Case-K

The World Mourns Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was not just a shock to Americans but to people all over the world. Through his efforts to hold the nation together and help end slavery, Lincoln became a global symbol of democracy and freedom. The abruptness, injustice, and cruelty of his death set off a chain reaction of mourning and outrage, resulting in an unprecedented outpouring of mourning letters from governments, organizations, and everyday people.

In 1865, the State Department compiled many of these letters in a single volume, but public demand was so great, the government printed additional copies in 1867. This is Robert Todd Lincoln’s copy, opened to the mourning letter of President Daniel B. Warner of Liberia—America’s colony for formerly enslaved people who settled in Africa. As someone born into slavery, Warner does not mince words by describing the Civil War as a conflict “between truth and error, between liberty and oppression.”

Gift of Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, 1978