American history is a complicated story. Often, our knowledge of history is seen through the lens of modern popular culture. Abraham Lincoln has only seen his reputation grow in the past 150 years. Our album Abraham Lincoln and the 1864 Election is certainly part of that story. However, the myth has grown so large that we forget that Lincoln did not emerge from nothing the Republican party itself grew out of other political movements.
One song that is often recorded by old folk singers is Lincoln and Liberty: Here is a popular version:
The last verse is identical to the closing lyrics of The Trumpet of Freedom:
So hurrah ! for the old fashioned doctrine,
That men are created all free !
And down with the power of the tyrant.
Whoever that tyrant may be
Few people remember the importance of the Free Soil Party. But to understand Lincoln and the Civil War, these songs should be remembered and put in their proper context.