Abraham Lincoln
The Unsuccessful Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln
On the eve of his first inauguration, President Lincoln snuck into Washington in the middle of the night, evading the would-be assassins who waited for him in Baltimore
February 2013 |
By Daniel Stashower
Document Deep Dive: The Menu From President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Ball
What delicacies and confectionaries were found on the 250-foot-long buffet table?
January 15, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
Document Deep Dive: Emancipation Proclamation
When freeing the slaves 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln traded in his famous lyricism for a dry, legal tone. Harold Holzer explains why
December 19, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
How the Emancipation Proclamation Came to Be Signed
The pen, inkwell and one copy of the document that freed the slaves are photographed together for the first time
December 2012 |
By Louis P. Masur
Mr. Lincoln Goes to Hollywood
Steven Spielberg, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Tony Kushner talk about what it takes to wrestle an epic presidency into a feature film
November 2012 |
By Roy Blount Jr.
PHOTOS: The History of Abraham Lincoln on Film
The 16th president has been a Hollywood star and box office attraction since the earliest days of Hollywood
November 2012 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Document Deep Dive: How the Homestead Act Transformed America
Compare documents filed by the first and last homesteaders in the United States
May 2012 |
By T.A. Frail and Megan Gambino
November 1861: Flare Ups in the Chain of Command
As Union generals came and left, personalities clashed and Southern farmers set fire to their fields
November 2011 |
By David Zax
Ask an Expert: What Did Abraham Lincoln’s Voice Sound Like?
Civil War scholar Harold Holzer helps to decode what spectators heard when the 16th president spoke
June 07, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino
Documenting the Death of an Assassin
In 1865, a single photograph was taken during the autopsy of John Wilkes
Booth. Where is it now?
May 06, 2011 |
By Ashley Luthern
The Death of Colonel Ellsworth
The first Union officer killed in the Civil War was a friend of President Lincoln's
April 2011 |
By Owen Edwards
The Legend of Lincoln's Fence Rail
Even Honest Abe needed a symbol to sum up his humble origins
February 2011 |
By Owen Edwards
From Election to Sumter: How the Union Fell Apart
Historian Adam Goodheart discusses the tumultuous period between Lincoln’s election and the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter
November 15, 2010 |
By Brian Wolly
Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard
What happened to Officer John Parker, the man who chose the wrong night to leave his post at Ford's Theater?
April 08, 2010 |
By Paul Martin
Abraham Lincoln, True Crime Writer
While practicing law in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln defended a man in a highly unusual case and later recounted the mystery as a short story
February 10, 2010 |
By Laura Helmuth
Dancing Around Abraham Lincoln
Bill T. Jones, one of America’s foremost living choreographers, tackles Lincoln’s complicated legacy in his newest work
September 11, 2009 |
By Rebecca Milzoff
Lincoln's Pocket Watch Reveals Long-Hidden Message
The Smithsonian opens one of its prized artifacts and a story unfolds
March 11, 2009 |
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Lincoln's Contested Legacy
Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist? Each generation evokes a different Lincoln. But who was our sixteenth president?
February 2009 |
By Philip B. Kunhardt III
How Lincoln and Darwin Shaped the Modern World
Born on the same day, Lincoln and Darwin would forever influence how people think about the modern world
February 2009 |
By Adam Gopnik
Darwin on Lincoln and Vice Versa
Two of the world’s greatest modern thinkers are much celebrated, but what did they know of one another?
January 22, 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth, Mark Strauss and Terence Monmaney

