Who Was Abraham Lincoln 林肯 Chapter 10 Farewell to the President

John Wilkes Booth was never brought to trial. A few days after the shooting, his hiding place was discovered. He was shot to death trying to escape.

Booth thought what he’d done was noble and heroic. However, all over the nation, people mourned the dead president. Clocks were stopped to mark the moment of his death. Millions came to Washington, D.C., to pay their respects. Then Lincoln’s body was put on a special train back to Springfield. That was where he would be buried. His son Willie’s coffin 1 was dug up and traveled with him. The train retraced 2 the route Lincoln had taken when he first came to Washington as president. At each stop, there were elaborate parades with the coffin mounted on a wagon 3. Sometimes the lines were three miles long. People waited hours for the chance to say good-bye to the president they had loved.

Mary Lincoln never really recovered from the shock of her husband’s death. She was too upset to go to the funeral. Even now, people criticized her. They said when she left the White House she took things that didn’t belong to her. Her later life was not happy.

Tad’s death—probably from tuberculosis—at age eighteen was a terrible blow. Of all her children, only Robert lived to be an adult. But he and Mary did not get along. For a while he had her locked up in a hospital, claiming that she was insane. Robert had a long career as a lawyer and diplomat 4. He had three children and several grandchildren. Robert lived to be eighty-two, dying in 1926.

Today, two hundred years after his birth, Abraham Lincoln is more honored than any other president except perhaps George Washington. He appears on the penny and the five-dollar bill.

He has a monument in the nation’s capital.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

His face is carved on Mount Rushmore. Many cities, several mountains, five national parks, and nineteen counties have been named after him. Hundreds of books have been written about him. He is remembered along with Washington on Presidents’ Day.

MOUNT RUSHMORE

Almost from the moment of his death, Lincoln became a larger-than-life figure. People saw him as a kind of saint. Of course he was just a man. He made mistakes and he held some opinions that are hard to accept today. But it is clear he was no ordinary man. He kept the country together during one of its darkest times. America was lucky to have him.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

ONLY TWO YEARS AFTER PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S DEATH, CONGRESS FIRST RAISED THE IDEA OF BUILDING A MONUMENT TO HONOR HIM. THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL WASN’T FINISHED UNTIL 1922, HOWEVER. LINCOLN’S SON ROBERT WAS STILL ALIVE And WENT TO THE DEDICATION 5 CEREMONY. THE MEMORIAL IS MODELED On A GREEK TEMPLE, WITH A HUGE STATUE OF LINCOLN INSIDE. (On THE BACK OF A PENNY, IF YOU LOOK AT THE PICTURE OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, YOU CAN SEE A TINY STATUE BETWEEN THE MIDDLE COLUMNS.) On THE WALLS OF THE TEMPLE ARE ENGRAVED 6 THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS And HIS SECOND INAUGURAL 7 SPEECH. BUT THE ENGRAVER 8 ACCIDENTALLY CARVED “EUTURE” INTO THE STONE, INSTED OF “FUTURE.” YOU CAN STILL SEE WHERE THE MISSPELLING HAD TO BE FIXED 9.

SEVERAL IMPORTANT EVENTS In BLACK HISTORY TOOK PLACE AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL. In 1963, MARTIN LUTHER KING DELIVERED HIS FAMOUS “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH FROM THE STEPS OF THE MONUMENT.