LINCOLN
It comes as a shock to me to realize that the man who could write the Second Inaugural Address, regarded by many as the noblest of all political documents, and the Gettysburg Address, had no more than four months of formal education, and that in a one-room country school house where students ranged from 5 to 25, and the teacher probably had no more than an 8th grade education, if that. Lincoln is held up as an example of achievement in what we have come to know as “The American Dream.” Where else but in America could this happen? One father, knowing the determination of Lincoln as a boy to achieve an education, said to his less than energetic son: “Do you know what Abe Lincoln was doing when he was your age?” “No,” replied the boy, “but I do know what he was doing when he was your age.”
To view this resource, log in or sign up for a subscription plan