York Civil War Roundtable

On November 18, 2026 at 7:00 pm. Joshua Claybourn will present “Lincoln’s Compass: The Declaration of Independence and the American Idea”

This program will be in person and available on Zoom. Registration coming soon.

This presentation with Joshua Claybourn will explore Abraham Lincoln’s remarkable relationship with the Declaration of Independence.  From his frontier youth in Kentucky and Indiana to the crucible of the Civil War, Lincoln treated the Declaration as a living compass, pointing the nation toward human equality, democratic consent, and respect for the rule of law.

Lincoln returned again and again to the Declaration’s promise that all are created equal, using it to measure laws, judge compromises, and steady the republic in its darkest hour.  Blending history, biography, and reflection, Claybourn portrays Lincoln as a shrewd politician and a moral thinker, one whose clarity about America’s founding principles still speaks powerfully to us today.

Joshua Claybourn is an attorney and historian specializing in Abraham Lincoln.  His debut book, Lincoln’s Compass: The Declaration of Independence and the American Idea (Bloomsbury, 2026) traces Lincoln’s life through the moral idea that guided him above all others: the Declaration of Independence.  He is also under contract with the University of Illinois Press to co-write, with historian William Bartelt, a comprehensive history of Lincoln’s formative years, from birth to age twenty-one.  He has previously edited volumes on Lincoln’s Indiana years and on American national identity. Claybourn is president of the Abraham Lincoln Association and a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Institute.  He hosts the podcast Lincoln Log, where he speaks with prominent historians, and contributed his expertise to CNN’s six-part documentary “Lincoln: Divided We Stand.”

Next Program – January 20, 2027