will publish and distribute my new book on Lincoln’s interest in science and technology. 

This is the culmination of years of research and toil. There’s a long story behind the production of this book, but I finally got around to putting forth a proposal this year. My agent shopped it around and two publishers expressed interest. Negotiations were to be had, and on the final day of 2020 I carefully scrawled my official signature at the bottom of the fifth page of micro-print. That’s just the beginning, of course. My deadline to provide the full manuscript is July 1st, and the projected date of release is February 2022. I’ll provide more details as the project progresses, but suffice to say I’m very happy to be proceeding…and will be exceedingly busy writing for the next several months. I can’t travel anyway so I might as well be writing.

So what is the plan for 2021?

In case you skipped over the big news right above this paragraph, the first six months will be consumed with writing my Lincoln book. I will live and breathe the book during that time.

In my spare moments I’ll continue posting essays related to Confederate monuments with a goal of compiling them into book format at some point. I’ll also squeeze in essays for the travel book collaboration, although realistically that will have to wait until the summer. There are three other book projects that will sit in some level of dormancy until the second half of the year. I’ve cut my intended reading goal from my usual 75 books down to 50 books to free up some time for writing. I’ll also squeeze in some book reviews for the Lincolnian and possibly the Lincoln Herald. In the latter stages of the year I’ll pick up my previous goals of producing articles for journals and magazines, at least part of which will be marketing-related for the new book. Finally, I’ll likely increase my speaking schedule, especially as the book release date gets closer (and into 2022 once it hits stores).

Needless to say, I’ll be spending a lot of time at my computer in 2021.

Happy New Year to all!

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of 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.

 

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Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions for 2020

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Books 2019Given COVID, the election, the post-election, and everything else that happened this year, it should come as no surprise that my Abraham Lincoln book acquisition pattern was different that in previous years. While last year I had a big jump in the number of new Lincoln books I acquired (82), this year was back around my average. Overall I acquired 55 new books this year. This is actually more than I expected. I had decided when I set my annual goals for 2020 (which mostly got tossed out as soon as COVID hit) that I would purchase fewer Lincoln books. Driving factors in that decision were a decreasing amount of shelf space, a reassessment of the amount of “stuff” I have in the house, and the knowledge that I would likely be receiving some books from publishers for review. I also planned to spend more time writing a book (more on that later).

I started the year off slowly in accordance with my plan. And then I became an official reviewer for the Lincoln Herald, a journal published by Lincoln Memorial University. They sent me two books to review, plus I reviewed a book I already had on my shelf (one review has been published; the other two will be in future issues). Starting in the summer I also received about ten books from publishers to evaluate for the Abraham Lincoln Institute annual book award competition. Another half dozen books were received late in the year. And then I discovered my health insurance company had been giving me points for something and I could cash those in for even more Lincoln books. I also decided to enter into my spreadsheet the PDF books that I had downloaded, so some of those in the list below exist only as PDFs, not hard copies. All of this added to my slightly less active purchasing obsessions, totaling 55 for the year, including duplicates.

Twenty-four are new books published in 2020. The oldest copyright is 1796 for a PDF book. The oldest physical book was published in 1941. The shortest actual books were 26 pages (M.L. Houser’s Abraham Lincoln Mathematician) and 58 pages (Daniel Kilham Dodge’s Abraham Lincoln: Evolution of His Literary Style). Longest books stretched to 1066 pages (Abe: Abraham Lincoln In His Times by David S. Reynolds) and 1097 pages (a two-volume set called The Tragic Years by Paul M. Angle and Earl Schenk Miers).

There were some blockbusters, including the aforementioned Abe book by David S. Reynolds, along with Harold Holzer’s The Presidents vs. The Press and Ted Widmer’s Lincoln on the Verge. There were also more obscure books like the two by M.L. Houser, the New Philadelphia book by the McWorters, and Robin Blackburn’s An Unfinished Revolution: Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln. There is also a graphic biography by Mark Shulman (author) and Tom Martin (illustrator) called Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union. I rarely buy fiction, but I so enjoyed the library copy of Stephen L. Carter’s The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln that I bought one for myself (the book explores the alternative history that Lincoln survives the assassination attempt and then is impeached in his second term for not being hard enough on the surrendering South). Also, I may have the only copy of a pre-publication book by Ed Steers that he accidentally made available on Amazon just long enough for me to buy a copy before it was shut down; the final version is due out in March 2021 from the University Press of Kentucky). The most bizarre book I acquired is Richard Salva’s The Yoga of Abraham Lincoln (and yes, it is as contrived as the title suggests).

