Tag: Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America

2 Comments

Lincoln Explains to Conkling Why the Emancipation Proclamation Was Necessary

  By

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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

7 Comments

Abraham Lincoln’s Introduction to Slavery

  By

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

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

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

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

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

And further, he said they believed:

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

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

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

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

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

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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

 

2 Comments

Abraham Lincoln LEADing Emerging Leaders

  By

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is so cool.

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

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

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

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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

4 Comments

Lincoln Takes Tad to Richmond on His Birthday

  By

Lincoln and TadOn April 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln took his son Tad into the city of Richmond, Virginia. The city had fallen the day before into Union hands two days before. It was Tad’s 12th birthday.

Tad was born Thomas Lincoln III, in 1853. He was named after Lincoln’s somewhat estranged father, but everyone called him Tad because as an infant he had a large head and was as wiggly as a tadpole. Tad was born with a partial cleft palate that was not externally noticeable but gave him a lisp and made his speech difficult to understand. He and Willie ran ramshackle over the White House until Willie’s premature demise, after which Lincoln doted on Tad to the extreme.

In late March 1865, General Grant had invited Lincoln to City Point (near Petersburg), to which Lincoln immediately accepted. He was not alone; Mary insisted on joining him, so a party including Tad Lincoln, a maid, a bodyguard, and a military aide boarded the River Queen on March 23 for the trip. Son Robert, now an adjunct to Grant’s army, met them on their arrival the next evening. Lincoln took time to visit the troops and confer with Generals Grant and Sherman and Admiral David Porter. Overall it was a restful but productive visit. That changed when Mary Lincoln flew into a jealous rage at seeing General Ord’s wife riding “too close” to her husband, after which Lincoln sent Mary back to Washington. Soon after her departure, however, the Union captured Richmond, which the Confederate leadership had abandoned. She insisted on returning, this time bringing a large entourage that included her ex-slave dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley, who had been born in nearby Petersburg.

During Mary’s absence, Lincoln took Tad into Richmond. After landing at the docks, Lincoln and Tad walked the mile or so to the Confederate White House that had served until a few days earlier as Jefferson Davis’s office. Surrounding him along the way were hundreds of ex-slaves who wanted to see the “Great Emancipator,” while anxious white southerners stared suspiciously from their windows.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had fled the city on April 2nd, boarding the last open railroad line further south. Retreating soldiers set fire to bridges, the Richmond armory, and various supply warehouses. Untended, the fires grew out of control and large parts of Richmond were destroyed. The city was surrendered to Union officers the next day. Since Lincoln was relatively nearby, he chose to visit the former Confederate capital, bringing along Tad. For Tad, this was a best birthday celebration ever, as he enjoyed wearing military uniforms and “playing soldier,” much to the chagrin of the White House staff and cabinet.

A statue of Lincoln and Tad was erected in modern times at the site of Tredegar Iron Works.

Lincoln and Tad in Richmond

Before heading back to Washington, Lincoln visited the Depot Field Hospital at City Point. Over the course of a full day he shook the hands of more than 6,000 patients, including a few sick and wounded Confederate soldiers. Feeling the pressure of business, Lincoln left City Point to return to Washington on the evening of April 8. The next day, Lee surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the war.

A week later Lincoln would die from an assassin’s bullet.

Tad survived the trauma of his father’s assassination and his mother’s near-insanity only to die at 18 years old when a common cold developed into severe damage to his lungs. Of Abraham and Mary’s four children, only the oldest, Robert, would live to adulthood.

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

[Photo Credit of Lincoln and Tad statue: Riverfront.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 (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and 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!

One Comment

Abraham Lincoln Meets Joshua Speed…and Mary Todd

  By

Abe and MaryAfter an unfortunate breakup with a woman named Mary Owens, and with negotiations over moving the capital from Vandalia to Springfield under way, Abraham Lincoln decided to leave New Salem for the big city. The move was advantageous.

