Could you please direct me to sources that would help me trace Lincoln's journey from Springfield to New York City for his Cooper Union speech? I thank you in advance for any reply you are able to make.

Best regards,

Pete Jones
Wabash, Indiana

Answer: Dear Mr. Jones:

For general background on the Cooper Union speech, read:

Holzer, Harold. Lincoln at Cooper Union : the speech that made Abraham Lincoln president. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2004.

For the specifics of Lincoln’s travel to New York (or, indeed,what Lincoln did on any day of his life), you can choose between the print and online editions of “Lincoln Day by Day”:

United States. Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission. Lincoln day by day; a chronology, 1809-1865. Earl Schenck Miers, editor-in-chief. Washington, 1960.

On the Internet, it’s known as the “Lincoln Log”

http://www.thelincolnlog.org/view

From: Teresa Carrasquillo

Question: Dear Dr. Kline--

I would like to find a clear answer to the rumor that Abraham Lincoln was of African American decent. I have searched the web and do not find any credible sites stating this inquiry. Can you help me find where to look or can you provide the answer to me? I am very curious and would not like my children learning things from the wrong sources.

Thank you,

Teresa Carrasquillo

Answer: Dear Ms. Carrasquillo:

This is the generally accepted answer to the question of Lincoln’s racial background:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_Abraham_Lincoln_an_African_American

Nearly fifty years ago, the journalist and historian Carl Lomax estimated that anyone who boasts an ancestor who came to the United States more than two hundred years ago probably has at least one African American ancestor in her or his family tree. This may have been true of Lincoln. Or of me. In neither case, however, were we aware of this or raised with any consciousness of this part of our cultural heritage.

I think that President Lincoln and I would cheerfully join President Obama, in calling ourselves American-bred “mutts.”

Mary-Jo Kline