Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial. [Louisville, Kentucky]. , ( first panel ) , Abraham Lincoln, his hand and pen He will be good but God knows when. Abraham Lincoln, ca. 1826-26 , , Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky. The Commonwealth of Kentucky dedicates this memorial to its native son and the 16th president of the United States in the bicentennial year of his birth. , , ( second panel ) , If we have no friends, we have no pleasure. Abraham Lincoln, 1842 , , Born on the Kentucky frontier, Abraham Lincoln rose to prominence surrounded by Kentuckians. Even after moving to Illinois, Lincoln turned to them again and again for friendship, guidance, and support. He courted and married Mary Todd, a Lexington native. , , ( third panel ) , … that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863 , , When Civil War came in 1861, President Lincoln’s own family became a house divided, as many of Mary Todd’s relatives supported the Confederacy. Sharing in the wounds of the nation, Abraham Lincoln anticipated in his Secong Inaugural Address, the need for true reconciliation. , , ( fourth panel ) , In 1841, you and I had together a tedious low-water trip, on a Steam Boat from Louisville to St. Louis. You may remember as I well do that from Louisville to the mouth of the Ohio there were, on board, ten or a dozen slaves, shackled together with irons. That sight was a continual torment to me, and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio, or any other slave border. , , Abraham Lincoln to Joshua Speed, 1855 , , On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation , , ( inscribed on the amphitheater steps, behind the statue ) I, too, am a Kentuckian , A house divided against itself cannot stand , With malice toward none, with charity for all. , As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.