Tag: Lincoln Group of DC

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Lincoln Group of DC Joins Facebook…and More!

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LGDC logoFounded in 1935, the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (LGDC) has been instrumental in celebrating the life and times of our 16th President – Abraham Lincoln. And now LGDC is going digital. Yes, Abraham Lincoln has a Facebook page.

But wait, there’s more.

The Lincoln Group of DC also has a new LinkedIn group page.

We also have a Twitter handle (@LGDC2).

Somewhere down the line we may expand into Google+, YouTube, and whatever other social networking sites seem appropriate for our membership and fans. Until then please take a moment to “Like,” “Join,” and “Follow” the Lincoln Group of DC.

To Like our LGDC Facebook page, click here ———–> LGDC Facebook

To Join our LGDC LinkedIn group, click here ————> LGDC LinkedIn

To Follow our LGDC Twitter feed, click here ————> LGDC Twitter

To bookmark our LGDC website, click here ————-> LGDC website

Because we are in the midst of the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the Civil War, the Lincoln Group of DC has a steady stream of events going on right now. Check our LGDC website for more details on the following:

June 28th: Picnic and motorcoach tour of The Battle of Monocacy and Fort Stevens

August 2nd: “Lincoln’s War on Slavery in 1864”

August 16th: Author James Conroy speaking on “Our One Common Country, Abraham Lincoln and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865”

September: LGDC book club starts a new book, Michael Burlingame’s “The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln.” [With a special appearance for those who participate]

There is a lot more, of course. The Lincoln Group of DC is one of the country’s foremost gathering of Abraham Lincoln experts. Membership is a must for anyone interested in our 16th President or the Civil War. Everyone is welcome to join LGDC and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Check us out!

LGDC banner

David J. Kent is a lifelong Lincolnophile and is currently working on a book about Abraham Lincoln’s interest in science and technology. He is also the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and a soon-to-be-released ebook on Tesla and Renewable Energy.

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Abraham Lincoln Book Club of Washington DC

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The Abraham Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia has a book club. And this past weekend we finished reading Herndon’s Lincoln, the book that we’ve been discussing for the last nine months. In my earlier review I noted that this particular edition of the book was greatly enhanced by the incredible editorial annotation by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis. Even more invaluable was the input from the book members themselves.

I should emphasize that our Lincoln Group book club includes several historians, archivists, researchers, and all-around Abraham Lincoln scholars. We also had people who had little previous knowledge of Lincoln. Each of us brought our own preconceptions, backgrounds, and opinions, which when informed further by the personal insights of Herndon and others who knew Lincoln, made for lively and sometimes surprising discussions. Arising from the three-quarter-year analysis was a much deeper understanding of both the book and Abraham Lincoln. I think everyone in the group would agree that it was a worthwhile and special experience.

LGDC book discussion group

This last session was special in another sense as well. Because of a last minute scheduling conflict we were not able to use the room that has been our home base for the last nine months. Normally we meet on the 5th floor of the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership, across the street from the famous site of Lincoln’s assassination and next to the Petersen House, where Lincoln died.

Our backup plan was Ford’s Theatre itself, or more accurately, the conference room on the top floor of Ford’s Theatre. Bypassing the lines queued up for the matinee of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, we found the entrance to an elegant conference room tucked into the rafters of the theater. Here is the view from the top as the audience filed in for the performance.

Ford's Theatre from the rafters

George Healey’s famous painting of Abraham Lincoln loomed over our group as we discussed the final chapters. Imagine sitting in a room discussing the motivations of the man gazing in thoughtful contemplation over your left shoulder. No, we weren’t intimidated. Much.

LGDC book club

Abe did photobomb the apparently requisite selfie at such grandiose events. Left to right are John Elliff, Richard Margolies (our esteemed discussion leader), Abe, Me, and Rodney Ross.

Selfie

While a bit of Lincolnesque melancholy was felt with the ending of this past year’s discussion, a new birth of excitement was in the air because we had chosen the next book for discussion – The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln by noted Lincoln scholar, Michael Burlingame. Even more exciting is that, thanks to Rod Ross, Michael Burlingame has agreed to speak to our discussion group on November 1st. Check out the LGDC site for more details as they emerge.

For those in the Washington DC area with an interest in Abraham Lincoln, please consider our Lincoln Group book club. You don’t have to be a Lincoln expert to join; you just have to read the book. It doesn’t get much easier than that. And the rewards?

Priceless!

David J. Kent is an avid Lincolnophile and the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. You can order a signed copy directly from me, download the ebook at barnesandnoble.com, and find hard copies at Barnes and Noble bookstores, as well as online at B&N.com and Amazon.com.

