Hi, I'm Jeff Sickinga, executive director of the Ashbrook Center, and this is the American

idea, where we discuss the ideas, people, and events that have made America what it is today.

We believe that by understanding our history and our principles, we can better

live up to the promise of the American family and preserve our ongoing experiment in self-government.

Welcome to the American Idea.

Thank you for joining us today for the American Idea Podcast.

I am Kara Rogers Stevens, Associate Professor of History at Ashland University.

Today we are honored with not one, but two fantastic guests.

First of all, it's my pleasure to welcome back to the show, Dr. John White, Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University.

John is the author or editor of 19 books and more than 100 different articles, essays, and reviews about Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, slavery, and emancipation, and the U.S. Constitution.

Frankly, I'm exhausted just reading that sentence.

I'm very intrigued to know, John, how in the world you found the time to do so much different, so many different publications. Very impressive. His book, A House Built by Slaves, African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House, was a co-winner of the 2003 Gilder-Lairman Lincoln Prize.

He's also the editor of a great and good man, rare firsthand accounts and observations of Abraham

Lincoln.

And our second guest is Dr. Lucas Morell, Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University.

Professor Morell is a trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society, a former

president of the Abraham Lincoln Institute. And I'm most intrigued by his current job, which is serving

on the U.S. Commission to Plan Activities commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the

United States of America. Lucas, maybe you can give us some hints as to what sort of activities might be in our future for that.

All right.

He has written such works as Lincoln and the American founding,

and Lincoln's sacred effort, defining religion's role in American self-government, among many other works.

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