This page of our site makes it easy for educators and students to access archival information about relationships between the USA and Mexico in the mid-19th century that changed the course of history in North America. It’s part of the continuing efforts by the Lincoln and Mexico Project (LAMP) to help students learn more about Abraham Lincoln’s support for Mexico.
Lincoln’s opposition to the Mexican-American War as a first-term congressman is especially relevant to US History courses in high schools. As the president, his tacit support for exiled Mexican President Benito Juárez is relevant to courses about World History because the support helped Mexico overthrow the French monarchy of Maximilian imposed by Napoleon III. In both cases, his support for Mexico is relevant for Latin American History courses in colleges and universities.
Beginning in 2016, the LAMP site has published more than a dozen blog posts with factual content for educators and students that goes beyond what textbooks overlook or marginalize. This page on our site highlights some of the most popular blog posts about using the content as supplemental classroom material.
In addition, LAMP offers educators free eBook versions of “Abraham Lincoln and Mexico” that is in the Lincoln Presidential Library and university and public libraries in the USA, Europe, and throughout Latin America. A three-act student play based on the book by historian Michael Hogan is also available to educators, along with lesson plans Dr. Hogan developed for his Advanced Placement US History course at the American School in Guadalajara, Mexico. If you know an educator who might be interested in receiving the complimentary eBook and the play and the lesson plans, just have them send an email to lamp@lincolnandmexicoproject.org.
The page also includes two short videos from YouTube. One is a trailer for the book from the September 2016 official launch of the print version at the American School in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Dr. Hogan’s APUSH students inspired him to research and write the book. The second is from editor and LAMP co-founder Mike Miller discussing the potential impact of using the book and related materials in the social studies curriculum.
Here are descriptions and links to the most popular LAMP blog posts for educators, in reverse chronological order:
March 2019: Educators from more than 400 schools have requested and received free eBook versions of the Lincoln book, which one history professor praised as “an excellent resource for use in the classroom.” You can see her review at H-FedHist, and here’s the link to see the full list of the schools with the book. It’s an impressive list of 390 schools in 39 states and the District of Columbia, plus another 22 international schools around the world.
Jan 2019: One of the most popular posts on the LAMP site focuses on five facts educators can use to stimulate classroom discussion about Lincoln’s support for Mexico. The post details his actions starting when he risked his political career as a first-term congressman to oppose the Mexican-American War. It also provides new insight about the times he and Mrs. Lincoln hosted private White House meetings with the Mexican envoy and U.S. military leaders and U.S. investors to raise $18 million to help overthrow the French monarchy in Mexico—even while Lincoln was preoccupied with the Civil War.
Dec 2017: Part of the value of the Lincoln book in education is the extensive use of archival documents to help students learn about Lincoln as an international statesman and not just as an American political icon. Almost all textbooks overlook that perspective. The 137-page appendix with hyperlinks is like holding a reference library in your hands and has won praise from both teachers and school administrators. “Abraham Lincoln and Mexico brings to light that which for too long has been hidden in the shadows,” said Philip Stover, former Deputy Superintendent, San Diego Unified School District.
Aug 2017: In the summer of 2017, Dr. Hogan developed a full set of lesson plans, which LAMP offers free to educators for teaching purposes. The plans are based on his book and his subsequent three-act student play. “The lesson plans facilitate classroom discussion and include student worksheets to distill and capture what students learn,” says Dr. Hogan. A sample of the lesson plans is available on our site, and educators can request a print version by sending an email to lamp@lincolnandmexicoproject.org.
Mar 2017: Students and parents and educators LOVE student plays, and LAMP added a new dimension in March 2017 with the three-act play “Lincoln and Mexico: The Untold Story.” Five world premiere performances at the American School in Guadalajara attracted enthusiastic international support from students, parents, faculty, the public, the news media, and members of the diplomatic corps from the USA and Mexico. In May of 2017, the little theatre at Lake Chapala hosted two SOLD OUT performances of the student play for the large expat community and Mexican citizens. Educators can request a free script for the play by sending an email to LAMP.
Nov 2016: One of the first education posts on the LAMP site addressed the debate over content in history textbooks approved by state education authorities. Even today, mainstream textbooks about US History either ignore facts or distort the truth, which could result in the next generation being misinformed or even prejudiced. The 2016 Lincoln book grew out of Dr. Hogan’s APUSH course in Guadalajara, and his 2020 follow-up book Guns, Grit, and Glory examines facts about support from the USA that helped Mexico end French occupation—including arms shipments and volunteer Black troops to help Mexico as soon as the U.S. Civil War ended.
Both books by Dr. Hogan about historical relationships between the USA and Mexico contain archival documents educators can use to present facts and add perspective for students. They are published by Henselstone Verlag LLC, a small academic press in Virginia, and print versions of both are available to schools through Baker & Taylor. Print versions are also available from Amazon by clicking on the cover images below.
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Lincoln and Mexico Project 