As a huge departure for me, there are several books that I would classify as Civil War books and not expressly Abraham Lincoln. I usually avoid such books, but some came from publishers and others provided some insights I wanted to better understand Lincoln. One book that covers Lincoln and the Civil War but begins pre-Revolutionary War and expands to the present is Heather Cox Richardson’s How the South Won the Civil War. Richardson has become a social media sensation this year with her daily “Letters from an American” and social/political commentary on Facebook. The book is an excellent read and one from which all Americans would gain valuable insight.

One huge change this year – only one of the books is signed by the author, and it was purchased that way. Normally I would have ample opportunity for authors to sign the book directly to me, but this year COVID moved all the usual in-person events to virtual lectures, including the Abraham Lincoln Institute symposium normally held at Ford’s Theatre in March, the Lincoln Forum (Gettysburg in November), and the monthly Lincoln Group of DC dinner lectures. Most of these are expected to be virtual in 2021 as well, although there is hope COVID will be under control enough to hold the fall Forum in Gettysburg. At some point I hope to catch up with authors for signings.

As always, collecting 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.

So how many Lincoln books will I acquire in 2021? As with this year the plan is to hold back on buying too many books in the early part of the year (my shelves are not getting less packed). I do expect to be on the ALI book award committee again this year (along with taking on Treasurer duties). But even more important is that I just agreed to terms with a publisher for my the book I’m writing myself, with a pretty tight deadline for turning in the manuscript, so I won’t have much time for reading during the first half of the year. I’ll have more details on this in my annual Year in a Writer’s Life post but by summer I know I’ll be ready to read a lot about Lincoln that isn’t directly related to my book.

See the 2020 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 2020 list! [Author, Title, Date of Publication]

Abel, E. Lawrence John Wilkes Booth and the Women Who Loved Him 2018
Abel, E. Lawrence Lincoln’s Jewish Spy: The Life and Times of Issachar Zacharie 2020
Achorn, Edward Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln 2020
Angle, Paul M. and Miers, Earl Schenck Tragic Years, 1860-1865: A Documentary History of the American Civil War 1960
Blackburn, Robin An Unfinished Revolution: Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln 2011
Blaisdell, Bob (ed.) The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations 2005
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Mysterious Science of the Law: An Essay on Blackstone’s Commentaries 1941
Brands, H.W. The Zealot and the Emancipator: John O’Brien, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom 2020
Browning, Judkin and Silver, Timothy An Environmental History of the Civil War 2020
Carden, Allen and Ebert, Thomas J. John George Nicolay: The Man in Lincoln’s Shadow 2019
Carter, Stephen L. The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln: A Novel 2012
Condon, William H. The Life of Major-General James Shields 1900
Dilworth, Thomas Dilworth’s Spelling-Book, Improved: A New Guide to the English Tongue 1796
Dixon, David T. Radical Warrior: August Willich’s Journey from German Revolutionary to Union General 2020
Dodge, Daniel Kilham Abraham Lincoln: The Evolution of His Literary Style 2000
Drake, Brian Allen (Ed) The Blue, the Gray, and the Green: Toward an Environmental History of the Civil War 2015
Fry, Zachery A. A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac 2020
Greene, Julia Gates Abraham Lincoln on the Niagara Frontier 1930
Holzer, Harold The Presidents vs. The Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media from The Founding Fathers to Fake News 2020
Houser, M.L. Young Abraham Lincoln Mathematician 1943
Houser, M.L. Lincoln’s Education and Other Essays 1957
Johnson, William Bruce Lincoln’s First Crisis: Fort Sumter and the Betrayal of the President 2020
Johnson, William Bruce Lincoln’s First Crisis: Fort Sumter and the Betrayal of the President 2020
Kanefield, Teri The Making of America: Abraham Lincoln 2018
Keller, Ron J. Lincoln in the Illinois Legislature 2019
Kline, Michael J. The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln 2008
Levin, Kevin M. Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth 2019
Luskey, Brian P. Men is Cheap: Exposing the Frauds of Free Labor in Civil War America 2020
Mackey, Thomas C. Opposing Lincoln: Clement L. Vallandigham, Presidential Power, and the Legal Battle Over Dissent in Wartime 2020
McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln 2009
McWorter, Gerald A. and Williams-McWorter, Kate New Philadelphia 2018
Meltzer, Brad and Mensch, Josh The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President – And Why it Failed 2020
Mitchell, Elizabeth Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street, and the White House 2020
Norder, Steve Lincoln Takes Command: The Campaign to Seize Norfolk and the Destruction of the CSS Virginia 2020
Norder, Steve Lincoln Takes Command: The Campaign to Seize Norfolk and the Destruction of the CSS Virginia 2020
Power, John Carroll History of an Attempt to Steal the Body of Abraham Lincoln 1890
Rappaport, Doreen (author) and Nelson, Kadir (illustrator) Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln 2008
Reid, Brian Holden The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman 2020
Reingold, Nathan(Ed.) Science in Nineteenth-Century America: A Documentary History 1964
Reynolds, David S. Abe: Abraham Linicoln In His Times 2020
Richardson, Heather Cox How the South Won the Civil War 2020
Salva, Richard The Yoga of Abraham Lincoln: Forerunner of the Modern Truth Seeker 2015
Shaara, Michael The Killer Angels 2003
Shulman, Mark (author) and Martin, Tom (Illustrator) Show Me History! Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union 2018
Snee, Brian J. Lincoln Before Lincoln: Early Cinematic Adaptations of the Life of America’s Greatest President 2016
Steers, Edward Jr. Getting Right With Lincoln: Correcting Misconceptions About Our Greatest President 2020
Stevenson, Augusta Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipator 1986
Striner, Richard Summoned to Glory: The Audacious Life of Abraham Lincoln 2020
Taylor, Daniel Cravens Thomas Lincoln: Abraham’s Father 2019
Temple, Wayne C.; Edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis Lincoln’s Confidant: The Life of Noah Brooks 2019
Welker, David A. The Cornfield: Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point 2020
Widmer, Ted Lincoln On The Verge: Thirteen Days To Washington 2020
Widmer, Ted Lincoln On The Verge: Thirteen Days To Washington 2020
Widmer, Ted Lincoln On The Verge: Thirteen Days To Washington 2020
Wilson, Rufus Rockwell Intimate Memories of Lincoln 1945
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Why Was the Robert E. Lee Statue Removed from Statuary Hall?

