Abraham Lincoln's Wedge
name: label: user
content: Lincoln, Abraham
notes: label: Description
content: Lincoln used this iron wedge to split wood while living in New Salem, Illinois in the early 1830s.
label: Description
content: In 1885 workers found this wedge during renovations to a house that once belonged to Mentor Graham in New Salem, Illinois. Graham was a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s, and Lincoln gave him the wedge as a token of friendship when he left New Salem to begin his career as a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois.
label: Description
content: The initials “A L” appear on one side of the wedge. John Spears, a neighbor, recalled the day Lincoln went to a blacksmith and asked to have his initials cut into the wedge. The blacksmith hesitated, claiming he was “no scholar.” Lincoln borrowed the tools and marked the wedge himself.
label: Description
content: Gift of Henry W. Allen, 1920
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Illinois
topic: label: used
content: Presidents
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Selections from the Abraham Lincoln Collection
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Rubenstein, Harry R.. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Henry W. Allen (SI)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.030794
label: catalog number
content: 30794
label: accession number
content: 65826
objectType: label: Object Name
content: wedge
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 8 3/4 in x 2 in; 3.81 cm x 22.225 cm x 5.08 cm