With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition

With Malice Toward None: Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition

February 12–May 10, 2009

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition commemorates the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the nation’s revered sixteenth president. More than a chronological account of the life of Abraham Lincoln, the exhibition reveals Lincoln the man, whose thoughts, words, and actions were deeply affected by personal experiences and pivotal historic events.

Multimedia

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition Videos Examine some of the historically meaningful and culturally relevant artifacts from this exhibition, including the Bible used by both Presidents Lincoln and Obama at their inaugurations, and the contents of Lincoln's pockets from the night of his assassination. View all videos »

Rise to National Prominence

Law and politics dominated Abraham Lincoln's public life. Though he made his living practicing law, politics was his love. If Lincoln had not been drawn out of a self-imposed retirement from politics following his single, disappointing term in the House of Representatives, he would only be remembered, if at all, as a good trial lawyer from the state of Illinois. Read more about Rise to National Prominence »

Lincoln/Hamlin Election Ticket

“Can we, as a nation, continue together p...

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The Presidency

Being president brought little reward to Lincoln, who could not escape the weight of war, which once bore so heavily upon him that he declared, "If there is a place worse than hell, I am in it." The strain was increasingly evident in his gaunt and saddened visage. Lincoln found some solace in his belief that neither side, the North nor the South, controlled events; rather, God, having willed the removal of a great wrong, was extracting payment for the complicity of both sides in that wrong. Read more about The Presidency »

Campaign Buttons from 1864

Map of 1864 Military Campaign

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“Now He Belongs to the Ages”

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, had a tremendous impact both in the United States and abroad. People in Great Britain, which had favored the South, mourned as if Lincoln had been their leader. France, whose citizens had made no secret of their sympathy for the Union, paid tribute in verse and song. All eyes were on this struggling American democracy, so aptly personified in the person of Abraham Lincoln, and the world mourned his passing. Read more about “Now He Belongs to the Ages” »