Founders’ Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln
$20 fee (no charge for Fellows and Members)
Lincoln & the Legacy of Conflict Series
Program 2
Abraham Lincoln grew up in the shadow of the Founding Fathers. Seeking an intellectual and emotional replacement for his own taciturn father, Lincoln turned to the men of the founding—Washington, Paine, Jefferson—and their great documents for knowledge, guidance, inspiration, and purpose. Out of the vacuum created by their passing, Lincoln emerged from among his peers as the inheritor of the Founders' mantle, bringing their vision to bear on the Civil War and the question of slavery. Richard Brookhiser presents a compelling biography of Lincoln that highlights his lifelong struggle to carry on the Founding Fathers’ work. Brookhiser shows us every side of the man: laborer, lawyer, congressman, president; storyteller, wit, lover of ribald jokes; depressive, poet, friend, visionary. And he shows that despite his many roles and his varied life, Lincoln returned time and time again to the Founders. They were rhetorical and political touchstones, the basis of his interest in politics, and the lodestars guiding him as he navigated politics and the national scene. But their legacy with not sufficient. As the Civil War lengthened and the casualties mounted Lincoln wrestled with one more paternal figure—God the Father—to explain to himself, and to the nation, why ending slavery had come at such a terrible price.
Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and the author of eleven books, including the James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, American, and Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. He lives in New York City.
Lincoln and the Legacy of Conflict Series
The MHS will commemorate the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln with a series of programs. Renowned authors and historians will explore the war, the president, and the legacy this conflict has left. Mourning Lincoln with Martha Hodes will take place on Wednesday, 8 April. Mourning Lincoln & Racial Equality with John Stauffer will take place on Wednesday, 15 April.