New CentreTerm course examines Abe Lincoln in his own words and on location

RELEASED: January 24, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—In 1888 William Henry Herndon published a series of anecdotes and recollections of his longtime friend and law partner Abraham Lincoln, creating an essential biography of America's 16th president. Yet, despite his meticulous research and note taking, scholars suspect that much of Herndon's text is folklore tempered by historical fact. Dan Stroup, Lively Professor of Government and Law at Centre College, and the students in his CentreTerm course "Lincoln: A Political Study" sought to understand Lincoln not through anecdotes like those of Herndon or the eyes of modern biographers, but through the president's own speeches, writings and political career.

CentreTerm, the College's distinctive three-week January term, allows professors and students the opportunity to delve deeper into a niche subject related to their academic field. Stroup seized the opportunity to gain a little insight into the man who is widely regarded as America's greatest leader on the eve of Lincoln's bicentennial birth year.

Stroup finds a great deal of meaning to be garnered from Lincoln's own words. "In his Gettysburg Address he restates and redefines the fundamental values first articulated in the Declaration of Independence. He transforms the American presidency and the American political system as a whole, so much that historians talk about the Civil War as the 'second American Revolution,'" Stroup says.

It's one thing to read and debate Lincoln's words in the classroom; it's another to visit the scenes of Lincoln's life in person. CentreTerm often includes travel as part of its compressed, three-week schedule.


Stroup's class took a journey through Lincoln's life beginning in a tiny log cabin in his birthplace of Hodgenville, Ky., and continuing all the way to his monolithic tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Ill. Along the way, students toured his stately middle class home in Springfield and explored the newly constructed Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, also in Springfield.

Amy Dorsch, a first-year student from Fort Mitchell, Ky., describes the museum as the highlight of her visit. "I liked that [the museum] didn't simply try to sell the myth of Lincoln. Instead, it showed the controversy that surrounded him during his lifetime and that he was not always glorified as he is today."

Field trips such as these profoundly influence the way students perceive academic material—in this case, transforming a legendary icon of Americana to a man who walked the same streets as they did on a frosty morning in Springfield.

Grant Sharp, a first-year student from Russell Springs, Ky., says, "Before the trip, Lincoln still felt very distant, even after hours of study. Walking the same streets and climbing the same stairs that our 16th president climbed helped turn our studies into reality."

Stroup agrees with his students and adds, "I think that our trip increased our understanding of Lincoln more than our knowledge of him."

As a capstone discussion, the students debated whether Lincoln was more of a man of Kentucky, the state of his birth, or of Illinois, where he practiced law and eventually left for the White House. While the discussion continues, Sharp offered the following opinion: "Lincoln's story of being born of the frontier and working his way to the presidency embodies the true American experience. I say he belongs to neither Kentucky nor Illinois; Lincoln was simply an American."

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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