Presidential Chronicles

Abraham Lincoln #14: Wartime Election (1864-1865); Topics covered include: Ulysses Grant named commanding general of the Union Army, 10% Plan, Election of 1864, forms the National Union Party, Overla…

Abraham Lincoln #13: Tide Turns (1863); Topics covered include: Change in commanders, Battle of Chancellorsville, arrest of Clement Vallandigham, justification for use of executive power, Battle of G…

Abraham Lincoln #12: Emancipation (1862-1863); Topics covered include: Attempts for compensated emancipation (fail), Second Confiscation Act, Draft Emancipation Proclamation, response to Horace Greel…

Abraham Lincoln #11: Frustrated Commander (1861-1862); Topics covered include: Selection of commanders, Battle of Bull Run, First Confiscation Act, foreign affairs (principally with France and Englan…

Abraham Lincoln #10: Commander-in-Chief and the Constitution (1861-1865); Topics covered include: Lincoln presidency, selection of Cabinet, standoff in Charleston Harbor, attack on Fort Sumter, suspe…

Abraham Lincoln #9: Secession and the Declaration (1860-1861); Topics covered include: Secession and the Declaration of Independence

Key people: Thomas Jefferson

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Abraham Lincoln #8: Most Perilous Interregnum and Inauguration (1860-1861); Topics covered include: Election of 1860, Southern secession, Fort Sumter, Lincoln's public and private statements, train t…

Abraham Lincoln #7: The Most Important Election (1860); Topics covered include: Speech at Cooper Union, political positions, 1860 election, 1860 Republican Convention, and the general election and re…

Abraham Lincoln #6: Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858); Topics covered include: Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Key people: Stephen Douglas

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Abraham Lincoln #5: Taking a Stand (1854-1858); Topics covered include: Kansas-Nebraska Act, popular sovereignty, "Bleeding Kansas," joins Republican Party, "Lincoln's Lost Speech," election of 1856,…

Abraham Lincoln #4: Lawyer with a Moral Core (1848-1850); Topics covered include: Election of 1848, Lincoln support Zachary Taylor, argues case before Supreme Court, receives patent, leaves Congress …

Abraham Lincoln #3: Personal Life and Personality (1831-1853); Topics covered include: Relationships with his parents, Ann Rutledge, Mary Owens, and Mary (Todd) Lincoln; personality traits, including…

Abraham Lincoln #2: Path to Politics (1832-1848); Topics covered include: Studies law, political beliefs (Whig), elected to state legislature, passes Bar, initial views on slavery and abolition, firs…

Abraham Lincoln #1: Frontier Youth for 'Honest Old Abe' (1809-1833); Topics covered include: Youth on frontier, relationship with father, death of mother, stepmother and siblings, early education/sel…

James Buchanan #10: Don't Blame Me (1861-1868); Topics covered include: Inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln, return to Wheatland with family, Civil War begins, defends attacks on his administra…

James Buchanan #9: Perilous Interregnum (1860-1861); Topics covered include: Election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln election President of the United States, southern secession (including legal interpretat…

James Buchanan #8: Presidential Duties and Investigations (1857-1860); Topics covered include: Rebellion in Utah, Panic of 1857, "reform, not relief," foreign affairs (Cuba and Mexico), midterm elect…

James Buchanan #7: Bleeding Kansas and the Lecompton Constitution (1857); Topics covered include: President of the United States, Dred Scott v. Sandford, life in the White House, patronage, Bleeding …

James Buchanan #6: Elected: Greatest Trial of His Life (1856-1857); Topics covered include: Election of 1856, receives Democratic nomination, elected President of the United States, Cabinet, one term…

James Buchanan #5: Off to Europe, While Kansas Bleeds (1849-1856); Topics covered include: Out of office, country squire at Wheatland, family patriarch, Compromise of 1850, election of 1852, Minister…