The United States Mint commemorates the bicentennial anniversary of Lincoln's birth with this 2009 silver proof coin featuring the Gettysburg Address and an image of President Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, serving from 1861 to 1865, was one of America's great leaders, demonstrating uncommon courage during the Civil War, one of the greatest crises in the Nation’s history. His life is commemorated in music, poetry and sculpture; his words are quoted by poets and politicians; and his face appears on coins, currency and postage stamps. Mountains, cities, highways and schools throughout the country bear his name.
Born of humble roots in present-day LaRue County, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809, Lincoln reached the presidency through a combination of honesty, integrity, intelligence and commitment to the United States of America. With the firm belief that all men are created equal, he led the effort to end the institution of slavery in the United States.
Today, the Gettysburg Address is recognized as one of the most beautiful and poetic statements in American literature, a moving tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and the ideals for which they died. Those immortal words Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg -- the last 43 of his most famous speech -- are inscribed on the reverse of this beautiful Commemorative Silver Dollar, encircled in a laurel wreath placed at its center.
