Videos

Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address is widely considered one of the greatest speeches in American political history. Edward’s Achorn’s book, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second…

Author and former jurist Frank Williams looked at the question facing Union leaders in the post-war era: Should ex-Confederates receive pardons? He discussed President Andrew Johnson’s lenient…

Historian Edward Ayers talked about the Battle of Gettysburg and its consequences. He described how people in the surrounding areas might have experienced the battle and the logistics of…

Historians talked about what life was like for Freedmen after the Civil War and the overall successes and failures of Reconstruction. They spoke about educational opportunities, land…

Frank Williams talked about politics and culture after President Lincoln’s assassination and the Reconstruction Era that followed. This talk was part of the annual Lincoln Forum Symposium.…

Historian and author William Davis talked about the different upbringings of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and how their childhoods impacted their later lives. Mr. Davis argues that Grant’s…

Robert Wilson, author of Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation, talked about Brady’s photography before the Civil War and and how it changed in the following years. He also talked about the…

Panelists talked about factors that had an impact on President Lincoln’s re-election campaign in 1864. They spoke about President Lincoln’s expansion of presidential war powers and his relationship…

Lincoln and Civil War scholars debated why the Civil War didn’t end in 1861, the year that it began. They discussed why the numerous advantages of the Union did not bring the war to a swift conclusion. Topics included…

The 150th anniversary of the November 20, 1861 “Grand Review” by President Lincoln of some 70,000 Union soldiers at Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, was commemorated with a re-enactment on…

Professor William Davis talked about Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee, and the roles they assumed into and through the Civil War. He responded to questions from members of the…

One hundred and fifty years after the outbreak of the Civil War, a panel of historians debated whether or not the war could have been avoided. They also responded to questions from members of the audience. Frank…

Tom Wheeler talked about his book Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War, published by Collins. Mr. Wheeler, a leader in the telecommunications…

Panelists discussed President Lincoln’s timing of the release of the Emancipation Proclamation. They focused on the legal grounding for the proclamation and what it accomplished. The panelists also responded to questions from…

William Styple talked about his book Tell Me of Lincoln: Memories of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Life in Old New York (Belle Grove Publishing Company; October 1, 2009) and told…

Elizabeth Leonard talked about her book Lincoln’s Avengers: Justice, Revenge, and Reunion after the Civil War, published by W. W. Norton and Company. In the book she explored the role of Judge…

A panel discussion was held on the Emancipation Proclamation as a legal document. Frank Williams talked about the legal background of President Lincoln in the years before he was elected to the presidency. Kurt Schmoke…

Judge Frank Williams, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, talked about the reasons that 70 percent of the soldiers of the Union Army voted for Lincoln in the 1864 election.…

Mr. Getty portrayed Abraham Lincoln at the 2005 Lincoln Forum. He recited President Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

Lincoln biographer Stephen Oates spoke about his efforts to tell Civil War history by using first-person monologues of major figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and…