ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln

I chose Abraham Lincoln as my hero because he never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. He stated this most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg, saying, "We, here, highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping a store in New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois Legislature, and rode the court circuits for many years. His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest."