A single moment in time, a single gunshot, forever altered the course of history, and awakened America to the leader who had been at the reins of a fractured society, whose efforts allowed for the nation to remain ultimately intact. On the morning of April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln surpassed the rank of man and became an immortal voice to which those of all political parties, races and creeds would listen, and the country embraced a new, eternal icon, one whose name continues to evoke an unsurpassed dedication to great leadership.
Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald argues that it is imperative to understand Lincoln in today’s society because, “Lincoln set the tone that America has followed and should follow ever since. That is the dedication to republican principles; the dedication to equality; the dedication to upholding the Declaration of Independence. These are the things he stood for, and as long as we remember them, we are still on the right track.” Through exhibiting these ideals, Lincoln forever altered the nation. Ultimately, “it was Lincoln who saved the Union, and that saving of the Union coupled with the emancipation of the slaves meant that his name was going to last forever.”
His lasting legacy is also due in large part to his mastery of the art of rhetoric. Lincoln “was able to express his views in language that no other American President—indeed hardly anyone else ever—was able to equal. There's no other president who is so quotable, whose words resonate down until today. This is something you cannot say of other American presidents, and this is why he lives on in American memory.”
And, perhaps most importantly, Lincoln’s story resonates with such a diverse audience because he was, in fact, a man of the people, one who, despite enormous obstacles and odds, illustrated the ‘American dream’ at its finest. As Donald explains, “Lincoln's experience gives nearly all of us hope that, no matter how humble our beginnings, one can rise, one can be successful, one can indeed lead an enormously profitable life and one that's invaluable to the country as a whole.”
(David Herbert Donald, interviewed by Ray Suarez on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, April 15, 2005.)
Explore Lincoln’s legacy. Through laws and words; in song and in poetry, Abraham Lincoln lives on.