Thomas Jefferson Memorial
I wrote about this monument previously when we first saw it during our evening tour. I would just like to add a few comments that I have taken from the NPS brochure you get at the monument:"Thomas Jefferson--political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United States--looms large in any discussion of who Americans are as a people. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas but also a great body of practical achievements. President John F. Kennedy recognized Jefferson's accomplishments when he told a gathering of American Nobel Prize winners that they were the greatest assemblage of talent in the White House since Jefferson had dined there alone. With his strong beliefs in rights of man and a government derived from the people, in freedom of religion, and the separation between church and state, and in education available to all, Thomas Jefferson struck a chord for human liberty more than 200 years ago that resounds through the centuries. In the end, Jefferson's own appraisal of his life, and the one that he wrote for use on his own tombstone, suffices: "Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statue of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia."
The Cornerstone of the Monument
I put this picture here sort of as a "note" on one of the new features of Washington, D.C.--the constant surveillance by the authorities. One of the "gifts" of the terrorists of September 11, 2001. TThe Lincoln Memorial
Waiting for Harold and Joyce, and trying to decide where to go next!!!
The Memorial is surrounded by a wire construction fence. I think this is due to work that is taking place around the Monument, not for security.
So IMPOSING!!!! As with the Thomas Jefferson Monument, I wrote about this after our evening tour. Again, I would just like to quote a few words from the NPS brochure:
"Lincoln--the Man
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He became the 16Th President of the United States, leading his country through its greatest trial, the Civil War. His life was full of personal tragedy and disappointment, but his belief in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and his experience gained as a state legislator, lawyer, and Congressman, along with a whimsical sense of humor, gave him the strength to endure. Throughout his political career Lincoln strove to maintain the ideal of the nation's founders. He saw slavery as hypocritical for a nation founded on the principle that "all men are created equal." In an 1854 speech Lincoln said: "I hate it (slavery) because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world--enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites." As President he used the power of the office to preserve the Union. In freeing the slaves Lincoln left a legacy to freedom that is one of the most enduring birthrights Americans possess."
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.
Anyone who has been here will understand the feeling you get while standing in the presence of this magnificent monument, dedicated to an outstanding human.
Waiting for Harold and Joyce, and trying to decide where to go next!!!
The Memorial is surrounded by a wire construction fence. I think this is due to work that is taking place around the Monument, not for security.
So IMPOSING!!!! As with the Thomas Jefferson Monument, I wrote about this after our evening tour. Again, I would just like to quote a few words from the NPS brochure:"Lincoln--the Man
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He became the 16Th President of the United States, leading his country through its greatest trial, the Civil War. His life was full of personal tragedy and disappointment, but his belief in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and his experience gained as a state legislator, lawyer, and Congressman, along with a whimsical sense of humor, gave him the strength to endure. Throughout his political career Lincoln strove to maintain the ideal of the nation's founders. He saw slavery as hypocritical for a nation founded on the principle that "all men are created equal." In an 1854 speech Lincoln said: "I hate it (slavery) because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world--enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites." As President he used the power of the office to preserve the Union. In freeing the slaves Lincoln left a legacy to freedom that is one of the most enduring birthrights Americans possess."
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.
Anyone who has been here will understand the feeling you get while standing in the presence of this magnificent monument, dedicated to an outstanding human.
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