The Lincoln Memorial: America’s Gathering Place

http://www.nps.gov/linc/index.htm

Abraham Lincoln

• Life: 1809 - 1865

• President: 1860 - 1865

• Civil War• Gettysburg Address• Emancipation

Proclamation

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008680969/resource/

Lincoln Memorial

http://www.nps.gov/featurecontent/ncr/linc/interactive/deploy/index.htm#/panoramas

Lincoln Penny

Washington, D.C.

http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/upload/NACCmap1.pdf

• Located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the Lincoln Memorial honors Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.

• Lincoln was President during the Civil War (1861-65).

• The memorial, which was built between 1914 and 1922, symbolizes his belief that all people should be free.

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/lincoln.html

• The theme of the building represents the Union or United States.

• The columns stand for the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death.

• The names of the 48 states in the Union (when the memorial was completed in 1922) are carved on the walls along the outside of the memorial.

• A plaque honoring Alaska and Hawaii is in the approach plaza.

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/lincoln.html

• The chamber inside the memorial contains a statue of Lincoln seated, facing the Washington Monument and the Capitol.

• The statue of Lincoln is 19 feet high and weighs 175 tons.

• The chamber also houses two huge stone tables, one engraved with Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, and the other with the Gettysburg Address.

• Two murals represent the principles of freedom, justice, unity, brotherhood, and charity.

• http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/lincoln.html

First Amendment

• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_downloads.html

Racial Equality

• Marian Anderson sings after not being allowed to perform at DAR Constitution Hall because she was a “singer of color”

• April 1939• Sings “My Country

‘Tis of Thee” or “America”http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010651298/

Civil Rights

“And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee,

sweet land of liberty,

of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died,

land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside,

let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation,

this must be true.”

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” on August 28, 1963

http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=march+on+washington&fa=digitized%3Atrue&sp=1

Peace Marches

• Vietnam War Protest

• October 21, 1967

http://www.usmarshals.gov/history/civilian/1967b.htm

Anti-war Demonstrations

• Protesters against the war in Iraq

• March 17, 2007

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/18/content_5862349.htm

Reflection

• The Lincoln Memorial honors one of the United States’ greatest presidents.

• Lincoln believed in making life better and protecting the rights of the common man.

• This awe-inspiring memorial allows us to reflect on what it means to be an American.