When an emotional Abraham Lincoln took leave of his Springfield neighbors, never to return, his moving tribute to the town and its people reflected their profound influence on the newly elected president. His old neighborhood still stands today as a National Historic Site. The story of the life Lincoln and his family built there returns to us through the careful work of authors Bonnie E. Paull and Richard E. Hart. Journey back in time and meet this diverse but harmonious community as it participated in the business of everyday living while gradually playing a larger role on the national stage.

“Did he strike you as a rising man?” This is the question that surrounds Abraham Lincoln, the freshly minted lawyer eager to take Springfield by storm. But how can he know if he is rising or falling when so much of his character is yet to be determined including who he loves, what sort of politics he wants to engage in, and even what he believes about key issues plaguing the nation? Picking up at the end of his award-winning debut Young Lincoln, Jan Jacobi’s Lincoln in Springfield continues the saga of Abraham Lincoln’s development, as the young man becomes a young professional and politician. No longer does Lincoln grapple with his upbringing and yearn for freedom to forge his own path, now he is firmly on it—albeit on a borrowed horse and with only tenuous ideas about who exactly it is he wants to become. Follow along, from his time as a fledgling lawyer in Springfield to his first term as a Whig Congressman representing Illinois in Washington, D.C. As he argues cases, builds friendships with allies and rivals alike, marries, and begins his political career, the portrait of the presidential Lincoln will begin to emerge, though not without stumbles along the way. Though he still doesn’t quite know the answer, Lincoln in Springfield— Lincoln on his own for the first time—will begin to discern just what kind of person he is destined to be. “In this fascinating second volume, Lincoln in Springfield, Jacobi’s Lincoln matures with the town and the nation, and comes to understand that their challenges are also to be his.” —Robert Bray, author of Reading with Lincoln “Jan Jacobi’s Lincoln in Springfield is a highly readable, worthy sequel to his Young Lincoln.” —Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life

The complete text of one of the most important speeches in American history, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to remember not only the grim bloodshed that had just occurred there, but also to remember the American ideals that were being put to the ultimate test by the Civil War. A rousing appeal to the nation’s better angels, The Gettysburg Address remains an inspiring vision of the United States as a country “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Presenting fifty Abraham Lincoln stories--some familiar and beloved, some fresh and unexpected--Looking for Lincoln in Illinois: Lincoln's Springfield is a carefully researched, richly illustrated guide to the Looking for Lincoln Story Trail.

In this persuasive work of intellectual history, Lucas E. Morel argues that the most important influence on Abraham Lincoln’s political thought and practice was what he learned from the leading figures of and documents from the birth of the United States. In this systematic account of those principles, Morel compellingly demonstrates that to know Lincoln well is to understand thoroughly the founding of America. With each chapter describing a particular influence, Morel leads readers from the Founding Father, George Washington; to the founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution; to the founding compromise over slavery; and finally to a consideration of how the original intentions of the Founding Fathers should be respected in light of experience, progress, and improvements over time. Within these key discussions, Morel shows that without the ideals of the American Revolution, Lincoln’s most famous speeches would be unrecognizable, and the character of the nation would have lost its foundation on the universal principles of human equality, individual liberty, and government by the consent of the governed. Lincoln thought that the principles of human equality and individual rights could provide common ground for a diverse people to live as one nation and that some old things, such as the political ideals of the American founding, were worth preserving. He urged Americans to be vigilant in maintaining the institutions of self-government and to exercise and safeguard the benefits of freedom for future generations. Morel posits that adopting the way of thinking and speaking Lincoln advocated, based on the country’s founding, could help mend our current polarized discourse and direct the American people to employ their common government on behalf of a truly common good.

Winner, ISHS Superior Achievement Award, 2016 Although they inhabited different political, social, and cultural arenas, Abraham Lincoln and the pioneer generation of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, shared the same nineteenth-century world. Bryon C. Andreasen’s Looking for Lincoln in Illinois: Lincoln and Mormon Country relates more than thirty fascinating and surprising stories that show how the lives of Lincoln and the Mormons intersected. This richly illustrated and carefully researched book expands on some of the storyboards found on the Looking for Lincoln Story Trail, from the Mormon capital of Nauvoo to the state capital of Springfield. Created by the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, this trail consists of wayside exhibits posted in sites of significance to Lincoln’s life and career across fifty-two communities in Illinois. The book’s keyed maps, historic photos, and descriptions of battles, Mormon expeditions, and events at inns, federal buildings, and even Lincoln’s first Illinois log cabin connect the stories to their physical locations. Exploring the intriguing question of whether Lincoln and Mormon founder Joseph Smith ever met, the book reveals that they traveled the same routes and likely stayed at the same inns. The book also includes colorful and engaging looks at key figures such as Brigham Young, various Mormon apostles, and more. Anyone inspired by Lincoln, as well as Mormon and Illinois history enthusiasts, will appreciate this look back at a long-past, but not forgotten, landscape.