Amid the Celebrations of 2026, Lincoln Matters

By Ed Epstein

Washington, D.C.

Dec. 31, 2025

Lincoln250.org

The dawning year of 2026 will bring the 250th anniversary -- the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence -- and amid all the celebrations it's important to remember the message of Abraham Lincoln, the Declaration's fiercest, most-steadfast advocate.

Lincoln understood that the Declaration's "proposition that all men (all people in today's terms) are created equal" was not a statement of fact, but rather a challenge to each generation of Americans to renew their commitment to their republic and its democratic principles.

It's for those reasons that the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, at Lincolnian.org, and the Abraham Lincoln Association, at abrahamlincolnassociation.org, have created this website and ongoing blog. We want people to realize that 2026 will be about more than fireworks, parades and patriotic displays. It should also encourage us to look within and absorb Lincoln's message that America always needs a "new birth of freedom," as the 16th president said in his November 1863 Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln "did not take for granted that the freedom achieved at the founding of the United States would be secure for all future generations," Lincoln scholar Lucas E. Morel wrote in his 2020 book "Lincoln and the American Founding."

"Lincoln anticipated that the challenge of perpetuating republican government would come not from abroad but from within. He thought freedom would be lost through its misuse by the citizens themselves and therefore appreciated what the founders had established in terms of principles, practices and institutions that could help successive generations preserve a self-governing way of life," Morel added.

Groups are gearing up to zoom in on Lincoln and the founding. On Feb. 12-13, the Lincoln Association will hold its annual symposium in Springfield, Ill., For more information, and to buy tickets, go to the ALA's website. And the Abraham Lincoln Institute, at lincoln-institute.org., and the Ford's Theater Society, at www.fords.org, plan a daylong free symposium at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., on Saturday March 21. The ALI program will feature a series of panel discussion featuring big-name moderators and authors of books about Lincoln, all focusing on Lincoln and the founding in 1776 and its meaning for today.

Stay tuned to this blog for information about how to get the free tickets from Ford's.

And if you know of other events about Lincoln and the 250th anniversary of American independence, contact us.