🔴In January 1838, a 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln stood before a Lyceum society in Springfield, Illinois, and delivered the most important speech of his early career. He delivered an urgent message precipitated by three racially motivated murders, ultimately giving a solemn warning: the greatest threat to American democracy was not a foreign power, but America itself.
In this episode of Vital Signs, host Ahmed Ragab sits down with Professor Saladin Ambar, professor of political science and political history at Rutgers University, and author of Murder on the Mississippi. Ambar has spent years studying Lincoln's Lyceum Address, a speech that has been cited by everyone from Joseph McCarthy to Jamie Raskin to Liz Cheney. The book provides necessary context for viewing Lincoln with fresh eyes, eschewing the conventional wisdom that Lincoln was a cautious, moderate politician who moved towards abolition out of necessity, not conviction.
🟢About the guest: Saladin Ambar is a professor of political science and political history at Rutgers University. His work focuses on American political development, race, and presidential leadership. Murder on the Mississippi excavates the crimes at the heart of Lincoln's Lyceum Address and makes the case for a new understanding of Lincoln's early politics.
⚫About Vital Signs: A podcast by the Center for Progressive Research. Each week we sit down with the authors, scholars,and experts whose work follows the signpost topics shaping progressive policy and theory.
⌛Timestamps
00:01:19 — Introducing Murder on the Mississippi and the Book's Central Argument
00:05:42 — What Sets the Lyceum Address Apart: He Could Have Talked About Anything Else
00:10:26 — "As a Nation of Free Men, We Must Live Through All Time or Die by Suicide"
00:16:09 — Democracy as a Romantic Venture: Why You Still Tell Your Wife You Love Her
00:21:00 — Demonization, Shithole Countries, and the Decay of Democratic Decency
00:26:02 — The Three Events: Vicksburg, St. Louis, Alton
00:31:10 — Francis McIntosh: 26 Years Old, a Red Jacket, and a Meeting With His Girlfriend
00:37:28 — Elijah Lovejoy: Princeton Theological Seminary to Radical Abolitionist
00:44:28 — Michael Brown, Charlottesville, January 6th: The Through Line
00:50:56 — This Constitution Either Matters or It Doesn't
00:56:30 — Lincoln the Racist
01:02:20 — Vital Signs: Looking for Kindness in the Wegmans Parking Lot
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CREDITS
Brought to you by The Center for Progressive Research.
Creative Director/Editor: Dee White
Producer/Socials: Sandy Dahari
Director of Photography: Wes Ortiz
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Oct 5 202615 min