Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar

The name of Abraham Lincoln is famous throughout the land. Cities, highways, and monuments are named after him. His face has been seen for a century on the penny…and now, on a commemorative coin as well. In 2009, the bicentennial year of Lincoln’s birth, the United States Mint will produce the silver dollar described in the Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Coin Act of 2006.

The son of a Kentucky farmer, Lincoln had an honesty and intelligence that led him through a career in law and politics to the presidency. His firm belief that all men are created equal was crucial in the movement to abolish slavery.

He showed great courage during the Civil War. He showed great kindness in his plans for reconstructing the South afterward, “with malice toward none, with charity for all.” Yet his life was taken by an assassin’s bullet on April 14, 1865, just days after the war ended.

President Lincoln had spoken at the dedication of a cemetery for Civil War soldiers at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863. Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg is seen as one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of American literature. The last 43 words of this address are inscribed on the back of the Lincoln commemorative dollar:

“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.”