By Jeffrey Boutwell Columbia, MD Saturday, August 1, 2026 Union fortunes on August 6, 1862, were at a low ebb when the government held a Great War Rally with 10,000 people on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. It was the first mass public meeting held since the start of the war and was intended to raise Union morale and stimulate enlistments into the army. President Lincoln was on the speakers' platform and made some impromptu remarks, telling the crowd not to be concerned abou

By David J. Kent Washington, DC Sunday, July 26, 2026 Lincoln’s Whig Party passed on their traditional party leader Henry Clay to nominate General Zachary Taylor as their nominee for the 1848 presidential nomination. Taylor had been the hero of Buena Vista in the recently ended Mexican War, and the public was clamoring for the war hero to be the next commander-in-chief. Lincoln himself spoke out in Taylor’s favor at the Whig convention held in Philadelphia. To balance the tic

By David J. Kent Washington, DC Friday, July 17, 2026 Abraham Lincoln is everywhere, or so it seems. The Lincoln Sculpture Project Map created by David Wiegers and Scott Schoeder (an LGDC board member) has reached close to 700 sculptures around the world, with new ones being added as soon as they go up. During my recent travels in the Balkans, I went in search of one of the more elusive - and apparently cryptic - statues, in of all places, Skopje, North Macedonia. The map abo

By John A. O'Brien Sunday, July 12, 2026 Denver, Colorado A recent executive order challenged the principle that all people born in this country are citizens. On Wednesday, July 1, the Supreme Court affirmed that, yes, “children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment.'” The majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts and a conc

By Ed Epstein Washington D.C. Wednesday, July 1, 2026 A restored and rejuvenated statue -- Augustus Saint-Gaudens' famed bronze of a standing Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Park on Chicago's North Side -- will be reborn this Saturday, the Fourth of July. The renovated Saint-Gaudens Lincoln statue will be unveiled in Chicago on the Fourth of July. The 12-foot-tall statue, originally dedicated in 1887, has undergone repairs and restoration, with the work paid for by the Chicago Par

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Friday, June 26, 2026 The new Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum is now open to the public--and the most impressive thing about the new venue isn't the exhibits. It's the eerie, awe-inspiring structure itself, featuring massive columns built more than a century ago to support the 38,000-ton monument above to the martyred 16th president. It's great to have them finally visible to the public. Artistically lit pillars in the undercroft. The undergr

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Monday, June 22, 2026 American composer Philip Glass' Symphony No. 15, a 38-minute, eight-movement work featuring the words of Abraham Lincoln, will get its delayed world premiere next month and its Washington area debut in June 2027. Performs the Lincoln Symphony in June 2027. The work by the 89-year-old Glass, which draws mainly on the words of Lincoln's 1838 Lyceum Speech in Springfield, Ill., was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchest

By John A. O'Brien Denver, Colorado Friday, May 29, 2026 Yale professor of law and political science Ahkil Reed Amar will join the regular meeting of the Lincoln Study Forum on June 13 as they complete discussion of his timely and engaging book, Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920. The session is open to all Lincoln Group members. Dr. Amar is a gifted educator and legal scholar who appears frequently on television news shows to provide analysis for U.S. S

By David J. Kent Washington, DC Friday, May 22, 2026 Four years ago, on May 22, 2022, the Lincoln Group of DC celebrated the centennial of the Lincoln Memorial Dedication with a grand ceremony on the steps of the iconic building. And now the Lincoln Memorial is set for a grand re-opening of sorts as the newly renovated undercroft visitors center is scheduled to open on Thursday June 25, 2026. Most visitors climbing the memorial's steps to get up close and personal with Daniel

By: Kelsey Johnston Baltimore, Maryland Tuesday, May 19 , 2026 The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia was thrilled to welcome Lois Romano to our monthly meeting on May 12, 2026. Veteran journalist Lois Romano takes a deep dive into Mary Lincoln’s long, difficult years of widowhood to present a more fully contextualized view in "An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln." The book is described by its publisher, Simon & Schuster, as a “r