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Herndon’s Lincoln by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (Edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis)

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Herndon's LincolnThis is an extraordinary book, for several reasons. First, William H. Herndon was Abraham Lincoln’s law partner for sixteen years prior to Lincoln becoming President. Second, because Herndon spent several years after Lincoln’s assassination writing to and interviewing scores of people who knew Lincoln during his life and career up to the presidency. Third, because editors Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis have done an extraordinary job digging into Herndon and Weik’s original letters and notes to discern between actual reporting and embellishment. There have been many versions of Herndon’s Lincoln produced in the years since its 1889 release, but Wilson and Davis’ voluminous and informative endnotes make this edition superior.

Herndon has been accused of being too biased in discussing Lincoln’s relationship with his father and with Mary Lincoln, and of seriously embellishing the story of Ann Rutledge. Nevertheless, he tirelessly undertook an effort to document Lincoln’s history through his interviews of those who knew him best. Herndon’s efforts at collecting this information, along with Weik’s effort to get the book written, have provided an invaluable service to everyone who wants to better understand our sixteenth President. Wilson and Davis complete the picture by helping us sift through what is supported, what is embellishment, and what is still a mystery. Herndon’s Informants, another volume edited by Wilson and Davis, is a must-have corollary to Herndon’s Lincoln as it contains the full text of each letter and interview conducted by Herndon. I highly recommend both.

I should note this edition of Herndon’s Lincoln was the book we read this year in our Lincoln Group of DC book club.

LGDC book discussion group

We started reading the book in September 2013 and will have our last monthly meeting in early May 2014, at which time we’ll also discuss the book we’ll read this coming year. [Check out the website for more information on how to join us.] The insights arising from the varying views offered by other book club members were as invaluable as the Wilson and Davis notes. The discussion helped bring the book to life.

David J. Kent is an avid Lincolnophile and the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. You can order a signed copy directly from me, download the ebook at barnesandnoble.com, and find hard copies at Barnes and Noble bookstores, as well as online at B&N.com and Amazon.com.

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page.  And feel free to “Like” my Facebook author’s page and connect on LinkedIn.  Share with your friends using the buttons below.

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Douglas L. Wilson and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

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This year marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. On October 22nd Lincoln scholar Douglas L. Wilson delved into the address during his visit with the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (LGDC). Wilson is the co-Director of Knox College Lincoln Studies Center located in Galesburg, Illinois, site of one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. It was a great event. Even CSPAN was there.

Douglas L. Wilson

While we are all familiar with the Gettysburg Address – most of us probably had to memorize the “Four score and seven years ago” speech in high school – most people don’t know that there are five versions written in Lincoln’s hand. And they aren’t all the same. Remember that there were no photocopying machines in 1863 so Lincoln actually had to write out each copy with pen and ink. [Read more about the various copies here]

One major difference that Douglas talked about is a sentence that was in the Nicolay version – believed to be the earliest draft – and all of the other versions. The Nicolay version includes the following line:

“This we may, in all propriety do.”

Hmmm, not very inspiring, is it. Luckily for posterity Lincoln removed the sentence and replaced it with the more familiar:

“It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”

Much better.

Some have argued that the Nicolay copy is the version that Lincoln read from when delivering the address on November 19, 1863. Wilson notes that this is unlikely because of the above and a few other changes. The Hay version more closely tracks the two supposedly verbatim transcriptions of the address taken by reporters at the time of the speech. The other copies were made at the request of Edward Everett (the actual keynote speaker at Gettysburg), George Bancroft, and Col. Alexander Bliss. There are only minor differences in these copies. The Bliss copy currently resides in the White House while the Nicolay and Hay copies are at the Library of Congress.

loc gettysburg address

Wilson offered many other insights into the Gettysburg Address and took many questions from the Lincoln Group attendees. Prior to dinner Wilson signed three of his books that I had brought from my collection. One of his books, edited along with Rodney O. Davis (his co-Director at the Lincoln Studies Center), is Herndon’s Lincoln, an updated and annotated version of the book William H. Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, had published in 1889). I have a first edition of Herndon’s three-volume set, but Wilson and Davis’ annotated version is much more valuable as a research tool. Often I’ll read a story that Herndon’s informants had told him about Lincoln’s past, only to find out in the notes that the story may not actually be supported by fact. It is this kind of scholarly work that makes study of Abraham Lincoln so fruitful, even after the 15,000 volumes on the man that are estimated to exist.

Herndon's Lincoln signed

I highly recommend Douglas L. Wilson‘s other books as well, Herndon’s Informants, Honor’s Voice, and Lincoln’s Sword. Thanks to Wilson and the LGDC, I not only have more insight into the Gettysburg Address, I have three new signatures in books on my shelves.

