Lincoln Legacy

Lincoln Legacy

In the 21^st century why should we honor the 16^th US President, President Abraham Lincoln??

The easy answer is Abraham Lincoln is one of the nation's greatest presidents. As a young man, Abraham Lincoln “feared of achieving nothing that would make men remember him.” Today, the 16^th President tops the list of most influential – and most revered – Americans. He commemorated in music, poetry, and sculpture. His words are quoted by poets and politicians. His iconic face appears on stamps, coins, and currency. Mountains, cities, highways, and schools bearing his name dot the land.

He felt his most enduring achievement was the Emancipation Proclamation – “the one thing that would make people remembers that he had lived.”

Indeed, Lincoln’s legacy is most alive in our continuous search for freedom, equality, and opportunity.

For the recent SEAYLP trip, we are indeed privileged to have visited (6) Lincoln’s memorial and learning centre and the basic facts we have learnt are from the books or the places that we visited about this distinguished gentlemen.

• · He was born in Kentucky in a log cabin so small it is hard to imagine how his entire family slept in it.
• · The family moved to Indiana where he was raised.
• · Off to Illinois, the lanky Lincoln became a frontier lawyer, served as a state legislator and won election to the Presidency at a time when the nation’s very survival was at risk.
• · Inaugurated in 1861, he served throughout the Civil War, working to break the grip of slavery and to put the country back together until an assassin brought him down.

A common man forged in uncommon times; undeniably Lincoln is the model American leader that America has ever produced.

Every time when we read these facts again and again, we did get a better understanding about Abraham Lincoln. How a young boy who is weak in knowledge could become the 16^th President of America.

From the start of his early life in Hodgenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1908, all the way up until the time of his assassination on April 15, 1865, Lincoln was known for being straightforward and honest. He didn’t come from a distinguished family and he spent as much of his time as he could attain as much knowledge as he could.

He had a desire to learn and be an influential leader from the time he was very young. He was in the Black Hawk War and served in the Illinois legislature and spent a few years in circuit courts before he ran against Stephen Douglas for Senator. He lost this race though, but gained a good reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President.

As President, Lincoln fought to keep the United States together. He felt that it was illegal for the southern states to secede from the Union so he went to war with them to keep them in the Union. In the process he managed to free all slaves and make slavery illegal everywhere in the United States. It was a long hard struggle and he was ultimately killed because he succeeded in doing this.

Maybe the greatest asset that Lincoln possessed was ability to speak. He made many great speeches that seemed to make everyone rally around him, and made many people who before may not have believed in him or wanted him to be President, believe and trust in him to lead our country. Even after the Civil War ended he tried to make things very peaceful and was trying to be kind to the southern states in trying to rebuild the whole country as more of a united country, but was assassinated before he could see his plans follow through by John Wilkes Booth, a southerner who thought that he was helping he south.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the most important Presidents in the history of the United States because of what he did to keep the country together in difficult times and abolish slavery. He was the perfect man for the job because of his strong will and his ability to get people to follow him. There aren’t many other Presidents that would’ve been able to handle everything during this time in history as well as Lincoln did. .

In remembrance of him, below are some interesting facts that are well documented.

• · He was born on February 12^th 1809 and died April 15^th 1865 at the age of fifty six.
• · His home state is Illinois.
• · His party was Republican and he was president for four years from 1861-1865, when he was assassinated.
• · His vice presidents were Hannibal Hamlin and Andrew Johnson.
• · He was preceded by James Buchanan and succeeded by Andrew Johnson.
• · His wife was called Mary Todd Lincoln, who was brought up into a very wealthy family.
• · Mary’s parents disagreed with her marrying Abraham because he had a poor background.
• · Abraham had four children, Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Lincoln, Willie Lincoln, Tad Lincoln. Only Robert Todd Lincoln survived into adulthood.
• · Abraham was an unaffiliated Christian as he never officially acquired church membership.
• · He created a national banking system with the National Banking Act in 1863, resulting in a standardized currency.
• · He was the first president to be assassinated.
• · He had deep depression, even though he would frequently tell stories and jokes to friends and family.
• · He was the tallest U.S president at 6ft 4 inches.
• · He patented a system to alter buoyancy of steamboats in 1849.
• · His birth mother died from milk sickness.
• · His father remarried a widow, and Abraham was very close to his step mother.
• · He ran a store in New Salem.
• · Even though he was strong, a talented wrestler, and proficient with an axe, Lincoln disliked killing and harming animals, even for food.
• · Lincoln proposed to Mary just one year after meeting her in Springfield 1839.
• · He was the first president to have a beard.
• · Lincoln, one week before his death, had a dream of someone crying in the White House, when he found the room; he looked in and asked who had passed away. The man in the room said the President. When he looked in the coffin it was his own face he saw.
• · Lincoln was fond of pets, and owned horses, cats, dogs and a turkey.

In conclusion, President Abraham Lincoln should be honored as the 16^th President of the United States in the 21^st Century for all he had done and his deed are well remembered by all who got to know his achievement that he has done to his country. This man’s history is known worldwide for what he had achieved for America and deservedly be amongst the most distinguished of all the past and present Presidents of the United States of America.