As one of only two presidents to have never formally joined a church, people have wondered just how much Abraham Lincoln himself was under God when he said that the United States should consider itself as such as it strove for a new birth of freedom.

However, the Civil War shifted the ground decisively under Lincoln's feet. In the cauldron of war, he discovered that God was not merely a remote force or a faceless universal power, but a personal, intelligent, and willing God who intervened in the affairs of men, to direct them in ways that they could not even begin to imagine.

This was a God whom he wanted his nation to be under.

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`Allen Guelzo, Ph.D. is the Director of Civil War Era Studies and the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During 2017-18, he has served as the Wm L. Garwood Visiting Professor in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He holds the MA and PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alan Guelzo on Abraham Lincoln's moral constitution

How Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg forged a consensus that helped make the American Century.

Hank Meijer on the global legacy of Senator Arthur Vandenberg

It might come as a surprise, but poverty rates in the developing world are dropping dramatically. In fact, economic growth in developing nations has far outpaced the growth of high income countries. Thus, not only has the world experienced a historic reduction in poverty over the last twenty-five years, but global income today is much more equal than at any time in the last 100 years. This event presents the good news about poverty alleviation.

This event was co-sponsored by America's Future Foundation.

Joseph Connors on the fall of extreme poverty

A lecture series for knowledge-seekers, sponsored by the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Acton Lecture Series