A national traveling exhibition focusing on Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War opens December 12 in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons 3rd floor Gallery Space.

“Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” offers a fresh perspective on Lincoln’s presidency. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a more complete understanding of Lincoln as president and the Civil War as the nation’s gravest constitutional crisis. Both the general public and the Georgia Tech community are invited to view the exhibit and attend the opening reception on Thursday, January 10 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Clough Commons.

Organized thematically, the full-color panel exhibition explores how Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the Civil War – the secession of Southern states, slavery, and wartime civil liberties.  Photographic reproductions of original documents are also included in the display, including a draft of Lincoln’s first inaugural speech, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Thirteenth Amendment.

The exhibit will be on display from December 12 – February 7, 2013 in the Clough Commons 3rd floor Gallery Space. The Georgia Tech Library is sponsoring free programs and other events in connection with the exhibition. For more information, contact Jennifer Upton at Jennifer.upton@library.gatech.edu.

“Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War,”a traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War” is based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.