Past Symposia Participants

Each February12th, The Abraham Lincoln Association celebrates the birth of Abraham Lincoln by conducting a symposium in the House of Representatives at the Old State Capitol in Springfield.  The participants over the years are listed below:

2007:  Celebrating a Century of Lincoln Scholarship
Jean Baker, Goucher College, Finding Abe: The Elusive Mr. Lincoln
Mark E. Neely, Jr., Pennsylvania State University, A Life in Politics: Lincoln and the American Party System
Douglas L. Wilson, Knox College, Lincoln's Rhetoric
Brian R. Dirck, Anderson University, Abraham Lincoln's Ethic of Distance
Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State University, Abraham Lincoln, Commander-in-Chief
Michael Vorenberg, Brown University, Lincoln the Citizen-- Or Lincoln the Anti-Citizen?

2007: Lincoln and the Politics of the 1850s
Nicole Etcheson, Ball State University, A living, creeping lie: Abraham Lincoln on Popular Sovereignty
Matthew Pinsker, Dickinson College, Not Always Such a Whig: Abraham Lincoln’s Partisan Realignment in the 1850s
Orville Vernon Burton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lincoln Reconsidered
Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State University, Comments

2006: The Lincoln Family
Catherine Clinton, Wife v. Widow: Clashing Perspectives on Mary Lincoln’s Legacy
Daniel Mark Epstein, The Road to Washington, 1847
Joshua Wolf Shenk, Lincoln’s Emotional Life
Gerald Prokopowicz, East Carolina University, Comments

2005: Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution
Herman Belz, University of Maryland at College Park, Redressing Wrongs Already Long Enough Endured: Lincoln and the Executive Power
Phillip S. Paludan, University of Illinois at Springfield, Lincoln and Democracy?
Daniel A. Farber, University of California at Berkeley, Lincoln’s Constitutional Legacy
Sandra F. VanBurkleo, Wayne State University, Comments

2004: Abraham Lincoln and the Party System
Mark E. Neely, Jr., Penn State University, Lincoln and American Political Culture Before the Civil War
Michael Holt, University of Virginia, A Moving Target: President Lincoln Confronts a Two-Party System Still in the Making
Mark Voss-Hubbard, Eastern Illinois University, Vote Yourself a Farm': George Washington Julian and the Politics of Land Reform in the Age of Lincoln
Graham Peck, St. Xavier University, Comments

2003: Lincoln in Memory and Imagination.
David Blight, Yale University, The Problem of Slavery and the Civil War in American Memory
Brian Dirck, Anderson University, 'Too Vast for Malicious Dealings’: Abraham Lincoln on Hatred
Kent Gramm, Wheaton College, A More Perfect Tribute
Silvana Siddali, Illinois State University, Comments

2002: Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and Emancipation
Allen C. Guelzo, Eastern College, “The Lincoln Image in the African-American Mind”
Brooks Simpson, Arizona State University,  “I Could Have Whipped Them Myself”
Lerone Bennett Jr., Ebony Magazine, “Forced Into Glory”
Vibert White, University of Illinois at Springfield, Comments

2001: Abraham Lincoln, History, and the New Millennium
John Patrick Diggins, Abraham Lincoln: Political Philosopher, The City University of New York
Barry Schwartz, Lincoln at the Millennium, University of Georgia
Stewart Winger, To the Latest Generations': Lincoln's Use of Time, History and the End Time in Historical Context, American University in Cairo
John Ashworth, University of Nottingham, Comments

2000: Lincoln's Reputation
Hans L. Trefousse, Abraham Lincoln's Reputation During His Administration, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York
Bruce Tap, Amateurs at War: Abraham Lincoln and the Committee on the Conduct of War, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Bryon C. Andreasen, Lincoln's Religious Critics: Copperhead Christian Reactions to the President and War, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Round Table Discussion with Michael Burlingame, Connecticut College; Allen C. Guelzo, Eastern College; Mark S. Reinhart, Upper Arlington Library; and Thomas F. Schwartz, Illinois State Historian

