One hundred fifty years ago today the Chicago (IL) Tribune published excerpts from two Kentucky newspapers that condemned former US Senator John Bell for announcing his support for the Confederacy. Bell was the Constitutional Union Party’s candidate for President in 1860 and he had opposed secession after Abraham Lincoln’s victory. Yet in April 1861 after the attack […]
2
May
11
Chicago (IL) Tribune – “Good Bye, John Bell”
Posted by sailerd Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Historic Periodicalsno comment
11
Mar
11
President James Buchanan’s Administration
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Letters & Diaries, Places to VisitOne hundred fifty years ago today James Buchanan was at his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and wrote a letter to New York Herald editor James Gordon Bennett in which he reflected on his administration. The Herald, as Buchanan explained, had provided “able & powerful support…almost universally throughout my stormy and turbulent administration.” Yet overall Buchanan […]
4
Mar
11
President Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic PeriodicalsOne hundred fifty years ago today Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth President of the United States. After he delivered his Inaugural Address from the central portico of the U.S. Capitol, Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the oath of office. Newspapers throughout the country published Lincoln’s speech and debated what it meant for the future of the […]
25
Feb
11
Lincoln & NYC Mayor Fernando Wood
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Historic Periodicals, ImagesOne hundred fifty years ago today the Charleston (SC) Mercury published part of New York City Mayor Fernando Wood’s speech that he gave during President-Elect Abraham Lincoln’s visit in late February 1861. Lincoln had left his home in Springfield, Illinois on February 11 for Washington DC. On the way he stopped at a number of […]
16
Feb
11
Lincoln Meets Grace Bedell
Posted by Matthew Pinsker Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Letters & DiariesJust 150 years ago today on Saturday afternoon, February 16, 1861, President-Elect Abraham Lincoln met twelve-year-old Grace Bedell on a train platform in Westfield, New York. Showing off his new facial hair, he kissed the young girl and reportedly said, ““You see I have let these whiskers grow for you, Grace.” If you know this […]
10
Jan
11
One way to keep up with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is through the Washington Post’s Civil War twitter account. Every day they tweet details on events that occurred 150 years ago. As Mississippi seceded on January 9, 1861, the Washington Post noted “Miss secedes: ‘Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution […]
6
Dec
10
New York Times Features House Divided Image
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), ImagesA blog post by Jamie Malanowski in the New York Times’ “Disunion” series featured this political cartoon from House Divided’s image collection. In this entry Malanowski explores how President James Buchanan addresses the secession crisis in his last State of the Union message to Congress in December 1860. “Buchanan at long last waded into the secession […]
3
Dec
10
Newspapers across the country published President Abraham Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address in March 1861, but not all included the correct version. Editors in New Orleans had, as the Chicago (IL) Tribune explained, “horribly botched” the speech. Not only had “words [been] altered,” but sentences [were] cut in two in the middle and other sentences [were] […]
19
Nov
10
Election of 1860 – William Wilkins Letter
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Letters & DiariesWilliam Wilkins’ letter to James Webb, editor and publisher of the New York Courier and Enquirer, reveals an interesting view on some of the political perspectives that existed on the eve of the 1860 election. Wilkins, who graduated from Dickinson College in 1802, was a Pennsylvania Democratic politician who also served as Secretary of War […]
17
Nov
10
Election of 1860 – Cumberland County
Posted by sailerd Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Images, Recent ScholarshipWhile Abraham Lincoln was elected “by one of the largest voter turnouts in United States history,” historian Phillip Shaw Paludan notes that “the Republican victory was entirely sectional.” Lincoln and Hannibal Hamblin did not receive any votes from the Deep South states. Yet divisions also existed within northern states, including Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The election […]
