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Lincoln's Unfinished Work

Detail of the White House copy of the lost 1868 painting. Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and Porter aboard the River Queen on March 27th & March 28th, 1865.
George Peter Alexander Healy
Detail of the White House copy of the lost 1868 painting. Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and Porter aboard the River Queen on March 27th & March 28th, 1865.

In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln spoke of the need to conclude “the unfinished work which they who fought here so nobly advanced.”  In his second Inaugural Address, he spoke in similar vein: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.” 

It’s likely that, in Lincoln’s mind, the most immediate “unfinished work” was the Civil War itself as well as many other unfinished tasks. An upcoming conference at Clemson University will discuss some of the dimensions of Lincoln’s “unfinished work” as a springboard for exploring the United States after his death. The question of Lincoln’s unfinished work remains pertinent to those who care about American democracy.

The organizers the conference, Dr. Vernon Burton and Dr. Peter Eisentstadt join two of its presenters, Dr. Bill Hine and Dr. Darlene Hine, and Walter Edgar to talk about Lincoln’s Unfinished Work.

 All Stations: Fri, Nov 16, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Nov 18, 4 pm

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.