In this short lecture, Prof. Dael Norwood will draw on materials from the Lincoln Collection at the University of Delaware Library to explore how Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party made their case to voters in the 1860 presidential campaign, and explain how the United States antebellum culture of anti-Black racism formed a crucial context for that contest.
This program complements the exhibition The Rail-Splitter Surprise: Abraham Lincoln and the Presidential Election of 1860, on view in the Lincoln Exhibition Case, Morris Library, from August 27 – December 13, 2024. The exhibition is also
available online at the link here.