America's sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) is revered for ending slavery, and preserving the Union by winning the Civil War. But perhaps he is best known for his Gettysburg Address of 1863 and being the first assassinated U.S. president. Learn more at these top Lincoln sites.
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The Lincoln Institute, funded by The Lehrman Institute, publishes seven educational sites about the sixteenth president, including Mr. Lincoln's Whitehouse, Mr. Lincoln and Freedom, and Mr. Lincoln's Classroom. You can see the entire list under Projects (from the main horizontal nav menu.) The sites include extensive quotes from many primary sources, but also list easier-to-find secondary sources in the bibliographies for students wanting to dig deeper. Do you "like" Abe Lincoln? Join in the Institute's plan to get 10 million Facebook fans for Lincoln by liking their Facebook page.
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Although there are other educational resources at the Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, this one is my favorite for students. It is an interactive timeline of Lincoln's life, starting with his birth on February 12, 1809 outside of Hodgenville, KY, and ending in with his burial in Springfield, IL on May 4, 1865. To traverse the timeline, start with the decades in the upper menu, then look for the years and months in the lower menu. "1856: Lincoln joins the Republican Party. The party adopts an anti-slavery platform, which has become an important issue to Lincoln."
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Roger Norton begins with this introduction, "I am not an author or a historian; rather I am a former American history teacher who enjoys researching Abraham Lincoln's life and accomplishments." A great site for both middle-school and high-school students researching school projects, it is organized into three sections: Lincoln's Assassination, Abraham Lincoln Research Site and Mary Todd Lincoln Research Site. All of the interior pages have a Jump To menu in the upper-left, which I found to be the best way to discover the all the nooks and crannies of these three sites.
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This single page illustrated time line of Lincoln's life begins in 1637 when Lincoln's ancestors arrived from England to settle in Hingham, Massachusetts. Easy to read, it is peppered with personal tidbits such as "1817 - In February, Abraham, age seven, shoots a wild turkey but suffers great remorse and never hunts game again," and "1841 - January 1, breaks off engagement with Mary Todd. Has episode of depression."
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In 1863, David Wills, a Pennsylvania judge, was given the task of "cleaning up the horrible aftermath of the [Civil War] battle" at Gettysburg. Wills acquired seventeen acres for a national cemetery and three weeks before its dedication, invited President Lincoln to "formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks." Lincoln's brief remarks at the cemetery on November 19, 1863 became one of the most memorable presidential speeches ever given. Can you recite it? "Four score and seven years ago . . ."
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By Barbara J. Feldman. Originally written on Feb 08, 2011. Last Modified on Feb 09, 2011.
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Buy Abraham Lincoln Printable for $2.00 or try a FREE trial of the Printables Club
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Honorable Mentions
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
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