Historian Richard Carwardine will deliver the 2026 Lincoln Prize Lecture tonight on his award-winning book, Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln's Union. The event is being held at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia and will be livestreamed. Follow the link below to register. I've heard Carwardine speak and he is very good. It's a great chance to hear an award-winning Lincoln scholar discuss an important recent book--all from the comfort of your own home. The livestream begins at 7 pm Eastern. #LincolnInTheNews acwm.org/event/2026-lincoln-…

They might not be producing pennies anymore, but Abraham Lincoln isn't disappearing from our pocket change. On October 21, the US Mint will release a new Gettysburg Address quarter for America's 250th anniversary. Lincoln will be on the front and the back will feature a line from the Gettysburg Address. #LincolnToday

On this day in 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness in southern Indiana. The disease was mysterious. Many settlers didn't know what caused the intense illness, but today we know it was caused by drinking milk from cows that grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. Abraham Lincoln was just nine years old when he lost his mother. Biographers have offered a number of interpretations of what her death meant for Lincoln. Whatever its influence, it was one of the earliest profound losses he experienced. #LincolnToday

Today in 1886, St. John’s College of Nursing was founded in Springfield, Illinois. It began as a training school for religious sisters at St. John’s Hospital. Today, it is the oldest Catholic-based school of nursing in the country. #illinoisHistory #Nursing #NursingHistory hshs.org/st-johns-college

Looking for Lincoln’s Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad exhibit opens inside Alton’s City Hall tomorrow. I was fortunate to serve as one of the advisors as the exhibit was developed, and I think it turned out great. The story of slavery and freedom in Illinois is complicated— and the Illinois Supreme Court played a big part in the eventual destruction of slavery in the state. If you’re in Alton, go see the exhibit and take in some of the related programming. While you’re there, go to Alton Cemetery and pay your respects to Elijah Lovejoy. illinoisugrr.org/alton-city-…

Abraham Lincoln was in the middle of the 1860 presidential campaign when a traveling soap salesman came to Springfield. “Professor” Daniel P. Gardner arrived in town on September 27 and checked into the Chenery House. The local newspapers described him as a lecturer, wit, and salesman who drew huge crowds by mixing humor, poetry, and soap demonstrations. The day after he arrived, Gardner demonstrated his product in front of the Chenery House before a large crowd. One Springfield newspaper claimed that more than a thousand people watched his performance. I don’t know if that number was accurate, but a couple of faces in the crowd are interesting. It seems possible that one or both of the Lincolns were in attendance. Gardner liked collecting testimonials about his product from prominent people. On September 28, 1860, the same day the soap demonstration took place, Abraham Lincoln gave him a testimonial of sorts: “Some specimens of your Soap have been used at our house and Mrs. L. declares it is a superb article. She at the same time, protests that I have never given sufficient attention to the ‘soap question’ to be a competent judge. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN” Gardner wanted an endorsement. Lincoln gave him one, along with a disclaimer. Gardner collected these endorsements and published them in a book in 1870. See: Collected Works, 4:122-23 #LincolnToday

Many thanks to @roadscholarorg and @LincolnLand for organizing last week's Road Scholar program. Several times each year a few dozen lifelong learners from around the world spend a week in Springfield examining "Abraham Lincoln's Life & Legacy." I opened the program last Monday by talking with them about Lincoln's world, his political evolution, and his family. Over the next few days, the group visited New Salem, the Lincoln Home, the Lincoln Tomb, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, while hearing from a variety of historians, museum professionals, and historical presenters. I joined them again on Friday to talk about Lincoln's assassination, Reconstruction, and his legacy. As usual, it was a terrific group--curious, thoughtful, and full of questions. I kept my own comments mostly in the nineteenth century, but more than one participant had thoughts about Lincoln's relevance to our own political moment. A good week of history in Springfield.

By September 1860, Abraham Lincoln was all over the national news as the Republican nominee for president. In many stories, he was identified simply as a lawyer. In the middle of the campaign, a young man in Pleasant Plains, Illinois wrote to Lincoln, asking if he had any advice for a young law student. On this day in 1860, Lincoln took time to reply. "The mode is very simple, though laborious, and tedious. It is only to get the books, and read, and study them carefully." After naming the specific books the young man should study, Lincoln ended with this: "Work, work, work, is the main thing." Still pretty good advice. #LincolnToday

Cardiss Collins made history in 1973 when she became the first African American woman elected from Illinois to the United States Congress. She went on to serve twelve consecutive terms in the U.S. House. Born on this date in 1931. #HistoricIllinoisans

Elihu Washburne was a longtime member of Congress from Galena, Illinois, a political ally of Abraham Lincoln, and an early champion of a relatively unknown Galena resident named Ulysses S. Grant. Washburne was born on this day in 1816. #HistoricIllinoisans

