Presidential conventions at which no candidate won on the first ballot have produced some of our best Presidents including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Three U.S President didn’t win a single vote on the first try at their convention.
The Haitian-born barber gave Abraham Lincoln shaves, haircuts, and friendly advice in exchange for free legal work.
Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury helped win the Civil War with his many financial innovations, and was an ardent advocate of emancipation.
In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.
The unique political genius of Abraham Lincoln was to navigate carefully and at times conservatively between abolition and the Southern cause until he knew the time was right for radical justice.
“There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law,” said Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln learned much of what made him a great president — honesty, sincerity, toughness, and humility — from his early reading and from studying the lives of Washington and Franklin.
Histories written about the nation's greatest crisis focus on Lincoln and the military campaigns. But an intriguing group of characters in Congress also played a major role, advising and prodding the president.
Only hours after being sworn in, Lincoln faced the most momentous decision in presidential history.
Lincoln's first Secretary of War amassed a fortune at the start of the Civil War, forcing a congressional investigation.
Tears ran down the cheeks of Abraham Lincoln when he heard the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” sung in Congress in 1864 by a chaplain who had survived a Confederate prison. It would become the most famous literary production of the Civil War.
John Nicolay and John Hay were Lincoln’s two closest aides in the White House, and they helped to craft the image of the president that we have today.
Working closely with President Lincoln, Secretary of War Stanton was tireless in his dedication to help win the Civil War. But his abruptness could sometimes be counterproductive.
The first medical report on Lincoln's assassination has been uncovered.
After Fort Sumter fell, a secessionist mob in Baltimore rioted and blocked the passage of Federal troops to Washington, D.C
The Emancipation Proclamation opened the door for Pennsylvania's African-American soldiers.
In one momentous decision, Robert E. Lee spared the United States years of divisive violence.
Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war.
Even though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders.
The Washington, DC cottage where the 16th president escaped to weigh such matters as the Emancipation Proclamation has been faithfully restored.
Only hours after being sworn in, Lincoln faced the most momentous decision in presidential history.
A story that the Confederate president donned a petticoat to evade capture emerged right after Union cavalrymen apprehended him in Georgia at war’s end. Is it true?
An impetuous and sometimes corrupt Congress has often hamstrung the efforts of the president since the earliest days of the republic.
Lincoln came out a victor in the 1860 presidential election despite winning only 2 percent of the Southern vote
Lincoln painstakingly evolved a plan for harmonious reconstruction of the Union, which Radical Republicans moved to sabotage
Lincoln painstakingly evolved a plan for harmonious reconstruction of the Union, which Radical Republicans moved to sabotage
Theodore Roosevelt, his widow recalled, watched Lincoln’s funeral from his grandfather’s house
A famous educator reviews 100 years of service by the land-grant colleges