But he was broke. Even with his full pay for the last session of the state legislature in hand, Lincoln rode his old horse to Springfield deep in debt. Upon arrival, one of his companions on the trip, William Butler, sold Lincoln’s horse without telling him, paid off his debts, and moved his saddlebags into the Butler household about fourteen miles out of town. Lincoln continued taking his meals at the Butlers without charge for the next five years. After a while Lincoln decided he needed to find a place in town, and he rode in on a borrowed horse with his saddlebags, a few law books, and the clothes on his back seeking residence. His first stop was Joshua Speed’s store. According to Speed, Lincoln asked “what the furniture for a single bedstead would cost.” Putting pencil to paper, Speed told him the sum would be seventeen dollars. Taken aback, Lincoln agreed it was probably a fair price but replied, “If you will credit me to Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer is a success, I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably never be able to pay you at all.” Seeing his forlorn look, Speed offered:

I think I can suggest a plan by which you will be able to attain your end, without incurring any debt. I have a very large room, and a very large double-bed in it; which you are perfectly welcome to share with me if you choose.

“Where is your room?” asked Lincoln. Speed pointed to the stairs leading from the store to his room. Saying nothing, Lincoln took his saddlebags, went up the stairs, tossed them on the floor, and returned “beaming with pleasure” to say:

“Well, Speed, I’m moved.”

Lincoln shared the room with Speed for the next three-and-a-half years, often with other store clerks and assistants. One such clerk was a very young William Herndon, who later went into partnership with Lincoln. The atmosphere was jovial, and Lincoln was his usual story-telling self. Speed became Lincoln’s closest friend and confidant for the rest of his life, even though Speed eventually returned to his slave-holding family in Kentucky. As was common between men of those days, the two shared their most intimate vulnerabilities, a relationship that rivaled any of Lincoln’s romantic loves. When Speed questioned his affection for the woman he was about to marry, Lincoln helped him through the doubts. Later, when Lincoln was going through the same process, he turned to the happily married Speed for advice. He was seeking counsel regarding his relationship with Mary Todd.

On March 27, 1842, after an on-again, off-again courting of Mary Todd, Lincoln wrote to his friend, Joshua F. Speed, who had by that time moved back to his plantation in Louisville, Kentucky. Lincoln had abruptly broken off the engagement over a year before and it was eating at him.

“Since then, it seems to me, I should have been entirely happy, but for the never-absent idea, that there is one still unhappy whom I have contributed to make so. That still kills my soul. I can not but reproach myself, for even wishing to be happy while she is otherwise.”

Speed managed to counsel his old friend and sometime in 1842 Mary and Lincoln began secretly courting again. Despite her sister Elizabeth’s opposition, the two often met at the Edwards house and sat on the low couch for hours, talking about life and love. Likely they also discussed politics, as by this time Lincoln was actively involved in Whig party activities and Mary was as ambitious as he, perhaps even more so. Their romance bloomed again, enough that Mary flirtatiously and anonymously wrote a letter backing up Lincoln’s own anonymous letter to the local paper mocking James Shields, a political rival. Shields, feeling his honor had been attacked, challenged Lincoln to a duel. Lincoln tried to back out of it, but when Shields insisted, the tall and muscular Lincoln offered up heavy broadswords as weapon of choice. Faced with a severe disadvantage, the short-armed Shields allowed himself to be talked out of the fight.

To the astonishment of the Springfield social set, Lincoln and Mary suddenly decided they would get married—that night. Elizabeth Edwards claimed the wedding occurred with only two hours’ notice, and indeed the marriage license was issued that very day. Lincoln had a “deer in the highlights” look as he approached the hurried ceremony in the Edwards parlor. According to friends, when Lincoln was dressing for ceremony he was asked where he was going, to which he replied, “I guess I’m going to hell.” At least one Lincoln scholar believes Mary may have seduced Lincoln the night before into doing something that obligated him to marriage. Whatever the reason, they were married on November 4, 1842. A week later he seemed resigned to the fact, closing a business letter with:

“Nothing new here except my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder.”

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

[Photo Credit: Photo of print by Lloyd Ostendorf]

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 (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and 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!

2 Comments

Surprise Endorsements on the Internet

  By ,

As an author, every once in a while I find a pleasant surprise on the amorphous conglomerate known as the world wide web, aka “the net,” “the internet,” or if you’re a fan of G.W. Bush, “the internets.” I recently came across a few endorsements of my books in unexpected places.

