BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As we celebrate the iconic Abraham Lincoln during the month of his 200th birthday, it can be difficult to imagine the monumental task he faced eliminating slavery in America.
“It was not easy to be Abraham Lincoln, especially not easy to be Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States in the mid-1800s,” said James O. Horton. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian delivered an address titled, “Abraham Lincoln: Slavery and the Civil War” for Illinois Wesleyan University’s annual Founders’ Day Convocation in Westbrook Auditorium. Hear his address (mp3)
“Slavery is an old institution, around more than 150 years before there was a ‘United States,'” said Horton, an historian emeritus with the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. “Slavery and race have been part of America from its beginning.”