The biographies at my elementary school stressed his birthplace – a log cabin.
When you pause and think about the year of his birth – 1809 – you can imagine lots of log cabins occupied by farm families. After all, a scattering a log barns and houses where a log room or two had been covered with plaster on the inside and siding on the outside existed during my childhood a century and a half later.
However, it magnifies that he did not come from a rich family. His parents were not wealthy merchants or landowners. And if you wanted young readers to believe they could become anything — even President of the United States — it made a great, true story.
Yes, today’s presidential spotlight is on Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe. Railsplitter. Prairie lawyer.
Lincoln’s portrait dominates on both “folding” money and the smallest coin. To celebrate his 200th birthday, scenes from his life decorated the non-obverse side of the penny.