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Robert E Lee statuary hallVirginians woke up Monday morning, December 21, 2020, to the news that the statue of Robert E. Lee was removed overnight from statuary hall of the U.S. Capitol. The Lee statue had stood in the hall as one of Virginia’s two designated representative statues for 111 years. Each state is allowed two statues, some of which are in statuary hall while others are located in other areas of the Capitol building. The second Virginia representative is George Washington.

So why was Robert E. Lee removed?

I’ve been addressing the issue of Confederate statues and other monuments to the Confederacy in a series of posts beginning with “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments.” Two subsequent posts (to date) looked at whether such removal “erases history” and whether “added context” was possible. Those posts provide some needed background for evaluating the current action.

In short, many jurisdictions – states, localities, federal – have been reassessing the message put forward by honoring Confederate leadership such as Lee and Jefferson Davis. Several statues have been removed, most notably statues in New Orleans (Lee, Beauregard) and Charleston, South Carolina (John C. Calhoun). A handful of statues were pulled down by mobs during this past summer’s protests following the death of George Floyd and others. Similarly, a few schools have been renamed (Robert E. Lee High School in Virginia is now Barack Obama High School). The Defense Department has indicated it will rename army bases currently named after Confederate generals. Overall, however, the vast majority of statues and names remain in place, some perhaps forever while others while public discussion continues.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2020 ordered the movement of several portraits of prior Speakers who had, after serving as leader of the House of Representatives, then rejected their U.S. citizenship to become leaders in the Confederacy. These portraits remain in the Capitol but now are found in less prominent locations, in essence reflecting their downfall from grace. The current decision by the state of Virginia to remove Robert E. Lee follows in this general reassessment of Confederate iconography. The moves are not restricted to Democratic leaders; Republican Governor Ron DeSantis spearheaded the effort to replace Florida’s statue of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith with black civil rights activist and educator, Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune also has a large statue in Lincoln Park, where the summer of 2020 saw efforts to save a statue of Lincoln and freedman Archer Alexander from destruction.

