By Phil Brooks

This fall, my wife and I traveled to Illinois to better understand Abraham Lincoln's vision of our country and his Republican Party campaign for president in light of the negative attacks we have seen this year.

We learned an important lesson about the importance for current and future journalists, as well as journalism students, to explore the historical background of campaigns you cover.

Visiting Lincoln's home as a young man in New Salem, we discovered he had a rich history living in a small village amongst working people of modest means.

But even more impressive was the small community in Springfield where Lincoln subsequently lived that included freed slaves and immigrants.

It made me better understand Lincoln's support of immigration that included his 1864 "Act to Encourage Immigration" that Lincoln signed into law.

WiKi describes his proposed law as the "first major American law to "encourage immigration."

Visiting the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, an historian directed me to editorial cartoons of Lincoln when he was running for president.

As the guide suggested, the editorial cartoons in opposition newspapers against Lincoln were as bad as any negative attacks we've seen in recent campaigns.

But there was something more profound in our exploration of Lincoln's history that brought a different perspective.

Watching a movie in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum about his positive vision for our country's future was so different than the current national political debates.

Essentially, Lincoln rose above the partisan attacks including those awful cartoons of him to voice a positive message.

Of course, Lincoln's campaign to end slavery ultimately led to the Civil War after his election.

But from our visit to the Lincoln Museum, we learned there was a far more complex background about Lincoln's vision for our country.

It's a history that journalists and politicians should consider.