CELEBRATING LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY
February 12,1809-February 12,2011
During the campaign of 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy spoke at the Lincoln Monument Rally in Spokane, Washington on September 6. He said:
"I think it is most appropriate...we should meet in the shadow of a distinguished Republican, Abraham Lincoln, because we believe that his spirit motivates our party in the great election 100 years after he assumed the responsibility of office."
"In 1860, Lincoln said 'This nation cannot exist half slave & half free'. I don't think in the 1960s that this world can exist half slave & half free."
And in a speech before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on January 14, 1961, President-elect John F. Kennedy said:
"Lincoln...loved politics with the passion of a born practitioner. For example, he waited up all night in 1863 to get the crucial returns on the Ohio governorship. When the Unionist candidate was elected, Lincoln wired: 'Glory God in the highest, Ohio has saved the Nation'."
"We must act in the image of Abraham Lincoln summoning his....cabinet to a meeting on the Emancipation Proclamation (he said) : 'I have gathered you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice....that I have determined for myself'."
"(Lincoln) did not hesitate. He did not equivocate. For he was President of the United States. It is in this spirit we must go forth in the coming months & years."
February 12, 1809
ABRAHAM LINCOLN BORN IN KENTUCKY
Abraham Lincoln, the son of Thomas & Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was born in a log cabin on this day near Hodgenville, Kentucky in Hardin County (today LaRue County).
The cabin where the future President was born is located on Thomas Hank's 348 acre farm at "Sinking Springs". Abraham Lincoln will become the 1st president born outside the 13 original colonies.
Lincoln Birthplace Memorial
Abraham Lincoln was named after his grandfather who had been killed in a frontier Indian attack.
The family moved 10 miles NE to Knob Creek in 1811 & then again to Indiana in 1816.
Shortly afterward, on October 5, 1818, Lincoln's mother died at the age of 34 of the "milk sickness". This was a disease caused by drinking milk from affected cows.
Grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln
Thomas would later marry a widow named Sarah Bush Johnston.
They moved to Macon County, Illinois & then to Coles County where Thomas would spend the rest of his life.
Abraham never "got along" with his stern father who died on January 17, 1851 at the age of 73.
Abraham did not attend the funeral. Sarah Bush Lincoln, with whom Abraham got along well, died at the age of 80 on April 12, 1869.
February 12, 1909
TR LAYS CORNERSTONE AT LINCOLN BIRTHPLACE
On this day, President Theodore Roosevelt came to the Sinking Springs farm where President Abraham Lincoln was born 100 years ago to lay the cornerstone of the memorial building where the log cabin Lincoln was born in will be placed.
When the memorial is completed it will have 56 steps--one for each year of Abraham Lincoln's life.
President William Howard Taft will attend the dedication of the memorial in 1911.
Lincoln Birthplace Memorial
John White with his good friend, "Mr. Lincoln", at the Fort Sanders re-enactment on May 7, 2010.