The first is from the Czech Republic. Yes, you read that correctly. My Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity book, in addition to its eight printings in the US, has been translated into at least four foreign languages, including Czech. Which led me to this:

I have no idea what she’s saying, but from the expression on her face and body language I assume it is good.

Also popping up in my feed one day was a review of the Tesla book by the Red Dirt Report, an Oklahoma-based independent news blog. The review is demonstrably positive and notes that the book is:

Simple and easy to read, the book Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity by David J. Kent is great for one who doesn’t know the story of the mythic scientist…

 

Meanwhile, my Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time e-book was cited inTesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time an article published in Big Think, an online science and Technology publication. Article author Paul Ratner notes:

As historian David J. Kent writes, to tap into the kinetic energy generated by the rushing Niagara, some of the water going over the Falls was sent through a long tunnel where it turned a series of turbines, which converted energy into mechanical energy that created electricity.

Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America

 

My newest book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, has been in the news as well. Still available in Barnes and Noble stores nationwide and as a Nook and Kindle e-book, it turns out it’s also available as a Kobo e-book.

My Lincoln book was also mentioned in an article published in the Chicago Tribune called “Who needs another Lincoln biography? We do – and here’s why.” I get mentioned along with works by Sidney Blumenthal (yes, that Sidney Blumenthal, whom I talked to again at the recent ALI symposium), Fred Kaplan, and Richard Kigel.

It doesn’t stop there. Lincoln has been nominated for two prestigious book awards, been featured on three episodes of the Railsplitter podcast, been reviewed in Civil War Times, and been chosen to support the LEAD Spirit of Lincoln Youth Leadership Academy for 2018. In fact, I’ve just learned that Lincoln has once again been chosen for the 2019 LEAD program. I may even be able to join them during my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour, Part 3.

I’ll end by asking a favor. If you come across any mentions of me or my books in any kind of media, please drop me a line and let me know. I very much appreciate it!

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 (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and 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!

One Comment

My Book Review in Civil War Times Magazine

  By

Last year my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, was reviewed by Jonathan W. White in Civil War Times, the preeminent Civil War magazine. And now I’ve written a book review that is published in the most recent issue of Civil War Times.

The book I reviewed is called Leadership in Turbulent Times and is written by noted presidential scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin. 

My CWT ReviewMost people of heard of Doris Kearns Goodwin from her bestselling book, Team of Rivals, about Abraham Lincoln picking many of his political rivals to key cabinet positions. Initially well sold, it got a huge boost after then-candidate Barack Obama was seen carrying it on the campaign trail prior to his 2008 election, then again when Obama picked his rival Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, much like Lincoln put William Seward in that position. Another boost came from Steven Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln, which was based on a tiny part of Goodwin’s book.

Goodwin has written several other biographies of American presidents, including Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and her one-time boss, Lyndon Johnson. She draws on all of these to extract leadership qualities exhibited by the four men, each of whom faced significant crises during their terms as president.

As I note in the review, she parses out each man’s characteristics separately and doesn’t explicitly compare their leadership traits. It becomes clear that each man was different in how they led, with these differences reflective both of their own personalities and the needs of the times they lived in. It’s an interesting book from which readers should gain a lot of thoughtful insight.

This is my first published book review in a national magazine, although not my first published book review. Since late 2015 I’ve published two dozen book reviews in The Lincolnian, the quarterly newsletter of the Lincoln Group of DC. There are many more reviews to come, including one for a book sent to me by the publisher that will appear in the next issue. I also hope to do more book reviews in Civil War Times and other national magazines. In addition, I’ll be pitching some article ideas that I hope will garner interest.

Up to this point my main writing focus has been on books, but my goals for 2019 include writing more magazine articles and entering more writing contests. This review of Goodwin’s book counts towards the former and I’ve already entered one contest (I’ll know if I made the cut by the end of the month).

If you haven’t seen Jonathan W. White’s review of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, here is a photo of the page in Civil War Times. You can read more about the review in this previous article.

Jonathan White review of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved AmericaDavid 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 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!

 

3 Comments

The Year in a Writer’s Life – 2018

  By

David J Kent, WriterThe year 2018 in a writer’s life was good. Well, kind of up and down, really. Okay, let’s just call it a year of transition. And that is actually a good thing.

