Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2011 / Presidential Documents 12821 

Proclamation 8636 of March 4, 2011 

150th Anniversary of the Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

President Abraham Lincoln is revered in American history as the leader 

who held together a fractured country and liberated millions from slavery. 

His words are memorized by America’s schoolchildren, and his name is 

synonymous with freedom and unity. One hundred fifty years ago, on March 

4, 1861, this self-taught man, rugged rail-splitter, and humble lawyer from 

Springfield, Illinois, was sworn in as our Nation’s 16th President under 

an unfinished dome of the United States Capitol, with the storm clouds 

of civil war gathering. 

President Lincoln reminded us in his Inaugural Address that America’s 

Union was much older than the Constitution itself, and that our national 

fabric had been stitched together by shared memories and common hopes. 

As we observe the 150th anniversary of his Inauguration, we reflect on 

his unceasing belief and our enduring faith that we remain one Nation 

and one people, sharing a bond as Americans that will never break. 

Through simple eloquence and humble leadership marked by profound wisdom—both on his Inauguration day and throughout the coming conflict— 

President Lincoln charted a course to transcend our discord and bind the 

wounds of a severed country. From the principles he set forth in the Emancipation Proclamation to his transformative address on the fields of Gettysburg, 

President Lincoln showed us how to preserve and perfect ‘‘the last, best 

hope of Earth.’’ His actions and his memory enabled America to move 

beyond a young collection of States to become a free and unified Nation, 

striving for the promises and principles for which so many fought and 

died. 

Our revered 16th President taught us that we are more than North and 

South, black and white—we are one, and we are all Americans. The forces 

that divide us are not stronger than the forces that unite us, and the ‘‘new 

birth of freedom’’ President Lincoln called for still echoes in each of our 

hearts. Today, we live in the Union he saved, inheritors of the freedoms 

and progress for which he served. Through the ages, Abraham Lincoln 

calls us to take a renewed devotion to the unfinished work remaining 

before our Nation—joining together across all divides to ensure that ‘‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’’ endures in our time. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 4, 2011, 

as a day to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Inauguration of Abraham 

Lincoln. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate 

programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor his memory and uphold 

the principles he so nobly advanced. 


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12822 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2011 / Presidential Documents 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day 

of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth. 

[FR Doc. 2011–5550 

Filed 3–8–11; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3195–W1–P 


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