Read for Understanding

The Jacksonian era, 1820-1845, was a time of rapid change in the United States. Westward expansion by white settlers, the dispossession of Indigenous peoples, and expanding slavery coincided with establishing the Rule of Law in these formerly tribal-held lands and challenged the ideas on which the United States was founded. Abraham Lincoln was a young man during this time, and he was living in Illinois, which was then considered the western frontier. Investigating Lincoln’s first public speech in 1838, which we call his Lyceum Address, can help us understand this period of transition in U.S. history and make connections to questions we are still asking in the 21st century. For a further introduction to Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address, read historian Heather Cox Richardson’s short essay in her blog Letters from an American or watch historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talk about it in a two-minute clip from a 2018 interview at the National Constitution Center.

Engage:  

How might we use current technologies to help us understand the past without losing the author's voice in our primary source documents?

Have you ever thought about why and how we live by a set of rules - or laws - that we agree upon? This learning resource digs deep into the very first speech Abraham Lincoln delivered and asks big questions about how we govern ourselves and how we do or don’t recommit to the ideals of the Revolution and the early Republic. Because Lincoln’s speech was delivered in 1838 - almost 200 years ago - and because he was addressing big ideas, reading and understanding the speech is HARD WORK for our 21st-century brains. It’s worthwhile to spend time with it, though, because the ideas continue to resonate even today. To make the speech more accessible, we have used AI to rewrite the speech for a present-day reader. 

Start by reading the first two paragraphs of the Lyceum speech. Remember that there are two versions of the speech in the document: one in Lincoln’s words and one rewritten for a contemporary audience. (You can read the full speech rewritten for today here and read the original words here.) Consider the following questions, and discuss them with classmates, either in person or via chat. 

• How does reading the speech in 21st-century English change your understanding of the original paragraphs?
• What understanding and meaning might be lost if you only read the paragraphs in their  21st-century rewriting?
• What might you lose or gain by reading an old speech by a famous leader using ChatGPT? 

Learn more about the context of Lincoln’s Lyceum Address by watching the video Fortifying Democracy, Part 1.  The scholars in the video represent historians, political scientists, and scholars of rhetoric.

In the video, Dr. Saladin Ambar describes Lincoln’s speech as “profoundly prophetic.” Turn and talk, or add to a chat: How might the words we read today resonate with the political situation in our own time?

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket. 

Explore:

How might we better understand what motivates acts of mob violence, and how might that inform how we prevent it? 

In Lincoln’s speech, he refers to three instances of mob violence that had taken place in recent years in what were then the western states of Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi. (Can you imagine a time when the mid-west and mid-south were considered the western frontier?) Use the See Think Wonder graphic organizer to explore this map and images.

(WARNING: MAP AND IMAGES MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES OF RACIAL VIOLENCE - PLEASE USE CAUTION.)

Share your See, Think, Wonder observations with the rest of the class, or turn and talk with a classmate. If you are learning remotely, your teacher may allow you to use this Google Slides template as a collaboration tool (make a copy of the template for yourself).

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket. 

Explain:

What might cause people to opt for mob rule over the rule of law? How does Lincoln suggest Americans respond?

As European settlers moved west into what is now the mid-west and mid-south, they were building new communities made up of people who had a range of ideas about the value of the Rule of Law. Disagreements about the expansion of chattel slavery into the western settlements and the displacement of indigenous nations created a lot of disagreement and tension for the settlers, in addition to trying to transplant the ideas of the Revolution and the Constitution into new lands.

To learn more about some examples of Mob Rule - where people threw off the yoke of the Rule of Law and decided to take it into their own hands - watch Fortifying Our Democracy, Part 2. You’ll also learn what Abraham Lincoln thought about Mob Rule.

Then read this excerpt from Lincoln’s speech. Consider the following questions as you read:

• What is Lincoln suggesting in the last sentence of the paragraph? What risk worries him if mobs and their passions rule? What does he mean by “walls”?
• What Lincoln is describing is the opposite of the Rule of Law. What do we mean by the Rule of Law v. the Rule of Mob? What might cause people to opt for mob rule?

Next, as you look at the sources below, make sure to take into consideration the points of view that the source represents. Consider geography and date of publication, among other factors, as you examine each source. 

These sources describe in words and images terrible things that people did to other humans in the 1830s. Do we still encounter things like this today? 

After completing the graphic organizer, decide on a primary source to share with the rest of the class to explain what happened.

Primary and Secondary Sources

Elijah Lovejoy Murder, Alton, IL

• 1948 St. Louis Star & Times Essay: Lovejoy, Who Died at Alton, Martyr for Press Freedom (Transcription here)
• ‘Emancipator’ details fatal shooting of Elijah Lovejoy [Start at column 3, “Particulars of the Massacre”] (Transcription here)

Francis McIntosh Lynching, St. Louis, MO

• Lynching of Francis McIntosh Digital Exhibit
• Account and Defense of Mob Actions, in National Banner and Nashville Whig, May 11, 1836 (Transcript Here)

Vicksburg, MS, Lynchings 

• Vicksburg Letter in Defense of Citizen Actions, August 1, 1835 [reprinted in the United States Gazette, Philadelphia] (Transcript Here)
• Commentary on Vicksburg from The Liberator, Boston, August 8, 1835 (Transcript Here) 

Taking into account what you have learned from analyzing the sources, write a one-page Document-Based Question essay in response to this prompt: 

• Evaluate the causes and consequences of mob violence in the United States during the 1830s, as depicted in the provided newspaper articles.

In your response, you should:

1. Analyze the motives behind mob violence as presented in the newspaper articles.
2. Evaluate the roles of various groups and individuals in inciting or combating mob violence.
3. Assess the broader social, economic, and political contexts that contributed to or mitigated mob violence during the 1830s.
4. Consider the short-term and long-term consequences of mob violence on American society, including its implications for democracy, social order, and reform movements.

