The Filson Institute - Call for Papers - Third Academic Conference

"Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis: Two Visions of America"

October 24-25, 2008 - Louisville, Kentucky

The Filson Institute will hold its third academic conference, an exploration of the differing visions of America that arose in the Border States - lying on the borders between slavery and freedom from the Potomac Valley in the East to the Ohio Valley in the west - in the antebellum era. At the center of this contest over what Americans thought the nation could or should be lay the state of Kentucky, the birthplace of both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Join us for what promises to be a stimulating and exciting examination of the central role of the Border States in forging two distinct and divergent sectional identities, symbolized in the careers and attitudes of Lincoln and Davis, in the fifty years before the Civil War.

Schedule:

Friday, October 24

9:00 am: Keynote Address
Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School
“‘I Need Kentucky': President Lincoln and the Necessary Conditions for Emancipation”

10:15-11:45: Session 1: Community, Migration, and Sectionalism
Christine Dee, Fitchburg State University
"Embarked on the Same Boat: Regional Identity and Political Culture in Southern
 Ohio and Northern Alabama"

Lloyd Benson, Furman University
"Migration and Mastery in Antebellum Indiana and Mississippi"

Timothy Jenness, University of Tennessee
"'We Have Much Excitement Here': Secession and the Onset of War along the Ohio River"

Commentator: John Quist, Shippensburg University

12:00 - 12:45: Lunch Break

1:00 - 2:30:Session 2: Religion and Sectionalism

John R. McKivigan, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis
"The Battle for the Border State Soul: The Slavery Debate in the Churches of the
Middle States"

Douglas Montagna, Grand Valley State University
"Methodism and Republicanism in Illinois and Indiana"

Dana Elizabeth Weiner, Wilfred Laurier University
"Strife for Speakers: Itinerant Antislavery Lecturers in the Ohio Valley, 1830-1861"

Commentator: Mitchell Snay, Dennison University

2:45-4:15: Session 3: Gender, Fraternity, and Masculinity in Lincoln’s and Davis’s America

Joan Cashin, Ohio State University
"Privilege and Gender in the 19th Century South: Jefferson Davis, Varina Howell
Davis, and the Davis Family"

Stephen Berry, University of Georgia
"Brother Abraham: Fraternity in Lincoln's America"

David J. Gerleman, Papers of Abraham Lincoln - Washington, D.C.
"Men on Horseback: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and the Equestrian
Image of the Commander-in-Chief"

Commentator: Lorri Glover, University of Tennessee

Saturday, October 25

9:00-10:30: Session 1: Antislavery and Regional Identity

John Craig Hammond, Pennsylvania State University, New Kensington
"Making the Free Northwest: Ohio, 1790-1820"

Stacey Robertson, Bradley University
"Hearts Beating for Liberty"

Suzanne Cooper Guasco, Queens University of Charlotte
"Keeping the Union Whole: Abe Lincoln, Edward Coles, and the Politics of Slavery before the Civil War"

Commentator: Nicole Etcheson, Ball State University

10:45-12:15: Session 2: Race in the Border States

Barbara Terzian, Ohio Wesleyan University
"Race and the Status of African Americans in Antebellum Ohio"

Michael J. Pfeifer, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
"Lynching, Law, and Sectional Identity in the Antebellum Border States"

Jennifer R. Loux, Library of Virginia
"Slavery and Regional Identity in Frederick County, Maryland"

Commentator: Stanley Harrold, South Carolina State University

12:15-1:00: Lunch

1:15-2:45: Session 3: War in the Border States

Dan Stowell, Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois
"Patronage as a Weapon: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and the Contest for Kentucky"

A J Aiséirithe, Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC
"German-Americans, Abraham Lincoln, and Civil War Radicalism."

Patience Essah, Auburn University
"In Defense of Union, Constitution, and Slavery: The Border States on the
Confiscation Acts of 1861-1862"

Commentator: Mark W. Summers, University of Kentucky

To make reservations or for more information call The Filson at 502-635-5083.

Click here for a brochure and registration form.

*Due to the generosity of C. Ballard Breaux’s bequest, The Filson Historical Society is able to offer these public conferences of The Filson Institute for a nominal fee. If you are interested in planned giving or underwriting opportunities, please contact The Filson at (502) 635-5083.

For More Information about The Filson Institute, call (502) 635-5083

The Filson Historical Society
1310 South Third Street - Louisville, KY 40208
Phone: (502) 635-5083 Fax: (502) 635-5086

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