Synopsis & Musical Numbers
- Place: Illinois.
- Time: 1800s.
Act One
Scene 1 (Prelude)
In 1829 New Orleans a nineteen-year-old Abe Lincoln witnesses a slave auction.
Scene 2
Three years later Abe is working as a store clerk in the struggling river town of New Salem, Illinois (Fifteen Houses). Abe feels close to the tavern owner's daughter, Ann Rutledge, and tells her of his origins (Hardin County, Kentucky). He also finds a friend and tutor in Mentor Graham, the town schoolteacher.
Scene 3
Visiting the Rutledge tavern one night, Abe realizes that he has fallen in love with Ann (A Girl Like Her) yet cannot imagine her ever returning his feelings. Abe is challenged to wrestle by one of the town's bullies and surprises everyone by pinning the challenger to the tavern floor. In order to make peace with his customers, Jim Rutledge buys everyone a round of drinks (Corn).
Scene 4
Abe has become a voracious reader and particularly taken with Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Though many people in New Salem recognize his brilliance, Abe struggles to find his purpose (Who Are You?). Ignoring Abe's insecurity, Ann can't help but fall in love with someone she so admires (A Man Like Him).
Scene 5
Since the store where he worked is out of business, Abe takes the townspeople's suggestion and runs for the Illinois Legislature. Though he's defeated, Abe carries nearly all of New Salem's votes (277 to 3).
Scene 6
Three years later, Abe is now an Illinois legislator and visits New Salem to ask for Ann's hand. She accepts but wishes to wait until Abe has finished his law degree (A Girl Like Her reprise).
Scene 7
Three months later Ann is dead; Abe suffers a bout of melancholy that darkens the rest of his life.
Scene 8
Five years pass and Abe is still in the State Legislature while running a successful law practice. Attending a Cotillion Ball Abe is pursued by Mary Todd, a visitor from Kentucky. Mary envisions Abe's great political future, which she intends to cultivate and become part of (Mrs. Abraham Lincoln). Abe's friend and colleague, Billy Herndon, a staunch abolitionist, introduces a game to the Cotillion guests (What Am I Bid?). The seemingly innocent entertainment turns into a riot, underscoring the slavery conflict that is consuming the nation.
Act Two
Scene 1
Though Mary continues to pursue Abe, her family believes the match is not suitable. Abe proposes to her in December 1840 and agrees to a New Year's Day wedding, but never appears. Mary remains steadfast in her hopes; two years later they are finally wed (Mrs. Abraham Lincoln reprise).
Scene 2
Elected to one term in the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Abe finds it impossible, despite attempts from family and friends, to compromise his ideals (Someone).
Scene 3
Years later Abe and Mary with their sons Bob, Willie and Tad celebrate Christmas Eve. Tad, the youngest, questions his father how life would be different had one of the boys been a girl (What Would I Do With Daughters?). Soon after Mary criticizes Abe on the manner in which he treats her in public, but admits to being overly sensitive since he lost the election to the United States Senate the previous year. They discuss the good things they share in marriage and family (A Moment Like This One). Billy Herndon, now Abe's law partner, arrives with presents and news that Abe is in consideration for the presidential nomination of 1860. After he leaves, Mary launches into a tirade against Billy, revealing signs of emotional instability that will plague her for the rest of her life.
Scene 4
Abe visits the photography studio of Mathew Brady in February 1860 where he encounters a boy who has memorized his “House Divided” speech.
Scene 5
In May 1860 at Chicago's Convention Hall, Abe wins the nomination for President (Who Abe? You, Abe!).
Scene 6
In November, he is elected the 16th President of the United States of America.
Scene 7
On February 11, 1861, the Lincolns are packed and ready to leave for Washington, D.C. Abe finds himself left alone (Who Are You? reprise). Abe's oldest son Bob enters to say he has heard that the nation is coming apart and asks if his father can stop it. “I can try,” Abe responds. Alone again, Abe remembers Ann. Mary enters. Together, arm in arm, they leave for the train station.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical historical drama film that depicts the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as President of the United States. In the UK, the film is known by the alternate title Spirit of the People. The film was adapted by Grover Jones and Robert E. Sherwood from Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It was directed by John Cromwell.
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician. He was the eldest child of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, and the only one of their four children to live to adulthood. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company president, and served as U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Mary Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and as such the First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865. Today, she is commonly known as Mary Todd Lincoln, though she did not use the name Todd after marrying.
Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site is a reconstruction of the former village of New Salem in Menard County, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837. While in his twenties, the future U.S. President made his living in this village as a boatman, soldier in the Black Hawk War, general store owner, postmaster, surveyor, and rail splitter, and was first elected to the Illinois General Assembly.
Young Mr. Lincoln is a 1939 American biographical drama film about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda. Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck fought for control of the film, to the point where Ford destroyed unwanted takes for fear the studio would use them in the film. Screenwriter Lamar Trotti was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing/Original Story.
Abraham Lincoln, also released under the title D. W. Griffith's "Abraham Lincoln", is a 1930 pre-Code American biographical film about Abraham Lincoln directed by D. W. Griffith. It stars Walter Huston as Lincoln and Una Merkel, in her second speaking role, as Ann Rutledge. Her first speaking role was in a short film, Love's Old Sweet Song (1923) filmed in the Phonofilm sound-on-film process. The script was co-written by Stephen Vincent Benét, author of the Civil War prose poem John Brown's Body, and Gerrit Lloyd. This was the first of only two sound films made by Griffith.
The heterosexuality of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th President of the United States, has been questioned by some activists. Lincoln was married to Mary Todd from November 4, 1842, until his death on April 15, 1865, and fathered four children with her.
The Ann Rutledge was a passenger train service operated by Amtrak running between St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri, as part of the Missouri Services brand. In 2009 Amtrak consolidated the Ann Rutledge, Kansas City Mule, and the St. Louis Mule under the new name Missouri River Runner.
William Henry Herndon was a law partner and biographer of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an early member of the new Republican Party and was elected mayor of Springfield, Illinois.
Ann Rutledge was allegedly Abraham Lincoln's first love.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a play written by the American playwright Robert E. Sherwood in 1938. The play, in three acts, covers the life of President Abraham Lincoln from his childhood through his final speech in Illinois before he left for Washington. The play also covers his romance with Mary Todd and his debates with Stephen A. Douglas, and uses Lincoln's own words in some scenes. Sherwood received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1939 for his work.
Nancy Hanks Lincoln was the mother of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Her marriage to Thomas Lincoln also produced a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Thomas Jr. When Nancy and Thomas had been married for just over 10 years, the family moved from Kentucky to Perry County, Indiana, in 1816. Nancy Lincoln died from milk sickness or consumption at the Little Pigeon Creek Community in Spencer County when Abraham was nine years old.
Located in Quincy, Illinois, the Muddy River Opera Company was founded by Mary Anne Scott and Mary Jane McCloskey in 1989 as a non-profit arts organization. The company was incorporated in 1990. Scott and McCloskey had two goals in mind: to make professional operatic performances and educational opportunities available to the tri-state area. In keeping with the mission of its founders, the company consistently produces two to four operas a year. For several years, most MROC productions of foreign-language operas were performed in English translation, though the company has, in recent years, mounted several productions of operas in the original language with projected English supertitles.
Thomas "Tad" Lincoln III was the fourth and youngest son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. The nickname "Tad" was given to him by his father, who observed that he had a large head and was "as wiggly as a tadpole" when he was a baby. Tad Lincoln was known to be impulsive and unrestrained, and he did not attend school during his father's lifetime. He had free run of the White House, and there are stories of him interrupting presidential meetings, collecting animals, and charging visitors to see his father. He died unexpectedly at the age of 18 on July 15, 1871, in Chicago.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12 1809, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring farm, south of Hodgenville in Hardin County, Kentucky. His siblings were Sarah Lincoln Grigsby and Thomas Lincoln, Jr. After a land title dispute forced the family to leave in 1811, they relocated to Knob Creek farm, eight miles to the north. By 1814, Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, had lost most of his land in Kentucky in legal disputes over land titles. In 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, their nine-year-old daughter Sarah, and seven-year-old Abraham moved to what became Indiana, where they settled in Hurricane Township, Perry County, Indiana.
William Wallace Lincoln was the third son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. He was named after Mary's brother-in-law Dr. William Wallace.
Douglas L. Wilson is a professor and co-director of Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College.
Joseph Hanks (1725–1793) was the great-grandfather of United States President Abraham Lincoln. It is generally accepted that Joseph was the father of Lucy Hanks, the mother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. There is also a theory that Joseph and his wife, Ann ("Nannie"), had a son named James who married Lucy Shipley, sired Nancy Hanks, but died before Lucy and Nancy came to Kentucky.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Abraham Lincoln:
Abe Lincolin in Illinois was an American television play broadcast on NBC on February 5, 1964, as part of the television series, Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Jason Robards was nominated for an Emmy as outstanding single performance by an actor in a leading role for his portrayal of Lincoln.