Other statues in statuary hall have been replaced for a variety of reasons by their sponsoring states. Ohio recently replaced a statue of former Governor William Allen with famed inventor Thomas Edison. In 2019, Nebraska replaced its statue of William Jennings Bryan with Ponca Chief Standing Bear. Ohio replaced James Harlan with agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug. In 2009, California replaced Thomas Starr King with former Governor and President Ronald Reagan. At least eight states have made recent replacements, seven have replacements pending, and three have replacements under consideration. Some of these are to replace Confederate statues, but most are for other reasons. Reevaluation of which icons of history each state wants to represent them are not unusual.

Which gets us back to Robert E. Lee. As a former Confederate state and location of the capital of the Confederacy, Virginia has had to assess and reevaluate its place in modern America. A statue of Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue in Richmond was torn down by vandals during the George Floyd protests. A large equestrian statue of “Stonewall” Jackson was removed by the state. The removal of the Lee statue from statuary hall is a continuation of this reassessment.

The likely replacement of Lee is civil rights activist Barbara Johns, who in 1951, at the age of 16, led a walkout at her segregated high school to protest substandard conditions. Her lawsuit against the county was folded into the landmark Brown v Board of Education case resulting in the Supreme Court decision declaring “separate but equal” unconstitutional. Johns would be the only teenager represented in statuary hall. The Commission for Historical Statues approved the Johns statue and the Virginia legislature is expected to agree, after which a sculptor will be commissioned.

As states, local communities, and in some cases, federal actors continue to reassess the historical record, we are likely to see an increased effort for more inclusive representation in public spaces. Each of us can play a role by communicating our views to lawmakers at all levels of government. Meanwhile, I will continue to examine the issues associated with Confederate monuments in future posts. I’ll also take a look at “overflow” of the Confederate monument debate into other potentially controversial figures such as Christopher Columbus, our slaveholding founding fathers, and remarkably, even Abraham Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as 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 Credit: Glynn Wilson, Why is Robert E. Lee’s Statue in the U.S. Capitol Not Yet the Subject of Controversy? | New American Journal]

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Lincoln in London – Wiegers Calendar December [Plus recap]

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Wiegers DecemberWell, we’ve made it through the year of the David Wiegers calendar and Lincoln has come full circle, arriving in London, UK. In January we started in Edinburgh, which as part of Scotland may or may not continue to be part of the United Kingdom post-Brexit.

I’ve been to London seven or eight times, but not since 2015, a week in which I spent most of my time Limping in London. It’s a very walkable city, at least in the touristy areas. And so much history. Outside the city I went out to Bath (where I drank 5,000-year-old water), saw Stonehenge (where I did not adjust the rocks for daylight savings time), and visited Windsor Castle (no, I did not meet the Queen). I have, however, met royalty in Serbia. I’m sure I’ll get back there some day so I can science travel the Royal Observatory.

For those who missed the series, I’ve been using the 2020 calendar by David Wiegers highlighting his photographs of Abraham Lincoln statues. This past year they are all statues placed overseas. It turns out Lincoln is very popular in foreign ports, even if I’ve sometimes missed seeing them even when I’ve been there. To recap, here are the links to the earlier posts. Click on the links to travel with me.

January – Edinburgh, Scotland

February – Quito, Ecuador

March – Asahikawa, Japan

April – Oslo, Norway

May – Manchester, England

June – Melbourne, Australia

July – Setubal, Portugal

August – Salzburg, Austria

September – Republic of San Marino

October – Paris, France

November – Republic of Singapore

December – London, England [<– You are here]

I had purchased the 2020 calendar from Dave at the Lincoln Forum in November 2019. The 2020 Forum was turned into a virtual event because of COVID so I ordered the 2021 calendar online sight unseen. According to Dave, the “calendar is in the mail,” so I should receive it soon. I’m looking forward to see where 2021 takes me.

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as 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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Can We Add Context to Confederate Monuments?

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Confederate monument exampleAs I continue to explore “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments,” a key question has arisen: Can we add context to Confederate monuments and keep them in place? [Note: Also see my post: Do we ‘erase history’ by removing confederate monuments?]

Most of the existing Confederate monuments (statues, as well as school, army base, and street names) remain standing in the locations in which they were placed over the last century. A small number have been removed, although removals are still occurring as local and state communities grapple with the question. A tiny number were pulled down during the racial justice protests in 2020. Little has been done to the remaining monuments, but there have been calls to leave them in place and add additional context.

