This summer institute will examine the political thought and practice of Abraham Lincoln as he struggled to preserve the union of the American states from the threat of slavery’s expansion and, ultimately, a civil war.

We will explore Lincoln’s understanding of self-government, the rule of law, human equality, government by consent of the governed, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the role of public opinion in a republic, and specific issues and controversies arising out of his view of the American founding and the subsequent development of the American regime. These will include the debate over slavery’s expansion, popular sovereignty, abolitionism, colonization, secession, the Civil War, emancipation, reconstruction, and the limits of presidential authority. To place Lincoln’s words and deeds in historical context, we will also consider the writings of important figures like U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas and abolitionist orator/journalist Frederick Douglass (an escaped slave).

Lincoln’s speeches to be examined will include his Young Men’s Lyceum Address (1838), Temperance Address (1842), Peoria Address on the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (1857), "House Divided" Acceptance Speech (1858), Debates with Stephen Douglas (1858), Cooper Institute Address (1860), First Inaugural Address (1861), Gettysburg Address (1863), and Second Inaugural Address (1865), along with his annual addresses to Congress (1861-1864) and other speeches and writings dealing with slavery and the crisis of the American union. In addition to these primary source materials, we will also read scholarly commentary on Lincoln’s political thought.

Faculty: Mackubin T. Owens is Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College. He has published widely on civilian-military relations, Lincoln, Grant, and the military strategy of the Civil War. Lucas Morel is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington and Lee University. He is the author of Lincoln’s Sacred Effort and has published widely on Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and slavery.

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