Use evidence from the newspaper articles and your knowledge of the period to construct a well-supported argument.

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket. 

Elaborate: 

Can people far removed from an event like the American Revolution fully appreciate what it takes to keep a republic? How might we evoke the commitment of the Founding Era in people today? 

In this section, you’ll learn more about the Lyceum address with the third Fortifying our Democracy video, focusing on Lincoln’s advocacy for the Rule of Law and his warning about the possibility of a tyrant coming to power if the Rule of Law is not followed.

As you watch Fortifying Democracy, Part 3, consider these questions:

• What does Lincoln suggest about the risk and hope of democracy, the farther we get from the country’s founding? 
• As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding in 2026, what risks are we facing, and how might these be connected to Lincoln’s predictions and his recommendations?” 

Dig into Lincoln’s own words (or a version of the speech adapted for your reading level), using the following questions to guide your discussion. 

Use your responses to elaborate using a reflective journal entry.

• How, if at all, are Lincoln’s words still relevant today? How does the tension between passion and reason still play out in our political institutions? Give at least one concrete example.

Participate in a Socratic Dialogue with your classmates in response to one of these two questions. 

• What is the value of the Rule of Law?  Are there times when might it not be useful? 
• Does it get harder to hold a democratic republic together the farther we get from the founding generation?

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket.

Extend:

Have there been moments of change or reimagination so profound that they count as “re-founding” in U.S. history?

In his biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jonathan Eig wrote, “On December 5, 1955, a young Black man became one of America’s founding fathers. He was twenty-six years old and knew the role he was taking carried a potential death penalty.”

Think about what you know of the history of the United States. Identify an example of when the country has needed to recommit to its original principles – perhaps we can describe this as a “re-founding.” (Some of these might be instances of Constitutional amendment, but others might be times or events when big changes happened - perhaps through Supreme Court decisions. Let students make their own case.) Create a tabletop exhibition, using at least three primary source images, documents, or recordings, that argue that an event or moment in U.S. history constitutes a “re-founding” and re-commitment at a particular moment in U.S. history or by a particular figure in U.S. History. You can find more information about creating an exhibition here, in a toolkit from PBLWorks.

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket.

We would love to see images of your exhibits! Feel free to share them with us either through your school's social media account (if your school permits) or via email: editor@newamericanhistory.org

Your teacher may ask you to record your answers on an exit ticket.

Citations: 

American Anti-Slavery Almanac. “Illustrations of the American anti-slavery almanac for 1840.” New York, New York. United States New York, 1840. New York. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007680126/. 

American Anti-Slavery Society. “Particulars of the massacre,” Emancipator Extra. December 1, 1837. https://newseumed.org/tools/artifact/emancipator-details-fatal-shooting-elijah-lovejoy. 

Basler, Roy, ed. “Lyceum Address,” The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 1. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1. Accessed February 7, 2024.

Bouie, Jamelle. “If Destruction Be Our Lot, We Muse Ourselves Be Its Author and Finisher,” New York Times. February 3, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/opinion/abraham-lincoln-ambition-speech.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Tk0.Xlze.dfKFWrkMstIA&bgrp=g&smid=url-share. Accessed February 5, 2024.

Charleston Daily Courier, The. “From the Vicksburg Register,” The Charleston Daily Courier. Charleston, SC. July 28, 1835. https://www.newspapers.com/image/604393030.  (Subscription required.)

Eaton, Foster. “Lovejoy, who died at Alton, a martyr for press freedom,” St. Louis Star & Times. St. Louis, MO. June 11, 1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/205513811. (Subscription required.)

Eig, Jonathan. King: A Life. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2023.

Liberator, The. “Postscript from the Natchez Courier, July 10,” The Liberator, Boston. Boston, MA. August 8, 1835. https://www.newspapers.com/image/34584443. (Subscription required.)

Lincoln Presidential Foundation. 2023. "Fortifying our democracy: Lincoln’s Lyceum Address." Video Series. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR5Dwi_NdBZGhM7l1EAsoMOZk-xmLTbWK. 

McNamara, Robert. "American Lyceum Movement." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/american-lyceum-movement-1773297  (accessed January 23, 2024).

National Banner and Nashville Whig. “Horrible tragedy,” National Banner and Nashville Whig, Nashville, TN. May 11, 1836. https://www.newspapers.com/image/603851488. (Subscription required.)

National Constitution Center. 2018. “Doris Kearns Goodwin explains Lincoln’s Lyceum Address.” Video Interview. YouTube. https://youtu.be/M1LWKm_z_go?si=1y5kGc2KO9msi5Tt. 

Norton, W.T., publisher. “The pro-slavery riot of November 7, 1837, Alton, Ill. Death of Rev. E.P. Lovejoy,” 1909 postcard from a woodcut made in 1838. Robert Langmuir African-American Photograph Collection, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript Archives and Rare Book Library, Emory University Libraries. https://digital.library.emory.edu/catalog/535t76hdtx-cor. 

Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis. “The lynching of Francis McIntosh,” Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis, 2022. https://www.rjcstl.org/francis-mcintosh-remembrance. 

Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis. "Mob violence and racial terror: the lynching of Francis McIntosh." University of Missouri - St. Louis Digital Humanities Lab, 2020-2022. https://www.umsldigitalhumanities.org/francismcintosh/s/francismcintosh/page/introduction. 

Richardson, Heather Cox. “Letters from an American,” January 27, 2024. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-27-2024 (Accessed January 28, 2024.)

United States Gazette, The. “The Vicksburg tragedy,” The United States Gazette, Philadelphia. August 1, 1835. https://www.newspapers.com/image/605024090. (Subscription required.)