Abraham Lincoln Birthday Bicentennial

The sixteenth president of the USA was born 200 years ago today, Sunday, February 12, 1809.

In honor of the occasion, here are a few quotations — none of which are well known, and some of which are especially appropriate in our own time — and some images.

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First, this excerpt from Rep. Lincoln's remarks on the State Bank of Illinois, January 11, 1837, seems all-too fitting right smack now:

.... No, Sir, it is the politician who is the first to sound the alarm, (which, by the way, is a false one.) It is he, who, by these unholy means, is endeavoring to blow up a storm that he may ride upon and direct. It is he, and he alone, that here proposes to spend thousands of the people's public treasure, for no other advantage to them, than to make valueless in their pockets the reward of their industry. Mr. Chairman, this movement is exclusively the work of politicians; a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men. I say this with the greater freedom because, being a politician myself, none can regard it as personal.... [Speech in the Illinois Legislature Concerning the State Bank]

Next, Pres. Lincoln issued the following General Order, November 15, 1862, a few days after meeting with religious leaders from New York City:

The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperiled, by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High. "At this time of public distress" — adopting the words of Washington in 1776 — "men may find enough to do in the service of God and their country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality." The first General Order issued by the Father of his Country after the Declaration of Independence, indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended: "The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." Abraham Lincoln. [Order for Sabbath Observance]

Finally, Pres. Lincoln offered some advice, October 26, 1863, to Capt. James Cutts, who had been court-martialed for "quarreling":

.... The advice of a father to his son "Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee," is good, and yet not the best. Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.... [To James M. Cutts, Jr.]

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A few appropriate links:

• Lincoln Bicentennial | 1809-2009 | Live the Legacy
• The City of Hodgenville, Kentucky
• The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
• The Lincoln Log
• Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

And Lincoln's previous appearances at The Blog from the Core:

• The Prophet Abraham Speaks
• The Bulwark of Liberty and Independence
• "A House Divided"
• Second Inaugural Address
• Abraham Lincoln's One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Birthday II
• Abraham Lincoln's One Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Birthday I
• Three Images From Lincoln's Second Inauguration Discovered at Library of Congress
• Abraham Lincoln's Farewell Address
• The Gettysburg Address
• "A Few Appropriate Remarks"
• Letter of Abraham Lincoln to "Unconditional Union Men"
• Ridicule, Malice, and Kindness
• Abraham Lincoln
• Thanksgiving Proclamation 1863
• Thanksgiving Proclamation 1864

P.S. Shorpy has an un-retouched version of the latest studio photograph:

(Thanks, Vanderleun.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 02/12/09 07:54:50 AM
Categorized as Historical & Speeches and Suchlike.