Lincoln, Slavery, and the Jeffersonian Dilemma

David McKay, Senior Lecturer, History

Despite their separate eras, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson were linked by a series of concerns that added up to a problem. Both men shared an entanglement with slavery. Both men shared a deep and overwhelming passion for the American Union. And both men shared a religious sensibility shaped by the Moderate Enlightenment. These three things combined in Thomas Jefferson to produce a dilemma, one that he could not solve and could not see how to avoid. Abraham Lincoln, however, realized that there was no solution to this dilemma other than to plow through it and absorb the consequences that Jefferson feared would follow. How this played out on the ground would determine the course of American history from that point forward.

Thursday, October 22, 2026 | 2:00 PM