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Presidential Library Celebrates 4th of July

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Thursday, July 04, 2019by kenna.kj

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum invites everyone to join in celebrating Independence Day with music, magic, theater, an appearance by President Lincoln and a reading of the Declaration of Independence.

The reading by actor Zaxxson Nation takes place at noon on July 4, just as similar readings took place for decades in towns around the country.

Abraham Lincoln, as portrayed by Fritz Klein, will chat with guests from 11 to 11:30 a.m. His appearance is part of the History Comes Alive program in downtown Springfield.

The museum will offer two performances of Professor Longhair’s Magic & Medicine Show, featuring Randy Thompson as the professor. The shows take place at 11:15 and 1:30.

A performance of “One Destiny” – a one-act play about the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination – starts at 2:30 in the museum’s Union Theater.

And across the street in the gazebo at Union Square Park, the duo Peaches ‘n Bacon will play bluegrass and old-fashioned acoustic music at 10 a.m. They’ll be joined by musicians Mark Mathewson and Erich Schroeder

Lincoln often cited the Declaration as his guiding star. In his debates with Stephen Douglas, he argued that its promise of liberty applied to enslaved African-Americans. And in his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, he said the Civil War was testing whether a nation founded on the Declaration’s principles could survive.

“I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence,” he said during a visit to Philadelphia shortly before becoming president. “I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army, who achieved that Independence.”

The Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum uses a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship to immerse visitors in the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. Visitors can see ghosts come to life on stage, watch TV coverage of the 1860 presidential election, roam through the Lincoln White House, experience booming cannons in a Civil War battle and come face to face with priceless original Lincoln artifacts.

The library holds an unparalleled collection of Lincoln books, documents, photographs, artifacts and art, as well as some 12 million items pertaining to all aspects of Illinois history.

For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. You can follow the ALPLM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. # #

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