This classic composition by George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) was part of a trio of “Election Paintings” that any classroom might use to illustrate the highs and lows of antebellum American democracy. The spread of universal suffrage for adult white…
Category: Nationalism
1780s
Overview The creation of the U.S. Constitution over the summer of 1787 and its subsequent ratification during the following year was a revolution equal in magnitude to the contest for American independence declared against Great Britain in 1776. Americans tend to…
1940s
Overview The 1940s witnessed the worst military conflict in world history. Out of more than 70 million combatants from 70 different countries, the editors at Digital History estimate about 17 million dead, including about 400,000 American military personnel out of…
ESSAY –Man of Consequence
This essay originally appeared in Illinois History Teacher 16 (2009), pp. 16-33. It offer a compact overview of how Abraham Lincoln rose to power during the antebellum political crisis. Man of Consequence: Abraham Lincoln in the 1850s By Matthew Pinsker “The…
COLLECTION –Lincoln’s Writings
NEH EDSITEMENT has named Lincoln’s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition as one of the “Best of the Humanities Web.” The site ranks 150 of Abraham Lincoln’s most teachable documents and provides an arsenal of multi-media learning resources around each one. This…
PODCAST –Lincoln’s Writings
Dickinson theatre professor Todd Wronski has become the “voice of Lincoln” for the House Divided Project. He has recorded dozens of podcasts acting as Abraham Lincoln reading documents from Lincoln’s Writings: The Multi-Media edition, an award-wining website created by the…
VIDEO –Interview on Civil War Politics
Pulitzer Prizer winning historian Mark Neely offers thoughtful comments on two-party politics and the suppression of civil liberties in the North during the American Civil War. Matthew Pinsker interviewed Neely on the Dickinson College campus in spring 2008.
VIDEO –Panels on Presidents at War
A wide range of experts participated in a series of panels in summer 2014 for on the challenges facing American presidents at war. The first panel at the New America Foundation in Washington DC focused on the constitutionality of…
VIDEO –Close Readings of Lincoln Documents
This short video close reading of Lincoln’s “Blind Memorandum” (1864) by Matthew Pinsker was part of 25 such videos he created for the online “Understanding Lincoln” graduate course, co-sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. There are now…
Video –Tour of Gettysburg Battlefield
Matthew Pinsker leads this one-hour tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield. He pays particular attention to the human stories that can help make the battle and its aftermath teachable. Additional resources for this video, including shorter clips organized by stops and…