This exhibit was adorned with many relics from the Lincoln era. It was organized in a circular way so that everything centralized around the most vital pieces of the exhibit, Lincoln's denunciation of slavery and the abolitionists movement's relics. It can be viewed much like a book would be read, background in the beginning, rising action, a climax and ultimately a resolution.

By the 1830's the Northerner's religious beliefs and free-labor society ideals didn't include the institution of slavery and that posed a very big proble

Initially one sees a huge picture of Lincoln titled The Railsplitter, circa 1860, as he/she walks in. It is about 12X7 feet, and Lincoln is illustrated as a young, common man, shirt unbuttoned, splitting wood at the dawn of a misty summer morning. Behind him is a placid lake, and even further back, a blurred vision of the White House. This painting represented that "a common citizen can rise to lead the nation," and this was one of the great opportunities a free society offered.

m in relation to the expansion of the U.S. westward and the fear of slavery going that way as well. The election of Lincoln was "vested in course of ultimate extinction," speaking of his plan to halt slavery's expansion and existence.

Perhaps the single most import battle of the Civil War took place on April 2, 1865, when Sherman and Grant defeated General Robert E. Lee at Five Forks, Virginia. The next day Union soldiers, including a black unit, occupied the Confederate capital. On display, a war dispatch that Lincoln issued to Lee advising him to surrender, breathes life into this event. General Lee surrendered five days later on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse; and the table that Lee signed the surrender papers on is also on display.

There is a picture that may strike a similar chord in many when viewed. It shows slaves depicted at a slave auction in Virginia in 1861, and is immense in size. The faces of the slaves read as void or blank as if they have no future hope. Slavery in the 1850's was a booming industry, especially for the slave traders. For viewing there are a pair of original shackles used to confine and control slaves, "further evidence of the physical bondage of African-Americans." Images like those invoke negative feelings much more than a picture could because it becomes a reality for the onlooker. Prices for slaves were very high, at least for the times. Field workers, for example, cost about $1,500, but for a skilled artisan, the planter would pay $3,000. When you think about it, this was actually a lot of money because if a person worked in a factory then, they were paid about $3-4 per week, if they were lucky.

Things like that fueled people to take action, authors like Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, a abolitionist's handbook, published in 1852 that persuaded the North to be behind blacks. The book was a moral and religious argument to try and convince southerners and northerners to join the abolitionist movement. This book was called the "most influential publication ever" and might have been what made William Lloyd Garrison found the American Anti-Slavery Society whose motto was, "No union with slaveholders." It sold 300,000 copies the first year and more than 2 million over the next decade, making it the most popular bestseller of all time in proportion to population (J. Podesta). Lincoln was introduced to Stowe after the war and said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war," and that shows the effect slavery really had on the war, it was the cause of it.

Lincoln had a lot of debating to do for his run at presidency and much of it was done versus Stephan Douglas. Abraham was a Whig and Douglas was a Democrat that believed in popular sovereignty and slavery. They were both from Illinois, and their debates touched such topics as the founding fathers' intentions regarding slavery and if any rights should be accorded to the North's free African-Americans. These were mostly conducted during the campaign for senator, but the debating continued well into the candidacy for presidency in 1860. Lincoln won the votes for senator and gave one of his famous speeches, A House Divided, on June 16, 1858. This win and deba

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Civil War, North South, South Carolina, East West, African-Americans Images, Agricultural Revolution, Chicago Illinois, Black Hawk, Anti-Slavery Society, Douglas Democrat, civil war, institution slavery, house divided, abolitionist movement, south carolina, five days, united america, robert lee, women children, war military,
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