Becoming Lincoln

Brian Lyman

A podcast on the life of Abraham Lincoln, from his ancestors to his afterlife.

  1. 06/26/2024

    The Common Right of Humanity

    Abraham Lincoln delivered a powerful closing argument at the final Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Republicans triumphed in contests around the country. But then the Illinois Senate race got an October surprise.  Blumenthal, Sidney: All The Powers of Earth. Simon and Schuster, 2019.   Burlingame, Michael, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. (Vol. 1). The John Hopkins University Press, 1995. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. 1953 Edition hosted by the University of Michigan. "Crittenden to Douglas," The Ottawa Free Trader, Oct. 30, 1858 Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. University of Chicago Press, 1998.   Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon on Lincoln: Letters. Knox College Lincoln Studies Center, 2016. Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Knox-College, Lincoln Studies Center, 2008. Donald, David Herbert, Lincoln: A Biography. Simon and Schuster, 1995. Foner, Eric, The Fiery Trial:  Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. "Great Republican Triumph," Chicago Tribune, Oct. 14, 1858. Guelzo, Alan, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America. Simon and Schuster, 2008. Klotter, James, Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. Oxford University Press, 2018.  "Political Meetings at Taylorville," Illinois State Journal, Sept. 13, 1858.  Peck, Graham, Making an Anti-Slavery Nation: Lincoln, Douglas and the Battle Over Freedom. University of Illinois Press, 2020.

    35 min
  2. 05/22/2024

    General Jackson Is Dead

    A rift between Stephen Douglas and President James Buchanan appeared to give Abraham Lincoln a break in his run for U.S. Senate. But Lincoln began scrambling to pull Republicans behind him after Douglas started flirting with a bipartisan anti-Buchanan coalition. Sources used: "A Bad Sign." Illinois State Journal, April 14, 1858, p. 2 Blumenthal, Sidney: All The Powers of Earth. Simon and Schuster, 2019.   Burlingame, Michael, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. (Vol. 1). The John Hopkins University Press, 1995. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. 1953 Edition hosted by the University of Michigan. Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. University of Chicago Press, 1998.   Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon on Lincoln: Letters. Knox College Lincoln Studies Center, 2016. Donald, David Herbert, Lincoln: A Biography. Simon and Schuster, 1995. Guelzo, Alan, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America. Simon and Schuster, 2008. Kluger, Richard, The Paper: The Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribune. Alfred A. Knopf, 1986. Morris, Roy Jr. The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln's 30-Year Struggle With Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America. Smithsonian Books, 2008.   Quitt, Martin H. Stephen A. Douglas and Antebellum Democracy. Cambridge University Press, 2012. Wilentz, Sean, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. W.W. Norton and Company, 2005.

    28 min
  3. 05/15/2024

    A Sublimity of Impudence

    The Scott family's decade-long fight to claim the freedom owed to them under the law ran into state and federal judges determined to close the courts -- and broader citizenship -- to Black Americans. For white Americans like Abraham Lincoln, the Dred Scott ruling forced them to consider how denial of rights to one group of people could leave everyone else's rights open to question.    Sources used:    Blumenthal, Sidney: All The Powers of Earth. Simon and Schuster, 2019.    Burlingame, Michael, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. (Vol. 1). The John Hopkins University Press, 1995. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. 1953 Edition hosted by the University of Michigan. Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. University of Chicago Press, 1998.   Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon on Lincoln: Letters. Knox College Lincoln Studies Center, 2016. Donald, David Herbert, Lincoln: A Biography. Simon and Schuster, 1995. Donald, David Herbert, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. Alfred A. Knopf, 1960.    "Dred Scott." The New York Times, Sept. 21, 1858, p. 4.    Finkelman, Paul, Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford Books; 1997. Foner, Eric, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. W.W. Norton and Company, 2011.   Quitt, Martin H. Stephen A. Douglas and Antebellum Democracy. Cambridge University Press, 2012.    Ripley, C. Peter, ed. Witness For Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery and Emancipation. The University of North Carolina Press, 1993.  Wilentz, Sean, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. W.W. Norton and Company, 2005.

    34 min
  4. 05/08/2024

    The Darkening Land

    The 1856 presidential election took place amid a backdrop of violence in Kansas and Congress. Abraham Lincoln threw himself into the fight for the Republican Party and free territories. Sources used: "1856 Democratic Party Platform," hosted on the University of California Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project. Blumenthal, Sidney: All The Powers of Earth. Simon and Schuster, 2019. Burlingame, Michael, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. (Vol. 1). The John Hopkins University Press, 1995. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. 1953 Edition hosted by the University of Michigan. Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. University of Chicago Press, 1998. Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon on Lincoln: Letters. Knox College Lincoln Studies Center, 2016. Donald, David Herbert, Lincoln: A Biography. Simon and Schuster, 1995. Donald, David Herbert, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. Alfred A. Knopf, 1960. Etcheson, Nicole, "A Living, Creeping Lie: Abraham Lincoln on Popular Sovereignty." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association; Vol. 29, Issue 2, Summer 2008. Foner, Eric, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. Hernon, William with Weik, Jesse, Herndon's Lincoln, ed. Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas. Knox College Lincoln Studies Center, 2006. Holt, Michael, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. Oxford University Press; 1999. Inskeep, Steve, Imperfect Union: How Jesse and John Fremont Mapped te West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause The Civil War. Penguin Press; 2020. Leech, Liz, "Kansas Territorial Elections 1855: Let 'Em Vote or They'll Tear the House Down," on JeffersonJayHawkers.com. "Republican Party Platform of 1856," hosted on the University of California Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project. Sumner, Charles, "The Crime Against Kansas," via the U.S. Senate website. Wilentz, Sean, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. W.W. Norton and Company, 2005.

    36 min
4.9
out of 5
95 Ratings

About

A podcast on the life of Abraham Lincoln, from his ancestors to his afterlife.