Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War

“Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War,” a national traveling exhibition, will open at UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library on October 15. The exhibit examines how President Abraham Lincoln viewed the Constitution as applied to three intertwined crises of the Civil War — the secession of Southern states, slavery, and wartime civil liberties.

For its stay at UNC Asheville, local elements including diaries, portraits, and slave deeds that show how slavery and emancipation impacted Western North Carolina have been included.

The exhibit is free and will be open to the public during the library’s regular hours through November 16. An opening reception will be held from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Mon., October 15, at Ramsey Library. At 7:00 p.m. UNC Asheville Visiting Assistant Professor of History Darin Waters will present a lecture, “Emancipation: A Crime Against Humanity,” in Humanities Lecture Hall on the campus.

The National Touring Exhibition

Abraham Lincoln is widely acknowledged as one of America’s greatest presidents, but historians disagree about whether he was a calculating politician willing to accommodate slavery, or a principled leader justly celebrated as the Great Emancipator. This exhibition encourages visitors to form their own, nuanced view of the 16th president by engaging them with Lincoln’s struggle to reconcile his policy preferences with basic American ideals of liberty and equality. Ideally, visitors will emerge with a more complete understanding of Lincoln as president and a deeper recognition of the Civil War as the nation’s gravest constitutional crisis.

When Lincoln was elected president in 1860 the nation was on the brink of war over a number of fundamental questions about American’s identity. Was the United States truly one nation, or was it a confederation of sovereign and separate states? How could a country founded on the belief that “all men are created equal” tolerate slavery? In a national crisis, would civil liberties be secure?

President Lincoln used the Constitution to respond to these questions through the crucible of war, ultimately reinventing the Constitution and the promise of American life.

The National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office organized the traveling exhibition, which was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It features informative panels featuring photographic reproductions of original documents, including a draft of Lincoln’s first inaugural speech, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 13th Amendment.

Local Elements Added

The exhibition also includes a look at how slavery and the emancipation impacted the WNC region through eyewitness testimony of slaves, slave owners, soldiers, and abolitionists. Drawing on the resources of the Buncombe County Register of Deeds and the Clerk of Courts, original slave deeds and wills will be on display along with a variety of diaries, letters, maps, and portraits that add to the understanding of the lived experience of people during this time period.

“My office has had the privilege to collaborate on the Lincoln exhibit project, bringing original artifacts to the students of UNC Asheville and our community,” said Drew Reisinger, Buncombe County Register of Deeds. “In an effort to bring light to this issue, the [office] has also compiled a database of the documents that recorded the trade of people as slaves, available at www.buncombecounty.org/rod.”

“We are delighted to have been selected as a site for this exhibition,” said Leah Dunn, UNC Asheville University Librarian. “This exhibition shows how Lincoln struggled with issues of secession, slavery, and civil liberties—all questions that our country’s founding charter left unanswered. We are particularly pleased to host school middle and high school students on the campus of UNC Asheville. Undoubtedly the exhibit will help them understand why Lincoln’s struggle with the Constitution still matters today.”

Special Events Linked to the Exhibition

All programs related to this exhibit are free and open to the public and take place on the UNC Asheville campus. Programs include:

•     October 15, 5:30-7 p.m. opening reception, Ramsey Library

•     October 15, 7 p.m. at Ramsey Library, lecture by UNC Asheville Visiting Assistant Professor of History Darin Waters, “Emancipation: A Crime Against Humanity,” Humanities Lecture Hall.

•     October 18, 12:30-1:30 p.m., lecture by Gordon McKinney, retired Professor of History at Berea College, on “Wilma Dykeman’s The Tall Woman, Lincoln and the Civil War,” Ramsey Library Special Collections Room.

•     October 25, 6-9 p.m., workshop by genealogical researcher Sasha Mitchell on finding ancestors of African Americans prior to 1865, in Ramsey Library Whitman Room. Registration limited to the first 35 respondents; register by email to [email protected]. An additional workshop will be planned if needed.

•     October 30, 12:20-1:30 p.m., genealogical researcher Sasha Mitchell shares her experience of researching her own roots, Highsmith University Union Mountain Suites.

For more information contact: Ramsey Library, (828) 251-6336 or [email protected]; Deborah Miles, executive director, Center for Diversity Education, (828) 232-5024 or [email protected].

For Ramsey Library hours, visit http://bullpup.lib.unca.edu/library/cal/index.html.

For more information about the national touring exhibition, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War,” visit www.ala.org/offices/ppo/programming/lincoln.