Abraham Lincoln will stand at the centre of the seminar, though less as a biographical subject than as a prism for exploring key aspects of his age. The themes and topics to be addressed include slavery and the Old South; the abolitionist impulse and the broadening antislavery movement; party political realignment and the sectional crisis of the 1850s; evangelicalism and politics; the election of 1860, the secession of the Lower South, and the coming of war; wartime leadership, political and military; the Civil War 'home front'; emancipation; the elements of Confederate defeat and Union victory; and the meaning of the war for American nationalism.

"Abraham Lincoln will stand at the centre of the seminar, though less as a biographical subject than as a prism for exploring key aspects of his age. The themes and topics to be addressed include slavery and the Old South; the abolitionist impulse and the broadening antislavery movement; party political realignment and the sectional crisis of the 1850s; evangelicalism and politics; the election of 1860, the secession of the Lower South, and the coming of war; wartime leadership, political and military; the Civil War 'home front'; emancipation; the elements of Confederate defeat and Union victory; and the meaning of the war for American nationalism."

"With the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln Douglas Debates this year, it is important to review the debates for a Senate campaign in one state that reached national attention and gave Abraham Lincoln national recognition. This workshop will examine how debates between candidates have changed from thorough, thoughtful, and civilized debates to the negative, critical, and personal-attack debates of the present. Educators will focus on the art of the debate and how to present to their students a debate forum using the Lincoln-Douglas Debates as a guide for persuasion, information, and presentation."

"With a presidential election just around the corner, this workshop will focus on how presidents are packaged according to the most winnable personality, prepared in minute detail for every public appearance, and promoted as viable candidates and chief executive. Educators will look at examples and methods of how presidential image has been portrayed in the public sphere from George W. to George W. The evolution of presidential campaigns will be examined by comparing and contrasting early, short, and inexpensively-run campaigns to the grueling more than year-long marathons and multi-million dollar campaigns of the present. Educators will also examine the art of campaign buttons, banners, and broadsides of the past to the fire-side chats of FDR, the television ads, sound bites, and Internet of today."

"This course examines the development of American political parties, focusing on the meaning of parties and historic moments in the rise and fall of political parties from the Founding era to the present. Topics may include re-aligning elections, changing coalitions within American parties, and the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties."

"Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s chief political correspondent, visits the National Constitution Center in the thick of the election season to discuss politics, candidates and his new book, 'The Thirteen American Arguments,'" looking at the historical origins and evolution of the arguments that he believes define American politics.

This workshop will "study every stop on the road to the White House involved in a presidential election and develop curriculum that will give students a truly unique and fascinating experience! Join the Constitution Center staff and visiting scholars in working together to develop a revolutionary national curriculum for the teaching of the presidential election."