[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 74 (Friday, April 17, 2015)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 21151-21152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09018]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 2015 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 21151]]

                Proclamation 9256 of April 14, 2015

                
Day of Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                President Abraham Lincoln believed that we are, at 
                heart, one Nation and one people. At a time when 
                America was torn apart and our very future was in 
                doubt, he knew our country was more than a collection 
                of States, and that we shared a bond that would not 
                break. One hundred fifty years after President 
                Lincoln's death, Americans join together across the 
                Union he saved to honor his memory and celebrate the 
                freedom for which he gave his last full measure of 
                devotion.

                A self-taught man, rugged rail-splitter, and humble 
                lawyer from Springfield, Illinois, President Lincoln 
                believed in the fierce independence that lies at the 
                heart of the American experience. But he also knew that 
                together, we can do great things--that it is through 
                the accumulated toil and sacrifice of ordinary women 
                and men that our country is perfected and our liberty 
                preserved.

                President Lincoln understood the immense sacrifices 
                required to give meaning to our founding principles. 
                With enduring faith and steady resolve, he led our 
                Nation through Civil War, knowing the blood shed was in 
                painful service to those same ideals. He sought to 
                reunite our people not only in Government, but also in 
                a freedom that knew no bounds of color or creed. It was 
                in this spirit that he issued the Emancipation 
                Proclamation, forever joining the cause of our Union 
                with the advancement of liberty. As our Nation gave 
                birth to a new era of freedom, President Lincoln 
                charted a course that would help bind the wounds of a 
                divided country and bring healing to a people who 
                desperately needed it.

                Even while his Presidency was characterized by war, his 
                ambition was a just and lasting peace. Amid the discord 
                of great conflict, President Lincoln demonstrated the 
                wisdom to look forward. He knew a united America could 
                serve the hopes of all its people if they seized the 
                opportunity of their time. He established land-grant 
                colleges and committed to a railroad connecting East to 
                West, even as he fought to hold together North and 
                South. He fueled new enterprises with a national 
                currency, spurred innovation, and ignited America's 
                imagination with a National Academy of Sciences.

                As we reflect on the Great Emancipator, we are reminded 
                that we will be remembered for what we choose to make 
                of the moment we are given. President Lincoln has 
                passed on a tremendous legacy to us, and we too are 
                called to do great things. His example gives us 
                confidence that whatever trials await us, this Nation 
                and the freedom we cherish can, and will, prevail. 
                Today, we reflect on the extraordinary progress he made 
                possible, and with one voice, we rededicate ourselves 
                to the work of ensuring a Government of the people, by 
                the people, for the people, shall not perish from the 
                earth.

                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 April 15, 2015, as a 
                Day of Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln. I 
                call upon all Americans to honor his life and legacy 
                with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. 
                I also call upon the Governors of the United States

[[Page 21152]]

                and its Territories, and appropriate officials of all 
                units of government, to direct that the flag be flown 
                at half-staff on the Day of Remembrance for President 
                Abraham Lincoln. I further encourage all Americans to 
                display the flag at half-staff from their homes and 
                businesses on that day.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.
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                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2015-09018
Filed 4-16-15; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F5