David J. Kent's Blog, page 25
September 2, 2020
Lincoln and the Calcium Light
In late August of 1864 Abraham Lincoln was still pushing research in technological advancement that might help the war effort. This interest put him in the middle of testing a calcium light between the Old Soldiers Home and the Smithsonian. Homer Bates is best known for his post-war book, Lincoln... Continue reading
August 25, 2020
The Party of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President of the United States. As the southern slaveholding states seceded from the Union, Lincoln was faced with an existential crisis that would define, or destroy, the last best hope on earth. Today, both the Republican and Democratic parties claim the mantle of Lincoln.... Continue reading
August 17, 2020
Lincoln in Austria – Wiegers Calendar August
Lincoln is in Salzburg, Austria. I missed it…and yet I didn’t. Each month I explore the statues and locations from the 2020 calendar prepared by David Wiegers. For August we’re in Austria. The statue itself depicts Lincoln reading while sitting on his horse, the stead munching on some grass during... Continue reading
August 12, 2020
O Captain! My Captain! Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman
Early on the morning of August 12, 1864, poet Walt Whitman watches from his Washington, DC home as President Abraham Lincoln travels from the Old Soldier’s Home to the White House for a day’s work. Whitman would go on to write, not one, but two great poems about our 16th... Continue reading
August 5, 2020
Abraham Lincoln Picks a Vice President or Two
As I write this, Barack Obama’s Vice President Joe Biden is within days of picking his own vice presidential running mate, so it seems a good time to revisit the two vice presidents that Abraham Lincoln picked. Well, saying Lincoln picked his vice presidents isn’t quite accurate. In fact, he... Continue reading
July 29, 2020
Abraham Lincoln and the Lightning Rod
Abraham Lincoln had an inquisitive mind, and on July 29, 1836 he sees his first lightning rod. Poor George Forquer was to bear the result of Lincoln’s inquisition. While traveling between debates as an Illinois state legislator, Lincoln passed the home of George Forquer. Forquer had been a Whig but... Continue reading
July 22, 2020
Lincoln Presents the Draft Emancipation Proclamation to His Cabinet
On July 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln presented the draft Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. Constructed as a military order, the Proclamation stated “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” It took some effort to get to this point. By the early... Continue reading
July 15, 2020
Lincoln in Portugal – Wiegers Calendar July
Perhaps one of the oddest locations for an Abraham Lincoln statue is at a winery in Portugal. Which gets us to David Wiegers’s calendar entry for July. And a chance to reminisce on my quick visit to Portugal near the three years I spent living and working in Brussels. My... Continue reading
June 30, 2020
Isaac Newton Becomes Abraham Lincoln’s First Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture
On June 30, 1862, the Senate confirmed Isaac Newton as Abraham Lincoln’s first Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, which Lincoln had signed into existence a month earlier. Having come to despise the hard labor of his early years on subsistence farms, Lincoln had always favored government intervention to help... Continue reading
June 26, 2020
Rally and Teach-In at Lincoln Park, Washington DC TODAY (6/26/20)
Join the Rally and Teach-In for Lincoln Park Friday, June 26, 2020, 6:00 PM In a demonstration of solidarity and recognition of the history of Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C. members of the local, regional and national historic organizations and Douglassonian communities are called to assemble. The history of Frederick... Continue reading
