LINCOLN IN AMERICAN MEMORY
by Merrill D. Peterson
“O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won… The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won…” Walt Whitman’s description of a ship weathering a powerful storm, and returning safe with its mission complete, perfectly illustrates the United States enduring the divisions of the Civil War. This poem is one of numerous commemorations to the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Merrill D. Peterson, author of Lincoln in American Memory, examines an interesting variety of sources, including statues and prints made of Lincoln over the years in addition to the numerous biographies written, and attributes three prominent images to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln: Savior of the Union, the Great Emancipator, and the Self-made Man. From the moment Lincoln died on Saturday,......
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Approximate Word Count: 1847
Approximate Pages: 8 (260 words per double-spaced page) |