Burlingame to speak at Lincoln Inaugural Sesquicentennial

Dr. Michael Burlingame, Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield and author Abraham Lincoln: A Life will take part in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s Inauguration.

The Lincoln Inaugural Sesquicentennial is being held at the Union League Club of Chicago located at 65 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago on Friday, March 4, 2011. Burlingame will speak during a luncheon starting at noon. Registration is required for the event, which takes place all day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln raised his hand to take the presidential oath of office. On the 150th anniversary of his Inauguration and in reorganization of his vision, wisdom, and determination to preserve the Federal union this event is being held.

Burlingame will speak on the topic of “Lincoln & Secession: The Evolution of His Strategy”. When southern states seceded from the Union during the winter of 1860-61, Lincoln intended to take a hard line by reclaiming forts, court houses, mints, arsenals, and other federal facilities commandeered by secessionists. Persuaded to take a softer line, Lincoln refused to compromise on two essential matters: he would not sanction the expansion of slavery into the territories, nor acknowledge the legitimacy of secession. Dr. Burlingame seeks to explain why Lincoln changed his mind and why he rejected the one compromise likely to prevent war.

Burlingame’s two-volume biography Abraham Lincoln: A Life was the recipient of the 2010 Lincoln Prize. The prize is sponsored by Gettysburg College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Burlingame received his Ph.D. in 1968 from Johns Hopkins University and joined the history department at Connecticut College in New London, where he taught until retiring in 2001 as the Sadowski Professor of History Emeritus. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield in 2009.

The Sesquicentennial celebration will be recorded for broadcast by C-SPAN and the Illinois Channel and will feature five of the nation’s foremost Lincoln scholars.

This event is presented in partnership with Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, Civil War Round Table of Chicago, Lincoln Academy of Illinois, Newberry Library, Pritzker Military Library and the Union League Club of Chicago.

For more information, or to register for the event, visit www.ulcc.org/files/lincoln.pdf or call 312-435-5946.