A good illustration of the difficulties of adding context comes from a statue of Abraham Lincoln that had been targeted for forcible removal during the summer of 2020. The Emancipation Memorial, also called the Freedman’s Memorial, is not a Confederate statue. It was erected as a commemoration of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and freedom for enslaved African Americans. The funds for the statue were raised entirely from freed slaves and Frederick Douglass gave the keynote address at its dedication in 1876. The black male figure is modeled after a specific freed slave named Archer Alexander. This history would seem to make the statue immune to attack. However, the design includes a standing Lincoln with a crouched African American man breaking his chains and apparently rising to freedom. This “superior” positioning of a white male versus “inferior” positioning of a black male was controversial from the beginning (the funders had no say in the statue design). In our current time, the third time period reflected by all statues, many believe the design to be inappropriate. Historians and the public alike have debated what to do with the statue, if anything.

As with Confederate statues, some have suggested that the Emancipation Memorial can be augmented with additional context. So what context might be added?

Emancipation Memorial

Within a week after dedicating the Emancipation Memorial, Frederick Douglass expressed in a newspaper advertisement that the design had some problematic elements. He suggested that additional bronze figures might be added around the statue to complement, and more fully contextualize, the main Lincoln/Alexander artwork. Nothing was done at the time and today there is a legal problem in doing so. The statue is owned and maintained by the National Park Service, which is barred by law from removing – or adding – any additional statues. Given today’s congressional trend toward inaction, the idea of Congress passing a law to allow additional figures seems remote. [DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill in the summer of 2020 to have the Emancipation Memorial removed, but as of this writing no further action has occurred.]

Forgetting this logistical roadblock, historians and the public have offered various options for adding statues to provide a fuller picture. They include turning the statue again so that the Archer Alexander figure is looking across the park to the Mary McLeod Bethune statue. [The entire Emancipation Memorial statue had been turned 180 degrees in the 1970s to face the newly installed Bethune statue; Bethune was a black educator and civil rights activist] Others have suggested statues of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and/or Harriet Tubman be added. There is also a suggestion that the statue be replaced by one featuring Lincoln and Douglass standing together, eye-to-eye, shaking hands, which would show them as equal statesmen. As noted, however, the idea of adding statuary seems a losing battle on NPS land.

Another suggestion is to add signage with additional context. Again, the Emancipation Memorial shows the difficulty and apparent ineffectiveness of this option. During two “teach-ins” conducted in the summer of 2020 at the Emancipation Memorial, including one where protest activists expressed their contempt for the statue and attempted to arouse the gathered crowd to pull it down, many attendees said they were unaware of the history noted above (Funding by former slaves, Frederick Douglass dedication, Archer Alexander figure). And yet, the Memorial itself contains a large (3 foot x 5 foot) plaque on the side of the pedestal explaining the funding process, including that Charlotte Scott, a former slave, had contributed the first $5. People don’t read, or don’t remember, plaques. Howard University Lincoln scholar Edna Greene Medford recently noted that statues are built to be seen, not read. Given historical patterns, virtually no one would see, or retain, any additional context signage added to existing monuments.

Costs and logistics would also seem to be prohibitive. Any additional context signage would have to be permanent; paper or temporary billboard signage wouldn’t last long enough to be meaningful. This means that additional context would need to be included on permanent, probably bronze, plaques installed on or near the statues. It’s unclear that NPS limitations would allow even this change. Bronze (or marble or any other permanent material) is expensive. The cost and time to design, fund, get permissions, and build permanent addendums would require considerable time. It seems unlikely that 99% of existing monuments would ever see additional permanent contextual elements added.

When it comes to Confederate monuments the difficulties of context become even more acute. What additional context could be added to a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, for example? As I noted in response to a comment on the initial Confederate Monument post, Nathan Bedford Forrest’s historical context would obviously have to include his Confederate Army service, as well as his roles in the murders of black Union troops (USCT) at Ft. Pillow and elsewhere, as well as his role as grand dragon of the KKK. In all cases, the full story would need to be told. Would those wanting to preserve Confederate heritage want that story? Robert E. Lee’s story might include his service in the United States Army prior to rejecting the Union and fighting for the Confederacy to protect and expand slavery. His time after the war as president of Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee after his death) might be relevant if any of his actions were relevant to his standing. Similarly, Jefferson Davis forsook his United States citizenship and his prior service as U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Senator to become president of the Confederacy with the swore belief in white supremacy, slavery, and rejection of the U.S. Constitution. Again, what additional context would improve the historical position of Confederate leaders and generals in today’s society?