This year was the first in which I published exactly zero new books since I started my writing career. My Tesla book came out in 2013; two e-books on Tesla and Tesla/Lincoln were released in 2014 and 2015, respectively; 2016 saw Edison; and 2017 was the year of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. No new books doesn’t mean inactivity. New printings for Tesla and Lincoln were put into Barnes and Noble stores in 2018, and the rights for foreign editions padded my semiannual royalty checks.

I had planned for 2018 to be the year I started writing more for magazines and other freelance outlets, but my busy travel schedule and other distractions kept me from making much effort in that regard. I also didn’t follow through on my goal to enter writing competitions. For the same reasons, fewer blog posts here on Science Traveler and Hot White Snow passed through my typing fingers, and The Dake Page has been grossly neglected. I’ll spend more time on them in 2019.

But the really good news is that my work was wonderfully recognized on several fronts. In addition to the 8th printing of Tesla and 2nd printing of Lincoln, my Lincoln book received quite a few accolades. In 2018 it received its second nomination for book awards, was overwhelmingly selected as the very first book for the new Railsplitter podcast book club (3 podcasts and on-air interview), was chosen as a resource for the Illinois LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Youth Academy Program, and received a published review in Civil War Times magazine. The book even got mentioned in a Chicago Tribune article on Lincoln scholarship.

The Railsplitter podcast wasn’t my only interview. I had the privilege of being interviewed on Facebook Live by Coffee Party founder and influential filmmaker Annabel Park. The interview, co-hosted with fellow scientist Bob Scheuplein, garnered over 11,000 views. Annabel recently suggested another interview on the topic of leadership, which will likely happen early in the new year. Also coming up in January will be an on-air interview about Nikola Tesla with the Voice of America. I also did a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” program this past January that was highly successful, plus was featured on C-SPAN for a presentation I gave at the Lincoln Group of DC.

While no new books came out in 2018, I do have several books in the works. I made progress on my new Lincoln book and hope to get it to a publisher this year. I also began the process for a book that I will edit, with chapters by various Lincoln scholars. I’m about halfway through a draft of a travel memoir. If that wasn’t enough to keep me busy, in December I wrote the first draft of a short story I’ll enter into a writing competition in January, as well as started writing a historical science fiction novel, my first real long-form fiction attempt.

So 2018 was a very good year even though I didn’t have any new books come out. The ones I’m working on now will be different from my earlier books, which were heavy on graphics and targeted a general reading public. My next Lincoln book(s) is more deeply scholarly on a specific subject, and the other books take inspiration from Bill Bryson and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

My goals for 2019 include following through on more magazine and competition writing. I’m off to a good start as I’ve already submitted a short piece that should be published in Civil War Times soon and the first contest submission date I’m shooting for is mid-January. I’ll focus on getting the Lincoln book out the door, with the others being squeezed into “free” time for future release. Meanwhile, I’ll continue traveling (I already have trips booked to Costa Rica and Cuba) and make more of an effort to write travel-related magazine articles. I’ll also continue to be highly active in the Lincoln Group of DC. More on those topics in later posts.

Several unexpected deaths of colleagues, relatives, and friends this year reinforced the idea that our lives are fleeting and we must make every effort to enjoy the time we have on this earth. So from me to you, set your goals high, live life, and love all.

Happy New Year! May 2019 exceed your greatest imagination!

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 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!

 

No comments

Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address

  By

Lincoln: The Man Who Saved AmericaUnion victories were coming more frequently in the late summer and fall of 1863, although not universally, as a loss at Chickamauga and the New York draft riots would attest. But now it was time for a more somber occasion.

Because so many soldiers had perished during the three-day battle at Gettysburg, a committee was set up to dedicate a cemetery to those who died there. Committee chairman David Wills invited the President to offer “a few appropriate remarks” to “formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use.”

On a chilly November 19, Lincoln addressed the crowd after the oration by keynote speaker Edward Everett. Lincoln sat on the speaker’s platform and listened to an opening prayer, music from the Marine Band, and Everett’s two-hour discourse on “The Battles of Gettysburg.” Following another short hymn sung by the Baltimore Glee Club, Lincoln rose to speak. He finished a mere two minutes later, so fleeting that many in the crowd largely missed his dedicatory remarks.

