Now scrolling: The Gettysburg Address

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.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Happy Lincoln's Birthday


Happy birthday from LincolnFreak! February 12th truly is Lincoln’s birthday. It comes between Ground Hog Day and Valentine’s Day.


And this is the big 199! That’s right. Next year Abraham Lincoln will be two hundred years old and looking better than ever.

Notice how many books have come out on Lincoln this year? I’ve tried to add as many as I could to Son of Bookzilla, but new ones keep coming out all the time.

On the day before his 52nd birthday in1861, Lincoln gave one of his saddest and most beautiful speeches – his Farewell Address – before boarding a train from Springfield to Washington, D.C.
Now here’s something to ponder. If you could give Lincoln a birthday present today, what would you give him? Somebody suggested the best gift I could give him would be to dismantle this blog.
Also, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so start thinking about "Why I love Lincoln." It could be any number of reasons: I love Lincoln because he represents freedom. I love Lincoln because he struggled to keep the country together. I love Lincoln because I get a day off in the middle of Winter.

You get the idea. So during this month of February which celebrates so many different people and causes – Presidents, Black history, Valentines, the forecasting of Spring – take some time to think about where we would be if Lincoln had never been president. Alternative histories are fun to imagine, but the absence of one key person at one crucial juncture in time could create awful consequences for generations to come.

So happy birthday from LincolnFreak. Enjoy the legacy of a great man.
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