As we can see, there are significant roadblocks to adding context to Confederate monuments, both logistical and textual content.

The discussion above is primarily focused on adding contexts to statues in situ, that is where the statues are currently placed in public areas. Two other options have been suggested: One, to move statues into museums where context would be easier to add (e.g., they wouldn’t need to be as durable); the other is to move statues to battlefield locations or to special parks. I’ll address both of these ideas in future posts.

A reminder that this is a continuing series of posts addressing rational discussion of the fate of Confederate monuments. The initial post is: The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments. This and follow up posts are appended at the end of that post.

[Emancipation Memorial photo credit: David J. Kent; Confederate monument photo source: Confederate Statues Come Down Around U.S., But Not Everywhere : NPR]

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as 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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(Part 2) Abraham Lincoln – The Majesty and the Math of Niagara Falls

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Lincoln tightrope at Niagara Falls[This is Part 2. Read Part 1 here.]

Lincoln did appreciate the allure of the Falls. The very first impression in his fragment is “Niagara-Falls! By what mysterious power is it that millions and millions, are drawn from all parts of the world, to gaze upon Niagara Falls?” Kaplan, in his book “Biography of a Writer,” notes that the simplicity of the opening exclamatory “establishes the hugeness of his subject.” He further notes that “the exclamation point is both redundant and expressive,” signs of someone who appreciates the magnificence of the Falls. Lincoln’s sensitivity to the Falls’ is further shown in his fragment as he recognizes “its power to excite reflection, and emotion, is its great charm.” Therefore, it appears Lincoln did appreciate the beauty of the Falls, as well as the power of its attraction to people drawn from far and wide.

That said, Herndon is right in his observation that Lincoln had a problem-solver mentality. Seeing the Falls in person is an overwhelming experience. Yes, the beauty, the grandeur, the roar of the water falling into the misty gorge. But the astute Lincoln would also ponder where all that water comes from, and why does it not drain the lake? A systematic thinker would be curious about the larger technical issues of the falls, in addition to the beauty.

As Lincoln whiled away the long days and nights on the Globe as it worked its way through the Great Lakes, his mind was clearly on a future lecture on what he had seen at Niagara. Indeed, while he never completed his Niagara fragment, he did make mention of Niagara Falls in a draft of his later lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, before striking it out. In his analytical thinking, Lincoln did not believe there was any great mystery of the physics behind the falls itself.

“If the water moving onward in a great river, reaches a point where there is a perpendicular jog, of a hundred feet in descent, in the bottom of the river, Lincoln noted dryly, “it is plain the water will have a violent and continuous plunge at that point.” Having dropped off the edge, “thus plunging, will foam, and roar, and send up a mist.” If the sun is shining, it is only logical that “there will be perpetual rain-bows.”

Others may have been satisfied with the “mere physical” of Niagara Falls, or like Herndon, enthralled by the beauty without thinking too much about the science, but Lincoln’s analytical mind took this much further. He thought of the phenomenon from multiple viewpoints, a characteristic that allowed him to make decisions with both deeper and broader understanding than most people. Examining his fragment gives us further insight into that mind.

“The geologist will demonstrate,” Lincoln writes, as he envisioned how the vast movement of water wears away the rock as it plunges over the Falls, not just of the bottom, but more importantly, from the top. He speculated that that geologist would “ascertain how fast it is wearing now,” and determine from this that the Earth was “at least fourteen thousand years old.” This estimate is close to the time of the last Ice Age, which is when the Falls were formed.

Lincoln also showed he had some grasp of natural hydrology cycles, speculating that a natural philosopher “of a slightly different turn,” would look at Niagara as the pouring of “all the surplus water which rains down on two or three hundred thousand square miles of the earth’s surface.” He was remarkably accurate in this estimate; today’s scientists say the Niagara River and Lake Erie combined drain a watershed of 265,000 square miles. This same natural philosopher, according to Lincoln, might estimate “that five hundred thousand [to]ns of water, falls with its full weight, a distance of a hundred feet each minute—thus exerting a force equal to the lifting of the same weight, through the same space, in the same time.”