While Everett’s much longer keynote, resplendent with neo-classical references and nineteenth-century rhetorical style, was well received, generations of elementary school students have memorized Lincoln’s brief address. The irony of Lincoln observing “the world will little note nor long remember what we say here” is not lost on history.

Lincoln’s remarks were designed both to dedicate the cemetery and redefine the objectives of the ongoing Civil War. The “four score and seven years ago” sets the beginning of the United States not at the Constitution, but the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, where “all men are created equal.” Those ideals were under attack, “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” After honoring the men who “struggled here,” Lincoln reminds everyone still living what our role must be:

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

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.

[The above is adapted from my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, available in Barnes and Noble stores now.]

But wait, there’s more. This past year I made several “Chasing Abraham Lincoln” trips, including long road trips to Kentucky/Indiana and Illinois. Check out my Chasing Abraham Lincoln thread and scroll down for stories from the road.

 

 

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 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!

One Comment

Abraham Lincoln Goes to Washington

  By

Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the Whig candidate in 1846 and, as per a gentlemen’s agreement with other Whigs, served one term as a U.S. Congressman from December 1847 to March 1849.

This was Lincoln’s first time in Washington, D.C., or in any large city other than his brief flatboat visits to New Orleans. At the time, Washington was a mix of formal government buildings and run-down boarding houses, and was a constant quagmire of mud and filth. The roughly 40,000 inhabitants were squeezed into a District area newly shrunken by the return of the Alexandria portion south of the Potomac River to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Slavery pens sat within eyesight of the Capitol building, which was still capped by a rotting wood and copper dome. Lincoln and his family lived at Mrs. Sprigg’s boarding house on 1st Street SE in a spot now covered by the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Joining him were eight other members of Congress, all with abolitionist tendencies, so Lincoln likely had many interesting debates about slavery over the common dinner table.

Most of his congressional duties were mundane, such as answering letters from constituents and voting on appropriations, but Lincoln’s good humor and adeptness with a funny story ingratiated him with his fellow representatives. Not long after his arrival he wrote back to his law partner, William Herndon, that he was “anxious” to “distinguish” himself in this august body. Not content with merely making speeches on immaterial subjects, he chose to take on the President of the United States.

President James K. Polk had initiated a war with Mexico that would eventually result in the United States gaining territory encompassing present-day Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. George Ashmun, a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives, offered an amendment to what had been expected as a perfunctory commendation to those who served in the war. The amendment proposed to add a coda to the resolution: “In a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States.” Lincoln voted in favor of the amendment, which passed 82 to 81.

Lincoln went a step further. Polk insisted Mexico had been the aggressor, but Whigs believed that was an invention to hide Polk’s desire to expand the United States (and, by extension, the area to which slavery could be instituted). Three days before Christmas, Lincoln introduced a series of eight interrogatories demanding President Polk identify the exact spot where Mexico had supposedly initiated the first bloodshed. Because Lincoln repeatedly asked the spot be identified, they became derisively known as the “spot resolutions.”

Not surprisingly, Polk completely ignored the impertinent demands of an unknown freshman representative from the western prairies. Lincoln pressed the point, and Polk continued to ignore him, as did virtually everyone in Congress. The spot resolutions faded away without any debate or action, but Lincoln had asserted himself as unafraid to challenge even the highest authorities. He showed the integrity and determination to change the status quo and make things right. Later the spot resolutions would come back to haunt him when Democrats ridiculed him as “spotty Lincoln,” which may have hurt his chances to get a land office patronage job.

Lincoln immersed himself in other issues during his one term in Congress, including his proposal for emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia (although it was never formally introduced or passed). After his first session he toured New England campaigning for Zachary Taylor as the Whig nominee for president, even though Taylor had been a hero of the Mexican War. He then took a roundabout route past Niagara Falls through the Great Lakes by steamship, and along the newly opened Illinois and Michigan Canal on his way back to Springfield. He was essentially removed from politics for several years while he focused on his family and his law practice.

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

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two 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!