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Who inspired President Abraham Lincoln?

If Abraham Lincoln can be credited for delivering America from the grip of Civil War-era secessionism, he stood on the shoulders of two presidential giants. The iconic nineteenth century visionary honored the same constitutional ideals of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, emulating both men’s governmental principles and the extent to which they were willing to use force in the interest of national preservation. Here, Michael Gerhardt, author of The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy, explains the origins of Lincoln’s distinctive style of leadership, examining how these two political predecessors in particular shaped Lincoln’s legendary presidency.

Recent Comments

  1. […] among the more influential presidents, but Michael Gerhardt explains how they inspired Lincoln in an interview clip at the OUP blog.  Gerhardt is the author of The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional […]

  2. bob

    This web is blank and I even used cookies

  3. Wren

    This was useless- no help to what I needed to figure out.

  4. dont worry about my name

    can someone explain how this article answers anything

  5. Todd m

    I cannot believe some of these websites that have changed my history of my presidents the lies that are being told here is sickening

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