We Grew Up with Lincoln
Generations of Americans have grown up with Lincoln. Since the early 1900s, children have studied Lincoln in school, read popular accounts of his life, and visited the many historic sites and monuments dedicated to his memory. A set of colorful dioramas at the Chicago Historical Society remained one of the most popular shrines for decades. Created in 1941 by artisans employed by the Works Progress Administration, they depicted key events in Lincoln’s life, only lightly touching upon the slavery issue in views of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and Emancipation Proclamation.
The state of Illinois, otherwise known as the ‘‘Land of Lincoln’‘ features the recreated village of New Salem and Lincoln’s home and tomb in nearby Springfield. All tend to present Lincoln as a great man of history, rather than delve into more complicated issues, but the more recent Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield addresses slavery and the Civil War in a more substantive manner. Additional shrines include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., which attracts millions of visitors each year. Together, these places have made Lincoln one of the most familiar figures in American history and a beloved national icon. However, the difficult issues he confronted during the Civil War are often obscured by myth and nostalgia, leaving us with an enigmatic figure .