This is rather scientific stuff for a frontier lawyer with little formal education. Lincoln is writing this as he made his way back by steamer home from the East, so he would seem to be recalling all this from memory. But he did not stop there. Lincoln elaborates on this hydrology cycle by pulling in the role of the sun, which through the process of evaporation the water is “constantly lifted up.” He contemplates that if enough water is raised from the watershed to feed the Falls, this natural philosopher would be “overwhelmed in the contemplation of the vast power the sun is constantly exerting in quiet, noiseless operation of lifting water up to be rained down again.” This sounds like a science geek talking, not a future president. He would incorporate this view of solar power (as well as energy from the wind) in his later Discoveries and Inventions lecture.

“But still there is more.”

Lincoln was not finished. In the last paragraph of his Niagara fragment he turns philosophical. He suggests that Niagara Falls “calls up the indefinite past,” and “when Columbus first sought this continent—when Christ suffered on the cross—when Moses led Israel through the Red Sea—nay, even, when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker—then as now, Niagara was roaring here.” Lincoln also shows some familiarity with paleontology, noting that the “Mammoth and Mastodon,” whose existence is demonstrated by “fragments of their monstrous bones,” also “gazed on Niagara.” This section shows that Lincoln could be as philosophical as he could scientific.

Lincoln thus shows he is multidimensional in his thinking. While Herndon was enthralled by the beauty and power of the Falls, Lincoln saw the Falls as both beautiful and a learning experience. He contemplated not only its charm and power to excite emotion, but also its hydrology, geology, and natural science aspects. Keeping in mind that the Falls we see today are significantly lessened since the 1895 diversion of water into tunnels feeding the new hydroelectric plant, the site Lincoln saw must have been awe-inspiring indeed.

With Herndon notoriously lacking of a sense of humor, we also have to wonder whether Lincoln was pulling Herndon’s leg a bit with his initial reply to Herndon’s “deepest impression” query about the Falls. But clearly the events immediately following his brief visit were important in securing the technical aspects of the Falls in Lincoln’s already scientifically-primed mind, his “fascination from an early age with the human, the mechanical, and the natural, how things work in the world.”

Lincoln would once again get a chance to view the magnificence of the Falls. During a July 1857 trip to New York, ostensibly to collect an outstanding $5000 fee for a railroad case, Mary Lincoln notes that some portion of the trip was “spent most pleasantly traveling east,” with stops in “Niagara, Canada, and New York.” It is highly likely, as husband and wife gazed romantically upon the majesty of Niagara Falls, Lincoln was secretly doing a little math in his head.

[The above is adapted from my article by the same title in The Lincolnian, a publication of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia. If you missed Part 1 you can read it here.]

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as 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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(Part 1) Abraham Lincoln – The Majesty and the Math of Niagara Falls

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Niagara FallsAbraham Lincoln was fascinated by science and technology. In his personal life he sought to improve his knowledge, studying not only the law but Euclid geometry, astronomy, and various forms of technology-driven improvement. As President he was often the first man inventors (and hucksters) would seek out with their new devices. He even had a patent, the first and only President ever to receive one. But perhaps the best way to highlight Lincoln’s way of thinking would be to examine the incredulous response to a question from his law partner, William Herndon.

Lincoln was on his way back to Illinois in 1848 during the intercession of his single term as a US Congressman. It was a presidential year so Lincoln, as a prominent Whig in Congress, gladly accepted an invitation to stump for Zachary Taylor on his first visit to New England. Joined by Mary and their two young sons, Robert at 5 and Eddy at 2-1/2, he made his way to Boston, which he used as a base to make day trips to various cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts. Lobbying for Taylor would later prove to be time well spent when it came to his own presidential aspirations, as would his second New England tour in 1860 following the renowned Cooper Union speech.

After an exhausting 11 days in which he gave 12 speeches in nine Massachusetts communities, Lincoln and family were ready to make the long trip home. Taking a train from Boston to New York City, then on to Albany, Lincoln eventually found his way to upstate New York and the fabled Niagara Falls. Formed during the last Ice Age, Niagara Falls consists of three separate falls: American and Bridal Veil Falls on the American side of the international border, and Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. The Falls have a vertical drop of over 165 feet, but because of the incredible width of the combined falls it has an average flow of 4 million cubic feet per minute. Seeing the massive volume of water crossing the precipice into the gorge is something most visitors do not soon forget.