The full Douglas L. Wilson presentation at the Lincoln Group of DC is now available on C-SPAN.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two 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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William Seward and Walter Stahr – Double Signed

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William Henry Seward was Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State. Everyone knows that. Seward also bought Alaska (aka, “Seward’s Folly”). Many people know that. But Seward also was one of Lincoln’s biggest rivals, then became one of his closest friends. And as author Walter Stahr reminds us, Seward was Lincoln’s Indispensable Man.

The latter is the subtitle to Stahr’s biography called, simply, Seward. Stahr traces Seward’s rise as “progressive governor of New York, outspoken federal senator, odds-on favorite to win the 1860 Republican nomination, secretary of state during the Civil War and its aftermath, Lincoln’s closest friend and adviser, target of the assassins who killed Lincoln, purchaser of Alaska, early architect of America’s empire.”

If that sounds like a lot, it is. Arguably Lincoln might have lost the nation before he even started his presidency if Seward hadn’t been enlisted to help glue together a country that was in the process of tearing itself apart. Luckily for the country, William Seward was there. And luckily for me, Walter Stahr was the guest speaker at our monthly Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia dinner.

Walter Stahr at Lincoln Group of DC

I had a chance to talk briefly with Stahr prior to his talk. He clearly knows his stuff. He spent about five years researching Seward for the book, just as he had for his previous book about founding father John Jay. Speaking to a roomful of Lincoln scholars (who know a thing or two about William Seward), Stahr provided us with some fascinating insights that made many of us want to learn more. We all gained immensely from his knowledge.

I also gained a bit of a red face. I had brought my copy of Seward to have Stahr autograph it, which he gladly proceeded to do. Only to find that he already had. Ugh. It was then that I realized I had ordered the book directly from the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. The ALBS has a fantastic feature in which you can order online and then watch the author sign the book for you via live-streamed video. He signed it specifically to me at the time. Ah, but as you can see in the photo below, Stahr graciously covered my embarrassment by signing the book again, in person. 🙂

Seward by Walter Stahr

In the end I got a two-fer. A fantastic lecture by a distinguished author and scholar, and a double-signed book to add to my collection. Not a bad deal at all.

More about Walter Stahr. View his talk at the 2013 Library of Congress Book Festival.

More about the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia.

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book is on Abraham Lincoln, due out in 2017.

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Frank Smith to Speak to the Lincoln Group of DC on the Emancipation Proclamation

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Frank Smith_smallDr. Frank Smith, Jr. will be the speaker at the Abraham Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia‘s monthly dinner event. In keeping with the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, Smith will discuss “The Emancipation Proclamation: Saving the Union and Paving the Way to Freedom and Democracy.”

Dr. Smith attended Morehouse College in the early 1960s before becoming an activist in the civil rights movement and playing a leadership role in organizing protests and marches for civil rights in Mississippi during “Freedom Summer” (1964). He later moved to Washington DC, where he was active in the community before being elected to the DC Board of Education and then the DC City Council where he served for 16 years.

One of his prize achievements was as Chairman of the Board and CEO of the organization that established the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum. The African-American Civil War Memorial – The Spirit of Freedom – stands at the intersection of 10th and U Street (corner of Vermont Avenue) in Washington, DC.

African American Civil War Memorial

In 2011 Dr. Smith was interviewed on the Black Eagle radio program by host Joe Madison. The video below shows Smith discussing the claim that African-American slaves chose to fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YunYGr7VYnA&hl=en_US&version=3]

I’ll post more on Dr. Smith’s presentation after the event.

More about Abraham Lincoln.

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It’s Abraham Lincoln Group Night in Washington DC

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Abraham LincolnOnce a month I attend the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia. The non-profit group has been around for four score minus three years and is dedicated to sharing the history and study of Abraham Lincoln. As the longest continuously active Lincoln society in the United States the Lincoln Group of DC boasts some of the most notable Lincoln scholars extant.

Tonight’s dinner will be followed by a presentation on the Supreme Court and the Civil War by Roberta and Lydon Swartzendruber. These two scholars will…

…trace the origin and consequences of this conflict and explore the interactions between the full Supreme Court and the conduct of the war. During his tenure as president, Lincoln appointed five Supreme Court Justices. His appointments, his handling of the court, and the response of the court to the challenge of balancing civil liberties with the war powers of congress and the president, had important consequences for the outcome of the war and for the recovery of the nation following the war.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s event.

More information on the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia can be found on our web site.

More information on my Abraham Lincoln activities is on my Abraham Lincoln page.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two 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!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.