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Resources for Studying Abraham Lincoln
and the American Civil War around the World
Daniel W. STOWELL*As director and editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln and as directorof the Center for Digital Initiatives at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, it has been my pleasure to makematerials for the study of his life and times more accessible through theInternet. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln grew out of the Lincoln LegalPapers, which began in 1985. In 2001, the project expanded beyond Lincoln’slaw practice to cover his entire life and career. Our goal is to locate, digitize,transcribe, annotate, and publish freely online all documents written by or toAbraham Lincoln during his entire lifetime.
As part of this commitment, we have created several web publications
that may be of interest to readers of this Journal. For the study of Abraham
Lincoln’s life and words, three of our web publications are most important.
First, The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln(www.thelincolnlog.org) offers a calendar format and digest of Lincoln’sactions on any day of his life about which we have information. Researchers
worldwide can learn what Lincoln was doing and with whom he was interacting on almost every
day of his Presidency andmany dates in the 1850sand before. For example,a researcher can learn
about Lincoln’s 12 March
1862 meeting with Joseph
Heco (Hikozo Hamada)at the Executive Mansion
and see the source forthat information. The* Daniel W. Stowell is director and editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Springfield,Illinois.

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Lincoln Log is designed to be a digest of information and not an exhaustive
source. It is helpful, however, in understanding where Lincoln was and what
he was doing on specific dates.
Second, researchers can view all surviving documentation of Abraham
Lincoln’s law practice in The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, Second
Edition (www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org). This database brings together
images of more than 98,000 documents from Lincoln’s quarter-century legal
career. Although the documents are not transcribed, editors extracted morethan 2 million pieces of metadata, including all of the people involved in thecases, legal issues, courts, dates, subjects, and a summary of more than 5,100
cases and more than 500 non-litigation legal activities. For example, ten cases
have some connection to the California Gold Rush of 1849. At least twocases involved women who sued for divorce because their husbands deserted
them to go to California. Others relate to the failure of partnerships to travel
to California to mine gold. Researchers can learn much about both Abraham
Lincoln’s career and the history of nineteenth-century America from these
legal sources.
Third, researchers familiar with The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,
8 vols. (1953), available online at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/, should
also consult the images of documents made available by the Papers ofAbraham Lincoln at The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Images from theNational Archives and Library of Congress (http://papersofabrahamlincoln.
dataformat.com). This web publication provides early access to images ofmore than 76,000 documents from our research at the National Archives andLibrary of Congress. Although the documents are not transcribed, researchers
can search by date, title, or collection. Here, researchers can view a translation of a 22 January 1862 letter from the five-year-old Tongzhi Emperor ofChina to Abraham Lincoln. At the time, China was ruled by Tongzhi’s mother
Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci’an. Included in one translation of the letter is a fascinating commentary by the translator on the significance of a phrase stating that the Emperor received a commission from God
to rule (or “to soothe and bridle”) all the world. The translator recommends
that no further notice be taken of the objectionable expression and emphasizes instead other phrases implying equality between the Emperor and thePresident and between China and the United States.
To demonstrate the global significance of Abraham Lincoln’s life andlegacy, the Center for Digital Initiatives at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum created Abraham Lincoln: Citizen of the World (www.
citizenlincoln.org). This web publication combines two types of global
sources on Abraham Lincoln’s life and legacy, both plotted on a world map.
It includes more than 450 letters of condolence from around the world sent inResources for Studying Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War around the World

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1865. As word of Lincoln’s assassination spread around the world in Apriland May 1865, spontaneous meetings of citizens, labor unions, religiousorganizations, Masonic lodges, antislavery societies, and local officials gave
voice to their grief in letters of condolence and tribute. The resulting lettersand resolutions were addressed to President Andrew Johnson, Secretary ofState William H. Seward, diplomatic officials, Mary Lincoln and her children,
the United States Congress, the American people, or any combination of these
individuals and groups.
The tributes were heartfelt and often eloquent. One eulogy in a French
newspaper insisted that “Lincoln represented the cause of democracy in thelargest and the most universal acceptation of the word. That cause is ourcause, as much as it is that of the United States.” The citizens of a village inSicily declared, “Abraham Lincoln was not yours only—he was also ours,because he was a brother whose great mind and fearless conscience guided
people to union, and courageously uprooted slavery.” A group of French
medical students insisted, “In President Lincoln, we weep for a fellow
citizen; for no country is shut up now.” The citizens of Abruzzo, Italy,
proclaimed, “Your history is the same as ours. From Lincoln and Seward toGaribaldi and Mazzini, the tradition of the great struggle between good andevil, liberty and slavery, civilization and barbarism, national autonomy andthe rule of foreign despots, has ever been the same.” The Portuguese
governor of Macau expressed his “profound grief” and reflected that “thisfatal occurrence will serve however to render still more grateful and cher-Daniel Stowell welcoms De-min Tao at his office

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ished the memory of His Excellency Abraham Lincoln to his countrymen, forthe eminent services which he bestowed even to the sacrifice of his own
life.”
Abraham Lincoln: Citizen of the World also includes more than 150 lettersof reflection on Abraham Lincoln’s life and legacy from nations around theworld, including several from Asia. The Japanese ambassador to the UnitedStates, officials from Taiwan, the Prime Minister of Thailand, and both thePresident of Myanmar and the ambassador to the United States from
Myanmar offer their reflections on what Abraham Lincoln has meant to them
personally and to their nations. General Prayut Chan-o-Cha, the Prime
Minister of Thailand reflected that Lincoln’s “unwavering commitment,courage, and sacrifice to bring about peace for his nation and prosperity forhis people, continues to inspire not only the United States of America, but theentire world.” His legacy “continues to guide the destiny of many countries,
including Thailand’s, as we are presently committed to our own reconciliation
process that seeks to bring together all Thai people to build a stronger andsustainable democracy.”This juxtaposition of letters of condolence from 1865 with letters ofreflection on Lincoln’s legacy in 2015 offers a powerful demonstration of theglobal impact and importance of Abraham Lincoln’s life, career, and legacy.
Don H. Doyle, in his excellent The Cause of All Nations: An International
History of the American Civil War (2014), argues persuasively that observers
around the world viewed the conflict in the United States as a conflict
between universal republican ideals of liberty and democracy and aristocratic
beliefs in hierarchy and privilege. For the world, in Doyle’s view, the Union
that Abraham Lincoln struggled to preserve was indeed “the last best hope ofearth.”
The Internet allows researchers to explore a vast amount of material
quickly and easily, but there is no substitute for the application of a humanmind to the evidence left by previous generations to draw insights andwisdom from their experiences. Making authoritative source material about
Abraham Lincoln’s life and times available to researchers everywhere is thepurpose of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln. We are pleased to make thesematerials available and to make them better and more complete. Abraham
Lincoln is a global figure, and the Papers of Abraham Lincoln welcomes thecollaboration of a worldwide body of researchers to comprehend the depth
and breadth of his influence in his world and in ours.

Resources for Studying Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War around the WorldThe Republican Rally at Lincoln Home, August 8, 1860

Rev. William C. Trevan (right); and Rev. Henry Brown (left) at
Lincoln’s Funeral, May 4, 1865

Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library & Museum, Springfield, Illinois

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