Academic

Double Bicentennial: Lincoln and Darwin

By Calvin Massey

  On Thursday, February 12, it will be 200 years since the births of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.  Darwin was born to wealth and social standing at the family home, The Mount, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on that date in 1809.  He received an excellent education and, of course, became one of the greatest "paradigm shifters" in the history of science.  Lincoln was born to poverty in what most Americans today would regard as unendurable circumstances: a one room log cabin in rural Kentucky.  His education was almost completely autodidactic.  Yet, of course, he became (along with Washington) the greatest of American presidents, preserving national union and ending the moral pestilence of human slavery.  Each man's influence is strongly felt to this day.  Remarkable coincidence?  Synchronous event?  Yet, these two births, separated by so much but united in enduring influence, remind us of the power of  ideas. 

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on February 10, 2009 (boomark / email).