On the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s inauguration, the Union League Club of Chicago held a symposium with Lincoln scholars to commemorate the event.  Historian Michael Burlingame spoke at the luncheon on the topic of Lincoln and Secession and why he rejected the one compromise that may have prevented Civil War.

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<p> University of Southern Mississippi professor Susannah Ural teaches a course on the history of the United States from its founding to 1877.&nbsp; In this lecture, Professor Ural focuses on the presidential election of 1860 and the secession of southern states.</p>

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One-hundred-fifty years ago, Southern states began to secede from the Union over the issues of state’s rights and the institution of slavery.  South Carolina was first to secede in December, 1860.  The Fort Sumter - Fort Moultrie Historical Trust held a symposium at the Citadel recently.

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Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History hosted a discussion on the crisis of slavery leading up to and during President Lincoln’s administration, and its impact on Lincoln’s presidency. This discussion took place at Columbia University.

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In this discussion from the 2012 Civil War Institute Conference at Gettysburg College, history professors and bloggers talk about the debates and controversies of emancipation – its timing, its initial results, and its post-war effects into the 20th century.

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History professor Roger Davidson discusses emancipation and U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. Professor Davidson explains how African Americans used the disorder caused by the Civil War to escape enslavement. He also details how former slaves offered their services to Union forces to help bring about the end of slavery. This class took place at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

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History Professor Chandra Manning looks at the Emancipation Proclamation and the escalation of the Civil War. Professor Manning also examines the role that black soldiers played in the Union victory. The class took place at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

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The most prominent civil rights activist in the 19th century was Frederick Douglass. His relationship with Abraham Lincoln helped convince the President that he must act on the issue of emancipation. History professor Diane Barnes spoke about Douglass at the annual spring symposium of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

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On American History TV’s The Civil War: Historian Gary Gallagher argues that the primary motive of the North during the War was to preserve the “Union”—not to emancipate the slaves. However, Union forces “should” be credited with moving emancipation forward.  He presented the keynote address at a symposium on “Emancipation during the Civil War” with the U-S Capitol Historical Society.

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Metropolitan State University professor Douglas Rossinow teaches a class on the Iran-Contra affair, which took place in the mid-1980s during the Reagan Administration. The Iran-Contra affair stems from Reagan administration officials funding the Contras - who were fighting against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua - with money from the sale of arms to Iran. The arms were being sold to Iran in the hope of gaining the release of American hostages held in Lebanon - hence the reason the affair is sometimes called as the “arm-for-hostages” scandal. Metropolitan State University is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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