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Exhibit at Purdue features Lincoln and the Civil War

Purdue’s undergraduate library is hosting a traveling exhibit that features how President Lincoln dealt with issues surrounding the Civil War. It examines how he used the Constitution to confront secession, slavery and wartime civil liberties.

Library Clerk Ann O’Donnell helped coordinate the exhibit. She says it’s getting a lot of attention since opening late last month.

"We kind of have it at great timing. Recently, there was the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the movie starring Daniel Day Lewis. There's a lot of interest in Lincoln and the time and the situation with the Civil War."

“Lincoln: the Constitution and the Civil War” features reproductions of the original Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment.

O'Donnell thinks everyone who isn’t an expert on the subject will learn something new.

"How much of a constitutional crisis it was. That was really an eye-opener for me," she says. "And suspending the writ of habeas corpus, the controversy behind that, and the steps towards the emancipation."

Several presentations coincide with the exhibit. “Lincoln: Martial Law and Public Dissent” is set for  Monday, March 18, at the Hicks Undergraduate Library.

The exhibit organized by the National Constitution Center and the American Library Association runs through April 5th. More information is HERE.