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Abraham Lincoln and Massachusetts (Zoom Program)

Thursday, October 28, 2021 | 4:00pm - 5:15pm EDT

Free

with Hon. Dennis J. Curran (ret.)

When we think about Abraham Lincoln’s origins, we naturally turn to Illinois, Indiana and even Kentucky, where he and his immediate forebears lived – but hardly Massachusetts.

Surprisingly, our 16th President had strong and compelling connections to the state of Massachusetts. We will hear that story and how Lincoln’s family heritage provided a backdrop for what was to come.

A key event in Lincoln’s life was an 1848 trip to Massachusetts which, as Lincoln himself described it,  was his “first trip over the mountains” made while he “was still picking the hayseed out of my hair.” He addressed, with much acclaim, a Whig convention in Worcester, Massachusetts where he so impressed powerful party leaders that he was invited to dinner the next evening at Governor Levi Lincoln’s home.

The story of that auspicious dinner and its unintended results is worth the retelling because it perfectly illustrates how one seminal event spurred Lincoln’s emotional and political growth, leading to his election as 16th President of the United States.


Hon. Dennis J. Curran (ret.) has served as a Professor of the Practice of Political Science at Tufts University and as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Roger Williams University School of Law and on its Board of Advisors. He also teaches at Brown University’s summer program.

Judge Curran is a member of the National Board of Advisors of The Lincoln Forum. Other Board members include scholar and noted author Doris Kearns Goodwin, filmmaker Ken Burns and Presidential historian Michael R. Beschloss. Judge Curran has also been elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society; he is a member and lecturer of the Lincoln Group of Boston.

The Governor of Massachusetts first nominated Curran in 2002 as an Associate Justice to the District Court; he served in the newly-constructed Boston Municipal Court in 2003; and just three years later, the Governor nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Superior Court where he served for over a decade.

Details

Date:
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Time:
4:00pm - 5:15pm EDT
Cost:
Free
Program Categories:
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