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Sunday, May 10, 2026 When I became Lincoln Group president in May 2024, I got into the habit of keeping a list of the monthly programs we put on for our members. I’m sure if you read on below to the complete list, you’ll agree with me that it’s an impressive array that would appeal to anyone with an interest in the life, legacy and vision of Abraham Lincoln. So, as you read this, consider joining the Lincoln Group of D.C. to enjoy these members-

By David J. Kent Washington, DC Thursday, April 30, 2026 You never know where you're going to run into Lincoln connections. Unexpectedly, I ran into one in my own hometown of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Twice. I return to my hometown northeast of Boston periodically to visit family. This time I'm here for a series of presentations for my book about Lincoln's two trips to New England. Part of the concept started right here because a mural painted on the side of an old cotton texti

By Ed Epstein Washington D.C. Monday, April 20, 2026 A museum of more than 20,000 square feet celebrating the life and vision of Thaddeus Stevens, the Radical Republican from Pennsylvania who prodded President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and then pushed for the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery, will open on May 2 in downtown Lancaster, Pa., the town where he lived for many years and where he is buried. The new museum in downtown Lancaster, Pa., open

By Jeffrey Boutwell Columbia, Md. Monday, April 6, 2026 Redlands, California, an hour east of Pasadena on the way to Palm Springs in the desert, would seem an unlikely spot for a heartfelt memorial to Abraham Lincoln. Though our 16th president and wife Mary had expressed hopes of visiting California and the American West following his second term in office, it wasn’t to be. Instead, Lincoln’s presence in Southern California would have to wait until 1932, when Robert and Alma

by David J. Kent Washington, DC Monday, March 30, 2026 Washington's Emancipation Memorial, often called the Freedmen's Memorial, celebrates the 150th anniversary of its dedication on Saturday April 11, 2026. And the Lincoln Group of DC will be represented. Everyone's invited to this free program. Immediately after hearing of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, a formerly enslaved woman named Charlotte Scott offered $5 to create a memorial honoring Lincoln. She was soon followed

By Wendy Swanson Washington, D.C, Saturday, March 27, 2026 The Emancipation Proclamation Display in the National Archives Rotunda Last night, March 27, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. EDT, the National Archives unveiled the permanent display of the Emancipation Proclamation in the Archives Rotunda. The unveiling of a second historic document, the 19 th Amendment, occurred moments later. The event marked the first time permanent displays have been added to the Rotunda’s “Charters of Freed

By John A. O'Brien Denver, Colorado Wednesday, March 18, 2026 I suspect that anyone who studies Lincoln might have wondered at some time what it would have been like to be in the crowd at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, to hear him deliver his “few appropriate remarks” to dedicate the new cemetery. Certainly, there is no recording or time machine to allow us anything like the authentic experience. There is now, however, an amazing alternative that helps to give a glimpse of

By Ed Epstein Washington, D.C. Friday, March 13, 2026 President Abraham Lincoln will again arrive by steam train at Gettysburg, Pa., this time on November 18, 2026, just as he did back in 1863 on the day before he delivered his 272-word Gettysburg Address, a speech that still resonates today. This November's arrival of Lincoln, portrayed by actor Billy Campbell, will kick off two days of festivities to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and help the public fo

by David J. Kent Washington, DC Thursday, March 12, 2026 The annual Abraham Lincoln Institute (ALI) Symposium will be held at Ford's Theatre on March 21, 2026, and the very special program is not to be missed. This is the third of a series of posts highlighting the upcoming symposium. The ALI Symposium this year will have four panels featuring some of the most preeminent scholars on their topics in a discussion moderated by a renowned journalist. Each panel has a theme relate

by David J. Kent Washington, DC Saturday, March 7, 2026 The annual Abraham Lincoln Institute (ALI) Symposium will be held at Ford's Theatre on March 21, 2026, and the very special program is not to be missed. This is the second of a series of posts highlighting the upcoming symposium. The ALI Symposium this year will have four panels featuring some of the most preeminent scholars on their topics in a discussion moderated by a renowned journalist. Each panel has a theme relate