{"id":207,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/bicentennialoflincolnsbirth\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:00","slug":"bicentennialoflincolnsbirth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/bicentennialoflincolnsbirth\/","title":{"rendered":"WestConn to kick-off bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth with political debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 From a one-room cabin in Kentucky to the White House, Abraham Lincoln overcame poverty and lack of a formal education to become one of the greatest and most influential men in United States history.<\/p>\n

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At 7:30 p.m. on Wed., Feb. 11, Western Connecticut State University will kick-off a year-long series of events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of our 16th president with a special \u201cPolitical Fight Night.\u201d Political Fight Nights will take place every second Wednesday of the month through the semester.<\/p>\n

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Students, professors and the public will gather in The Club at the Westside Caf\u00e9 of the Westside Campus Center, Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury, to debate \u201cIf Lincoln were alive today, would he be a Democrat or a Republican?\u201d Members of the audience are invited to present their arguments on a \u201csoapbox.\u201d Each speaker will have four minutes to state his or her case. Audience applause will determine the outcome.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLincoln\u2019s story is inspiring. It\u2019s about mobility, advancement and the self-made man and that\u2019s why it is germane to a university setting,\u201d said Dr. Burton Peretti, professor of history and non-Western cultures, who will be helping to organize the events that will include lectures, debates, simulations and reenactments. Gov. M. Jodi Rell has asked each Connecticut State University system campus, as well as other state agencies, to recognize the occasion with events that will be of value today.<\/p>\n

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Peretti said this is a great opportunity to focus on Lincoln\u2019s life, presidency, the Civil War and Lincoln\u2019s image since his death. \u201cAnd there\u2019s also his time,\u201d said Peretti. \u201cHow is he representative of his time and how would he fit in in 2009? We\u2019ll have events that will have people thinking more about the American past and how it relates to the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnything that gets people to talk about history is important,\u201d Peretti said. \u201cLincoln tried hard to say what the Civil War was about; what we were fighting for and whether it was a power struggle or something higher.\u201d <\/p>\n

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He said Lincoln\u2019s efforts to reunite the nation, segueing into a war on slavery, helped to define the U.S. \u201cWe still argue about what America stands for,\u201d Peretti said. \u201cThe idea of America as a model for liberty and freedom dates back to the Civil War era. Lincoln also tried to make the U.S. a model for the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Peretti said events will be scheduled for both the spring and fall semesters, including lectures on Lincoln by historians from Boston University and Yale University.<\/p>\n

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The WCSU Lincoln planning committee is still looking for suggestions for upcoming events. Contact Peretti at perettib@wcsu.edu.<\/p>\n

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Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.<\/em><\/p>\n

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DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 From a one-room cabin in Kentucky to the White House, Abraham Lincoln overcame poverty and lack of a formal education to become one of the greatest and most influential men in United States …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-207","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}