Town Hall

Lincoln’s Speeches and the Refounding of America

November 30, 2021

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Michael Burlingame, author of The Black Man’s President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial EqualityNoah Feldman, author of The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America; and Diana Schaub, author of His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation, take a deep dive into the timeless speeches of one of America’s greatest presidents to reveal Lincoln’s constitutional vision and how his vision changed the course of the Constitution and American history. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.


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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell, Tanaya Tauber, John Guerra, and Lana Ulrich. It was engineered by the National Constitution Center's AV team. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected].


Participants

Michael Burlingame holds the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield. He is the author or editor of several books about Lincoln, including: An American Marriage, the two-volume critical masterpiece Abraham Lincoln: A Life, and his new book, The Black Man’s President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Equality.

Noah Feldman is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, chairman of the Society of Fellows, and founding director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard University. He is also a policy and public affairs columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and the host of the podcast, Deep Background. He is the author of nine books, the most recent of which is, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery and the Refounding of America.

Diana Schaub is professor of political science at Loyola University Maryland and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. She is the author and editor of several books, including What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song (co-edited with Amy and Leon Kass) and her new book, His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation.

Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.


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Transcript

This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.


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