Abraham Lincoln, The Sixteenth President of the United States of America.
Abraham Lincoln is my favorite President of the United States. I am what you could call a "Lincoln afficianado", and have been an admirer and devoted fan of all things Lincoln since I can remember. My interest in Lincoln was instilled in me by my father, by some teachers, my country, but was nurtured in me primarily by my father, who encouraged my interest in history by taking me to museums, historical sites, and providing books to encourage my interests.
In my adult life, my interest in, and fascination of, Abraham Lincoln thrived and was encouraged by my ability to travel, and visit the many important Lincoln sites. My ex wife was from Washington DC, so I visited the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theater, The White House, US Capital Building, and many Civil War sites in Virginia, Mayland and Pennsylvania. In Illinois, I visited Lincoln's home in Springfield, his tomb, the Lincoln sites in Salem, Lincoln's boyhood home in Indiana, and his birthplace in Hodgensville, Kentucky.
A more remarkable American can scarcely be found.
A great website for all things Lincoln is at the Library of Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html
In my adult life, my interest in, and fascination of, Abraham Lincoln thrived and was encouraged by my ability to travel, and visit the many important Lincoln sites. My ex wife was from Washington DC, so I visited the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theater, The White House, US Capital Building, and many Civil War sites in Virginia, Mayland and Pennsylvania. In Illinois, I visited Lincoln's home in Springfield, his tomb, the Lincoln sites in Salem, Lincoln's boyhood home in Indiana, and his birthplace in Hodgensville, Kentucky.
A more remarkable American can scarcely be found.
A great website for all things Lincoln is at the Library of Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html
At Abraham Lincoln's home, Springfield, Illinois 2006.
Here is a photo of me at Abraham Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois taken in 2006. The National Park Service has a great website for Lincoln's home:http://www.nps.gov/liho/index.htm
The Gettysburg Address
Transcription of the Gettysburg AddressAddress delivered at the dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln.
November 19, 1863.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln.
November 19, 1863.