On what would have been Abraham Lincoln's fifty-seventh birthday, the U.S. Congress requested famous historian George Bancroft to give a memorial oration before both Houses. This he did in the most stirring, patriotic, and wide-ranging terms, comparing Lincoln with his contemporaries like Lord Palmerston, and engaging current affairs, like French involvement in Mexico, all to the benefit of republicanism as superior to the alternatives. The oration was widely noted in the national newspapers. (By John Osborne)