1999: Abraham Lincoln and Nationalism
William Lee Miller, "Abraham Lincoln and the Moral Meaning of America," University of Virginia
James Rawley, "Abraham Lincoln’s Nationalism Revisited," University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Drew R. McCoy, "Lincoln, Jefferson and the Classical Tradition," Clark University

1998: Abraham Lincoln in Community and Context (Two Day Conference)
Richard E. Hart, Springfield’s African Americans as a Part of the Lincoln Community, Hart, Southworth & Witsman
Lucas Morel, Lincoln Among the Reformers: Tempering the Temperance Movement, John Brown University
Kenneth J. Winkle, Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made Man, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Allen C. Guelzo, ‘Come-Outers and Community Men’: Abraham Lincoln and the Idea of Community in the Antebellum Republic, Eastern College
Ronald D. Rietveld, The Lincoln White House Community, California State University at Fullerton
Brooks D. Simpson, Lincoln and His Political Generals, Arizona State University

1997: Abraham Lincoln and American Law
Paul D. Carrington, "Law as a Public Profession: A Tale of Two Lawyers," Duke University
William D. Beard, "Dalby Revisited: A New Look at the Dalby Case," Lincoln Legal Papers
Mark E. Steiner, "The Heroic Mr. Lincoln? In the Matter of Jane, A Woman of Color Reconsidered," South Texas College of Law
Panel Discussion: Lincoln Legal Papers Staff

1996: Lincoln’s Biographers (Two-Day Conference)
James A. Rawley, "Isaac Newton Arnold: Lincoln’s Friend and Biographer," University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Rodney O. Davis, "Lincoln’s ‘Particular Friend," and Lincoln Biography," Knox College
Michael Burlingame, "Nicolay and Hay as ‘Court’ Historians," Connecticut College
Judith Rice, "Ida Tarbell: A Progressive Look at Lincoln," Southwest Missouri State University
James Harvey Young, "Randall’s Lincoln: An Academic Scholar’s Biography," Emory University
James Hurt, "Sandburg’s Lincoln: The Theory and Practice of Biography," University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Panel Discussion: Phillip S. Paludan, University of Kansas, Kenneth J. Winkle, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Allen C. Guelzo, Eastern College, Michael Burlingame, Connecticut College, Rodney O. Davis, Knox College and James Hurt, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1995: Abraham Lincoln and American Religious Thought
Mark Noll, "‘Both...pray to the same God’: The Singularity of Lincoln’s Theology in the Era of the Civil War," Wheaton College
Richard J. Carwardine, "Lincoln, Evangelical Religion, and American Political Culture in the Era of the Civil War," University of Sheffield
Allen C. Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln and the Doctrine of Necessity, Eastern College

1994: New Directions in Lincoln Studies
Edward M. Brunner, "New Salem as a Contested Site," University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Glen W. Davidson, "Abraham Lincoln and the DNA Controversy," Doane College
James Gilreath, "Guilt, Innocence, Forensic Science, Faith and the Lincoln Forgers, Library of Congress

1993: Abraham Lincoln and the Whig Party
Drew R. McCoy, Lincoln and the Founding Fathers: A Reconsideration, Clark University
Major Wilson, Lincoln on the Perpetuation of Republican Institutions: Whig and Republican Strategies, Memphis State University
Daniel Walker Howe, Why Abraham Lincoln Was A Whig, Oxford University

1992: The Lincoln Image in Popular Culture
Gabor S. Boritt, Punch Lincoln: A Preliminary Look, Gettysburg College
Harold Holzer, Columbia’s Noblest Sons’: Washington and Lincoln in Popular Prints, New York Economic Development Corporation

1991: Lincoln’s Boswell: William Henry Herndon
Charles B. Strozier, Herndon’s Lives, The City University of New York
Douglas L. Wilson, Herndon and His Informants, Knox College

1990: Lincoln and Leadership
James M. McPherson, The Hedgehog and the Foxes: Lincoln and Some Contemporaries, Princeton University
William E. Gienapp, Abraham Lincoln and the Border States, Harvard University