Today in 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The document announced that a 100-day countdown had begun to January 1, 1863. If, on that date, a state or part of a state was still in rebellion, then "all persons held as slaves" within its borders "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." But before Lincoln issued the document, he called his cabinet together. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles was in the room, and his diary gives us a remarkable seat at the table. Lincoln told the cabinet that the decision had already been made. He was willing to hear criticism of the wording, but he would not reconsider the policy itself. Welles remembered Lincoln saying "the act and the consequences were his." Then Lincoln explained why he had finally decided to move forward. When Lee's army invaded Maryland, Lincoln told the cabinet he made a "vow--a covenant." If God gave the Union victory in the coming battle, Lincoln would take it as an indication that he should move forward with emancipation. The Battle of Antietam occurred on September 17. It became the "bloodiest day in American history." But in the end, Lee retreated back across the Potomac. Five days later, Lincoln told his cabinet: "God has decided this question in favor of the slave." Welles recorded that Lincoln's "mind was fixed--his decision made." The president then read the proclamation aloud. Secretary of State Seward suggested a couple minor changes. Lincoln accepted them. The document was then given to Seward for publication. Welles recorded that not everyone in the room agreed. Postmaster General Montgomery Blair warned that the proclamation might alienate the loyal border states and provide Lincoln's political opponents with "a club" they would use "to beat the administration." Welles himself understood the magnitude of what was happening. He called emancipation "a step in the progress of the war which will extend into the distant future." We know how it all turned out, but Welles and the others in the room did not. #LincolnToday

Happy birthday to one of the most recognizable @Cubs fans anywhere. Evanston’s own Bill Murray turns 76 today #HistoricIllinoisans

On September 18, 1862, Jacob Frankel received his commission as a U.S. Army chaplain, making him the first Jewish chaplain in American military history. Just a year earlier, that would not have been legally possible. Let's rewind to figure out how we got there. As the United States hurried to build a massive volunteer army in 1861, Congress passed new laws to organize it. One of those laws, approved on July 22, authorized one chaplain for each regiment. Section 9 required that chaplain to be a regularly ordained minister of a "Christian denomination." Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham objected to the language. He moved to replace "Christian denomination" with "religious society," arguing that the existing wording excluded Jewish Americans from serving as chaplains. His amendment failed. Jewish soldiers could serve in the Union Army; however, Jewish clergy could not serve them as commissioned chaplains. Rabbi Arnold Fischel went to Washington, hoping to change this policy. On December 11, 1861, he met with Abraham Lincoln at the White House. Lincoln apparently wanted to continue the discussion the next day, but a cabinet meeting prevented another interview. A few days after their meeting, Lincoln wrote Fischel that the existing chaplain law needed to change and he promised, "I shall try to have a new law broad enough to cover what is desired by you in behalf of the Israelites." Lincoln's interest was both principled and practical. Jewish soldiers had volunteered to fight for the Union, and once the discrimination was brought to his attention, Lincoln supported changing a rule that denied them the religious support available to Christian troops. Congress revisited the issue, and on July 17, 1862, Lincoln signed new legislation. In the crucial qualification for chaplains, "Christian denomination" became "religious denomination." That single-word substitution removed the legal barrier. But it did not automatically create a Jewish chaplain position or formally appoint anyone to it. A specific need had to be identified, a qualified person nominated, and the appointment had to be approved. That process began on August 21, when Philadelphia Jewish leader Isaac Leeser appealed to Lincoln on behalf of the sick and wounded Jewish soldiers in the city's military hospitals. Lincoln's secretary, John Hay, referred Leeser's request to the surgeon general to determine whether the appointment of a Jewish chaplain to serve the military hospitals in Philadelphia was legally and administratively proper. Hay made Lincoln's preference clear: "If possible the President would like this to be done." The surgeon general agreed. Hay then asked Philadelphia's Jewish leaders to nominate a candidate to fill the position. They chose Jacob Frankel, the 54-year-old minister and cantor of Congregation Rodeph Shalom. He was widely liked, known for a gentle and kind disposition, and admired for his remarkable singing voice that had earned him the nickname the "sweet singer of Israel." Frankel was assigned to serve Jewish soldiers in Philadelphia's six military hospitals. He made the rounds of the wards, prayed and sang with wounded men, wrote letters for them, distributed small gifts, and tried to comfort soldiers far from home. Lincoln approved the appointment, and Frankel's commission arrived in Philadelphia on September 18, 1862. Frankel was proud of what the commission represented. He reportedly had it framed and hung on the wall of his home until his death in 1887. Decades later, his son arranged for the commission and an accompanying Lincoln document to be presented to Rodeph Shalom Synagogue in Philadelphia. By changing one crucial word--"Christian" to "religious"--Congress opened the U.S. military chaplaincy beyond Christianity. To learn more: Gary Phillip Zola, We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, 72-90. #HistoryRewind #LincolnToday

James Shields was a lot of things. Seriously. Irish immigrant. Illinois legislator. State auditor. Illinois Supreme Court justice. Civil War general. U.S. Senator from 3 different states. And in 1842, he challenged Abraham Lincoln to a duel. #HistoricIllinoisans