On this day, 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States.
Before taking the oath of office, he delivered an Inaugural Address to "Fellow-Citizens of the United States". He spoke frankly about the impending crisis and ended with these words:
Following the Address, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney administered the oath of office.
Click here to see a picture of the Bible on which Abraham Lincoln took the oath. It would be used again by Barack Obama.
Click here to see a photograph of the inauguration on the East Portico of the unfinished Capitol.
Fifty years later, the New York Times ran again the original stories filed by Joseph Howard, Jr., and the other reporters who covered the inauguration of President Lincoln. Click here to read their detailed accounts.
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Nancy Hanks
If Nancy Hanks
Came back as a ghost,
Seeking news
Of what she loved most,
She'd ask first
"Where's my son?
What's happened to Abe?
What's he done?"
"Poor little Abe,
Left all alone
Except for Tom,
Who's a rolling stone;
He was only nine
The year I died.
I remember still
How hard he cried."
"Scraping along
In a little shack,
With hardly a shirt
To cover his back,
And a prairie wind
To blow him down,
Or pinching times
If he went to town."
"You wouldn't know
About my son?
Did he grow tall?
Did he have fun?
Did he learn to read?
Did he get to town?
Do you know his name?
Did he get on?"
--Rosemary Benét and Stephen Vincent Benét