February 10, 2009

Austin Knuppe, research assistant at the Hauenstein Center, gave a talk at the Hauenstein Center’s Lincoln Bicentennial Lecture Series. The Center’s series was part of the annual conference of the Michigan Council for the Social Studies.

“Abraham Lincoln, the Middle East, and the Beginnings of American Empire”
Narratives of U.S. relations with the Middle East usually begin in 1919, with a footnote on Thomas Jefferson’s confrontation with the Barbary pirates in Tripoli. Knuppe looks at the deep roots of U.S.-Middle Eastern relations, with emphasis on Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and the policies of his secretary of state.