They made a difference - Abraham Lincoln

12 February 1809 to 15 April 1865, age 56

Like many great people, taken too young.  Long before the assassination of JFK, the first president to be taken in such a way, and only days after the war he fought so hard to end and yet one he believed in so passionately.

A man taken too soon by an assassin's bullet, not unlike the 35th President almost 100 year's later - President John F Kennedy, the 50th anniversary of who's death was celebrated just last month.

President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, not a Founding Father and yet a man who influenced modern times in equal, if not greater measure. Without him, could the world we live in today exist? I think not.

Born around 100 year's after the death of Abraham Lincoln, I feel we shared many of the same values. Above all justice, but also a belief in equality and fairness, in my mind, the same thing.

Who is truly qualified to write about such a great man? Not me, for sure, however a series discussing 'people who make a difference' could never be complete without mention of Abe Lincoln. Personally, I have deep respect and admiration for a man who balanced personal values and politics through such traumatic and chaotic times, in the face of adversity from his enemies and even, at times, his allies.

Like another great man from history (Winston Churchill), Abe Lincoln suffered from depression and yet like Winston, he overcame his own challenges for the good of a nation.  A man who, along with his wife Mary, whom he married at their second attempt and from a slave-owning family herself, suffered the premature loss of three children.  Heartbreaking, how does any parent recover from the loss of one child, never mind three?   Of the surviving gene pool, their direct descendants died out on December 24th 1985 with the demise of their childless Great Grandson, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith.

Born on the American frontier, at a time when education was rare and to a harsh life in a one room log cabin.  Largely self taught, an avid reader, both brave and unafraid.  They say an eldest child is destined to be the leader, yet this was not true for Abraham Lincoln who, even as the second child,  met his destiny full on and truly made a difference.

From a young age, when he witnessed slavery first hand soon after arriving in New Orleans, his actions did more than suggest he couldn't support it.   He wanted and strove for a united nation, a United States, one that outlawed slavery, was innovative and offered opportunity to anybody who wanted to capture it in their hands.  Sadly, even today, over a century later, discrimination continues and yet, without his conviction, the first step on the ladder to a unified people may never have been taken.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863 remains today, the most quoted speech in US history and we all owe him a great debt.

Famous Quotes

"Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the Nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came"

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt"

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time"

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be"

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power" (my personal favourite!)

and perhaps most prophetic of all:

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years"

Useless facts:

• Sun sign (astrology): Aquarius
• Birthplace                : Kentucky
• Myers Briggs           : ISFJ

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