Lincoln and the Broken Politics of His Time

On this day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born.  He was born into an American heyday, when the new United States (having fended off the British in the War of 1812) were mushrooming.  In 1809, the nation consisted of seventeen states, the westernmost being Ohio, along with a vast territory that pioneers were flooding into, appropriating from natives, and organizing.  Lincoln was born to one such pioneer family and grew up in Illinois, which became a state when he was nine.

By the time Lincoln became president, the number of states had doubled.  The nation stretched to the Pacific.  His milieu was morphing as quickly as he was, a reckless proliferation the politicians could barely control.  The gargantuan Lincoln, with his terrible grooming, was a perfect embodiment of this rough hasty time. Continue reading

Lincoln at 52

Lincoln stands on a platform with an enormous flag draped on the rail and before a crowd of spectators and an armed guard.
In November 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.  By the time he turned 52, on February 12, 1861, the Union was crumbling.  The day of his inauguration, March 4, had yet to arrive. Continue reading

February 12–Lincoln’s Birthday

Thomas Fogarty's "February 12--Lincoln's Birthday," 1901 (Courtesy of the Library of Congress).
Drawing by Thomas Fogarty, originally published in Collier’s on February 9, 1901.

Fogarty (1873-1938) imagines a group of female well-wishers paying Lincoln their respects on his birthday.  Girls and a fashionable lady cluster affectionately about the president, who holds a beaming child on his arm.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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