Daniel Chester French, Abraham Lincoln. Plaster. Gift of Mrs. William Penn Cresson (Margaret French), 1954.79

Throughout his candidacy and presidency, Abraham Lincoln emphasized a new birth of freedom for the United States and identified slavery as a moral and political issue that threatened the nation’s survival. And though Lincoln is typically associated with his home state of Illinois, New Yorkers helped engineer Lincoln’s rise, as a newcomer on the national stage, to the top of the Republican ticket in the 1860 election. The city’s young politicians facilitated his introduction to local audiences. Its editors and image-makers successfully marketed “three Lincolns” to the American electorate—the thoughtful orator at Cooper Union, the dignified statesman of Mathew Brady’s famous New York portrait, and the frontiersman and self-made “Honest Old Abe.” The state’s 35 electoral votes ensured his victory. Though New York City was a Democratic stronghold that never gave him its vote, it nevertheless propelled him into the White House. His assassination in 1865 united New Yorkers, who turned out en masse to file by the casket lying in state at City Hall and participate in the funeral procession.

Exhibitions

Past Exhibition: Abolishing Slavery: The 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation
Online Exhibition: Lincoln and New York 
Traveling Exhibition: Lincoln and New York 
Past Exhibition: The Thirteenth Amendment 
Past Exhibition: Lincoln in his Own Words 
Ongoing Exhibition: Statues of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass

Audio/Video Programs

Audio Program: Lincoln, Douglass, and the Civil War 
Audio Program: Lincoln and the Constitution 
Audio Program: Lincoln Preisdent-Elect 
Audio Program: Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America 
Video Program: Lincoln and the Politicization of the Potomac 

Blog Posts

Behind the Scenes: Interview about Lincoln and Douglass bronze statues 
Behind the Scenes: Lincoln’s Popularity 
Behind the Scenes: The Day Thanksgiving Was Born

Collections

Lincoln and Douglass Statues 
Museum Collections