In the 1840 presidential election, Thomas Cowles was the first man in Norfolk to openly cast a vote for James G. Birney, the nominee of the abolitionists Liberty Party. Mr. Cowles was applauded somewhat vigorously by some of his fellow townsmen and friends, and this independent act caused much interest and discussion over the next twenty years.

A New Birth of Freedom, a quote from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, explores Norfolk in the era leading up to the Civil War, and the men who fought to preserve the Union.