Following his all-too-brief visit, Lincoln boarded the steamship Globe for the trip through the Great Lakes and on to Chicago, from whence he, with family in tow, traveled via the Illinois and Michigan Canal to LaSalle, then took a steamer to Peoria, before boarding a stagecoach for the final leg back to Springfield. Tired and cranky from the long journey, Lincoln caught up with his law practice for several weeks before the next session of Congress would call him back to Washington. After finishing his term as Congressman in 1849, Lincoln returned to Springfield and threw himself into his law career full time. Busy with his law practice, Lincoln likely did not have much time to think about Niagara.

At some later point, William Herndon also went to New York and made his way back by way of Niagara Falls. A few days after Herndon’s return he was regaling Lincoln with an account of his trip. In describing Niagara he “indulged in a good deal of imagery.” Herndon relates that:

“As I warmed up with the subject my descriptive powers expanded accordingly. The mad rush of water, the roar, the rapids, and the rainbow furnished me with an abundance of material for a stirring and impressive picture. The recollection of the gigantic and awe-inspiring scene stimulated my exuberant powers to the highest pitch.”

Nearly exhausted with this description, Herndon then asked Lincoln of his opinion of Niagara Falls. “What made the deepest impression on you when you stood in the presence of the great natural wonder?” he queried Lincoln, expecting something equally imagery-indulgent.

“The thing that struck me most forcibly when I saw the Falls,” Lincoln said, “was, where in the world did all that water come from?”

Dumbfounded, the humorless Herndon could not believe his ears. The beauty! The splendor! Had the man not opened his eyes to the sight before him? Had he not opened his ears to the thundering roar of the water splashing into the mist below?

Herndon’s explanation of Lincoln’s answer was that “it in a very characteristic way illustrates how he looked at everything.” Elaborating, Herndon added:

“He had no eye for the magnificence and grandeur of the scene, for the rapids, the mist, the angry waters, and the roar of the whirlpool, but his mind, working in its accustomed channel, heedless of beauty or awe, followed irresistibly back to the first cause. It was in this light he viewed every question. However great the verbal foliage that concealed the nakedness of a good idea Lincoln stripped it all down till he could see clear the way between cause and effect. If there was any secret in his power this surely was it.”

Herndon undoubtedly is not giving Lincoln enough credit for imagination here. While clearly an analytical thinker, Lincoln was not so divorced from emotion that he would fail to be impressed with the “magnificence and grandeur” of Niagara Falls.

A clue to how Herndon may have focused on this part of Lincoln’s response is in his biography of Lincoln immediately following the above passage about Niagara Falls. Herndon notes that after seeing the Falls, Lincoln continued his journey homeward. Immediately after his visit, while still on the long arduous journey, he took the time to compose a literary fragment likely intended for one of his future scientific lectures. He also found himself witness to an incident that coupled the science and technology of his recent visit to the Falls.

As the steamship Globe made its way through the narrow Detroit River passing between Lakes Erie and Huron, it overtook another steamer, the Canada, which had run aground on Fighting Island. Stuck fast, the Captain ordered the hands to collect “all the loose planks, empty barrels, boxes, and the like which could be had” and force them under her hull to buoy the ship higher in the water. This effort eventually allowed the Canada to escape her entrapment, but not until a few days after Lincoln and the Globe had passed into Lake Huron on their continuing voyage to Chicago. Ever the inquisitive one, and remembering his own experiences getting stuck on the New Salem dam back on the Sangamon, Lincoln was completely enthralled with the ongoing operation. The incident got him thinking seriously about how to solve this particular kind of problem.

Not long after, he would develop his own “improved method of lifting vessels over shoals,” for which, in May 1849, he received a patent, the only U.S. President to do so.

All of this was likely on Lincoln’s mind when Herndon asked him about his “deepest impressions” of Niagara Falls. To Herndon, the Falls he had just visited were fresh in his mind, as was the beauty and grandeur. For Lincoln, the awe-inspiring view was only part of a much more complicated memory from a brief visit to the Falls that also included witnessing the attempt to free a grounded steamship, his old memories of his personal standing on the Sangamon, and the subsequent development of an invention to overcome shoals. Added to his natural affection for science and technology and his boatman’s experience, and it is not surprising that he would relate the Falls to the more scientific question of how much water comes over it.

Still, Lincoln did appreciate the allure of the Falls. We’ll talk about that in Part 2.

[The above is adapted from my article by the same title in The Lincolnian, a publication of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia. You can read Part 2 here.]

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as 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 credit: David J. Kent]