1989: Lincoln and His Cabinet
John Niven, Lincoln and Chase, An Uneasy Relationship, The Claremont Graduate School
Norman B. Ferris, Lincoln and Seward: Revisited, Middle Tennessee State University

1988: Lincoln and Home
Jean H. Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln: Managing Home, Children and Husband, Goucher College
John Y. Simon, Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

1987: Lincoln, the Law and the Constitution (Two Day Conference)
Michael Les Benedict, Federalism and Abraham Lincoln, Ohio State University
Herman Belz, Political Philosophy, Constitutionalism and Abraham Lincoln, University of Maryland
Mark E. Neely, Jr., Lincoln and Arbitrary Arrest: The Fate of Civil Liberties in Times of Total War, Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum
Phillip A. Paludan, Lincoln and the Political/Constitutional Conversation, University of Kansas
Don E. Fehrenbacher, Lincoln’s Wartime Leadership: The First Hundred Days, Stanford University

1986: Lincoln and Politics
Joel H. Silby, 'I Have Always been a Henry Clay Whig': The Partisan Political World of Abraham Lincoln, Cornell University
Thomas F. Schwartz, An Egregious Political Blunder: Justin Butterfield, Lincoln and Illinois Whiggery, Illinois State Historical Library

1985: Lincoln Viewed and Used
Roy P. Basler, Lincoln and American Writers, Library of Congress
Herman Hattaway, Presidential Use of Lincoln’s Military Example, University of Missouri

1984: The Assessment of Lincoln--175 Years Later
Richard N. Current, Lincoln After 175 Years, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Kenneth M. Stampp, My Life with Lincoln, University of California, Berkeley

1983: Abraham Lincoln and the U. S. Constitution
Eugene H. Berwanger, Lincoln’s Constitutional Dilemma: Emancipation and Black Suffrage, Colorado State University
Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Lincoln Administration and Arbitrary Arrests: A Reconsideration, Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum

1982:
Constance Head, John Wilkes Booth, 1864: Prologue to Assassination, Western Carolina University, North Carolina
Richard J. S. Gutman, The Assassin’s Act, owner of Slide Factor, a multi-image slide show production
Thomas R. Turner, What Type of Trial? A Civil Versus Military Trial fro the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, Bridgewater State College, Massachusetts

1981:
Harold Holzer, "A Very Indifferent Judge," A Very Willing Subject: Lincoln and the Visual Arts, WNET (PBS) in New York City
Wayne C. Temple, Abraham Lincoln, Lecturer, Illinois State Archives
James Hurt, Aristotle on Abraham Lincoln, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1980:
John T. Hubbell, Lincoln and the Recruitment of Black Troops, Kent State University
Arthur Zilversmit, Lincoln and the Problem of Race, Lake Forest College

1979:
Charles B. Strozier, Psychohistorical Reflections on Lincoln and His Father, Sangamon State University
David R. Wrone, Lincoln: Democracy’s Touchstone, University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point

1978:
John Y. Simon, Lincoln and Grant, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Otto Olsen, Lincoln the Revolutionary, Northern Illinois University

1977:
Edwin C. Bearss, Mr. Lincoln’s Neighbors, National Park Service
Lewis H. Croce, Lincoln and His Desk Generals, Mankato State University

1976:
Emory M. Thomas, Jefferson Davis and the American Revolutionary Tradition, University of Virginia
Phillip S. Paludan, Lincoln and the Survival of the American Revolutionary Tradition, University of Kansas

1975:
Norman A. Graebner, William Seward and the Diplomatic ‘Crisis’ of 1862, University of Virginia
Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, Mexico and Lincoln: From the Mexican War to the French Intervention, University of California at San Diego

1974:
Christopher N. Breiseth, Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: Another Debate, Sangamon State University
Harry Kelsey, Lincoln’s Indian Policy, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Ronald D. Rietveld, Lincoln and the Politics of Morality, California State University, Fullerton
Don E. Fehrenbacher, Lincoln and the Weight of Responsibility, College of William and Mary
Harold M. Hyman, Lincoln and Congress: Why Not Congress and Lincoln?, Rice University