The Election of 1860, Lincoln and the Wide Awakes

The Lincoln Group welcomes Jon Grinspan to present his new book on the creation and significance of the Wide Awakes, and their effect on the election of 1860 and the beginning of the Civil War. This is a special "Zoom only" meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19.  

Jon Grinspan is a historian of American democracy, youth, and popular culture. He is a curator of political history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. He describes this work as a 17-year project on a subject that has otherwise evaded broad academic interest. Grinspan cites many previous authors' references to the need for more research by "some future historian." The time has finally come and Jon is that "future historian."

At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group…