Joseph R. Fornieri is a professor of political science at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the director of the Center for Statesmanship, Law, and Liberty. He is the author or editor of five books, the most recent of which is Abraham Lincoln, Philosopher Statesman (SIU Press), which won a prize for superior scholarship from the Illinois State Historical Society.

Sara Vaughn Gabbard is the executive director of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana and editor of Lincoln Lore. She is a coeditor of three books, including 1865: America Makes War and Peace in Lincoln's Final Year, and received the Order of Lincoln Award from the governor of Illinois in 2015.