Today is Abraham Lincoln\u2019s birthday. Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and is generally considered by most people to be one of the best. Our current President often compares himself to Lincoln and even he acknowledges that old Abe is the only President that even comes close to his greatness. I won\u2019t argue that point, but Abraham Lincoln had a lot of qualities, and quirks, that makes him stand out among the leaders of our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the past I\u2019ve taken the occasion of his birthday to try to learn a little more about him. I may have mentioned this before, but Lincoln is the only president to have been issued a patent. In 1849, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 on a device that was designed to keep boats afloat when they passed over a sandbar or entered shallow water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Illinois may be know as the Land of Lincoln, but he was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, and moved with his family to southern Indiana in 1816. Lincoln didn\u2019t migrate to Illinois until 1830. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before gun control became a hot topic, Lincoln \u2014 a hands-on commander-in-chief, was very interested in the artillery used by the Union troops during the Civil War. He often met with inventors demonstrating military prototypes at the White House. Although there was a standing order against firing weapons in the District of Columbia, Lincoln personally test-fired muskets and repeating rifles on the lawns around the White House \u2014 now known as the Ellipse and the National Mall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame. As a young man, he was an accomplished wrestler, being defeated only once in approximately 300 matches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service. That evening, he was shot at Ford\u2019s Theatre. This may sound like bad timing, but the original mission of the Secret Service was to combat widespread currency counterfeiting. It wasn\u2019t until 1901, after two other presidents had been killed, that the Secret Service was formally assigned to protect the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1876 a gang of Chicago counterfeiters attempted to steal Lincoln\u2019s body from his tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The plan was to hold the corpse for a ransom of $200,000 and obtain the release of the gang\u2019s best counterfeiter from prison. Secret Service agents infiltrated the gang and disrupted the operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he occupied the White House, Lincoln used the current Lincoln Bedroom as his personal office, to meet with Cabinet members and sign documents \u2014 including the Emancipation Proclamation. So Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom \u2014 at least not in a bed. Today, the room still contains a few pieces of office furniture along with a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lincoln was the first president to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda\u2026 and just to wrap this up, Lincoln\u2019s mother, Nancy Hanks, was a distant relative of Tom Hanks, making the president and the actor fourth cousins, four times removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re almost half-way through February \u2014 still celebrating all these great February events.
Happy Birthday Abe.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is Abraham Lincoln\u2019s birthday. Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and is generally considered by most people to be one of the best. Our current President often compares himself to Lincoln and even he acknowledges that … Continue reading