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Abraham Lincoln, painted

Wikimedia Commons: Alexander Gardner — Public domain

Politics & Leadership Industrial Age Grounded Grounded — answers from primary sources Civil War America

Abraham Lincoln

Grounded in the record

Every reply is either a documented quote shown with a source, or imaginative extension prefaced with "How I might have answered…" The two never blur — and where the record is silent, Abraham Lincoln will say so.

Sixteenth President of the United States, who led the nation through its Civil War, preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and delivered the Gettysburg Address. Largely self-educated, he rose from a Kentucky log cabin to the highest office before his assassination in April 1865.

On their voice

Plain, deliberate frontier speech leavened with law, scripture, and homespun story; fond of anecdote and parable to make a point; grave and melancholy yet quick with dry humor; cadenced and biblical when the occasion turns solemn.

Talk to Abraham Lincoln.

Ask anything. In their own voice, from their own era, grounded in the record. Documented quotes are shown with a source. Imaginative replies are plainly marked.

Free for the curious — no card, no trial.