speeches and what they revealed about his views on the constitution. the national constitution center in philadelphia is the host of this event. and now it is such a pleasure to introduce our extremely distinguished panel of americas leading lincoln scholars to discuss lincoln s speeches and the american idea. michael burlingham holds the chancellor naomi b lynn, distinguished chair and lincoln studies of the university of illinois springfield. he s the author of several books of lincoln, including lincoln observed, the inner world of abraham lincoln and the two volume american law around lincoln s life as well as his new book, which he will be discussing tonight, the black man s president, abraham lincoln, african americans, and the pursuit of racial equality. noah feldman is the felix frankfurter professor of law, chair of the society of fellows, and founding director of the julis-rabinowitz program on jewish and israeli law at harvard university. he s the author of nine