folo

Two hundred years ago today, in a log cabin on a farm in then-Hardin County, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born. Yesterday at Ford’s Theater in Washington, where 56 years and a few weeks later he would be assassinated, the current President spoke of him.

… As commemorations take place across this country on the bicentennial of our 16th President’s birth, there will be reflections on all he was and all he did for this nation that he saved. But while there are any number of moments that reveal the exceptional nature of this singular figure, there is one in particular I’d like to share with you.

Not far from here stands our nation’s capitol, a landmark familiar to us all but one that looked very different in Lincoln’s time. For it remained unfinished until the end of the war. The laborers who built the dome came to work wondering whether each day would be their last; whether the metal they were using for its frame would be requisitioned for the war and melted down into bullets. But each day went by without any orders to halt construction – so they kept on working and kept on building.

When President Lincoln was finally told of all the metal being used there, his response was short and clear: that is as it should be. The American people needed to be reminded, he believed, that even in a time of war, the work would go on; that even when the nation itself was in doubt, its future was being secured; and that on that distant day, when the guns fell silent, a national capitol would stand, with a statue of Freedom at its peak, as a symbol of unity in a land still mending its divisions.

It is this sense of unity that is so much a part of Lincoln’s legacy. For despite all that divided us – north and south, black and white – he had an unyielding belief that we were, at heart, one nation, and one people. And because of Abraham Lincoln, and all who’ve carried on his work in the generations since, that is what we remain today. …

As refreshment from Dickie Scruggs, Frank Melton, and other passing fools, this morning I re-commend to your attention good Abe Lincoln.

UPDATE: Thanks to ducky for the Andy Taggart link that includes this:

… Among many other activities and celebrations commemorating this bi-centennial is a national webcast for teachers and students, featuring award winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

The webcast is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. our time on Thursday. Interested readers can go to www.history.com/lincoln to register for the program. …

You know, a strong argument could be made that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are the 19th Century’s two most historically-significant names. And imagine: both born on the same day.

UPDATE II: We’re getting new pennies to celebrate Lincoln (note the second one, with the incomplete Capitol dome):