Abraham Lincoln Exhibit Opens to Public at Kennewick Library - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

Abraham Lincoln Exhibit Opens to Public at Kennewick Library

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KENNEWICK, WA. - A traveling exhibit is now open to the public at the Mid-Columbia Libraries' Kennewick branch.

"Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" focuses on Abraham Lincoln's struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War.

"We're very pleased to have this exhibit at Mid Columbia Libraries. This traveling exhibit has come all the way from D.C. It's been traveling throughout the country and we've been waiting for a number of years to have this here," said Michael Huff, Mid-Columbia Libraries Collections and Services Director.

Lincoln was elected the sixteenth President of the United States in 1860, at a time when the nation was falling apart. By the time he took the oath of office, seven states had already seceded from the Union. The exhibition shows Lincoln's struggle to resolve the basic questions the divided Americans at the most perilous moment in the nation's history: Was the United States truly one nation, or was it a confederacy of sovereign and separate states? How could a county founded on the belief that "all men are created equal" tolerate slavery? In a national crisis, would civil liberties be secure?

The exhibition will be on display until September 4th. It is free and open to the public.