America's Heroes: Abraham Lincoln (1970)

[Music] the [Music] there are many ways that we honor an American hero like Abraham Lincoln other reminders of him can be found in a bookstore this one is called the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop many books have been written about Lincoln do you know why well you can find out by knowing something about Abraham Lincoln life one way is to read about it but there are other ways this boy has come to a place where there are models that tell the story of Lincoln's life these models are called diaramas the Lincoln diaramas everything is dark in the room except the diaramas this one shows Lincoln's father outside the cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th 1809 in the state of Kentucky today you can build your own log cabin with a toy called Lincoln Logs but log cabins for homes are not built very often today Abraham Lincoln's father was a poor hardworking farmer who had built a log cabin for his family there were many log cabins in the wilderness of Kentucky when Lincoln was born today in Kentucky as well as in all other parts of our country every Farm Boy whether he's poor or not can go to school everywhere today children go to schools where they can learn to read and write but when Abraham Lincoln was a boy in Kentucky and later in Indiana he wanted to go to school but he couldn't there usually weren't any teachers outside of the cities without a teacher there couldn't be a school altogether Lincoln went to school for less than one year so how did Abraham Lincoln finally learn all that he knew well he studied by himself many evenings he spent reading in front of the fire people enjoy fireplaces today fires are warm and pleasant but Fire Light isn't very bright it's hard to read by Fire Light yet Abraham Lincoln read many books this way he really wanted to learn getting an education wasn't as easy for him as it is for you today but it was very important to him so was being honest being honest is important to this boy too a little while ago he was given too much change at the grocery store he didn't have very far to come but he is returning it returning the money is an honest thing to do Abraham Lincoln worked in a grocery store when he was a young man in New Salem Illinois today in New Salem this grocery store has been built to look just as it did when Lincoln worked here people can see the sort of things that he sold here Lincoln's customers and Friends learned that he was a very honest man later on people often thought of him as honest Abe many other buildings in the town of New Salem have been built to look just as they did when Lincoln lived here in New Salem Lincoln continued reading and studying he hoped that someday he might become a lawyer finally he did become a lawyer and he moved to Springfield Illinois now we're in Springfield on the street where he lived Lincoln lived in this house with his wife and children many people come here every year to see it more than a hundred years ago men came to this house to This Very Room visitors today can see the room where the men told Abraham Lincoln that they wanted him to be president of the United States people had heard good things about Abraham Lincoln and many agreed with his feelings about slavery slavery was allowed in some states Lincoln thought that allowing slavery in new States would not be good for our country Lincoln was elected president many people came to the Capitol Building in Washington DC to see him become the 16th president the flag of the United States flew overhead with its 33 stars for the 33 States in our country then but some people did not want to be part of the United States when Lincoln was President some states decided to form a new country they called the Confederate States of America but Lincoln believed all the states of the United States had to stay together a War Began between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America sometimes on certain days people dress in costumes and intend to fight the war that was called the Civil War or the war between the states Abraham Lincoln was sad about the war because many people were being killed but he believed even more strongly that all the states should stay together during the Civil War Lincoln called the men of his cabinet together to read to them a paper he had written called The Emancipation Proclamation this paper said that all the slaves in the Confederacy were to be free later after the Confederacy Was Defeated slavery was not allowed anywhere in the United States Abraham Lincoln was glad he helped our country stay together even though a terrible War had to be fought to do it when the war was over many places were in Ruins and there were some people who hated Abraham Lincoln one of these people shot him here inside this Theater Lincoln came here to see a play while he was sitting up there watching the play you know what happened a man opened the door and shot Abraham Lincoln that was more than a hundred years ago today in our nation's capital there is a great statue of him the statue is in a beautiful building called the Lincoln Memorial from all over the world people come here to honor one of America's Heroes the words of Lincoln's most famous speech the Gettysburg Address are here in the Lincoln Memorial the words tell beautifully how he felt about our country and of his hope that government of the People by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth people today not only in the United States but all over the world know that Abraham Lincoln was one of America's Heroes when we celebrate his birthday on February 12th sometimes we make displays in our classroom to remind us that he was a poor farm boy born an a log Kevin who had to work hard for everything he earned when he became president he refused to let the United States become divided into two countries he fought a war to save the nation a war that led to the end of slavery in the United States the displays show us how Lin looked they tell us about his life the things he said and did we see the ways we honor Lincoln today but even if you don't have a display there are reminders all around of Abraham Lincoln and you'll especially remember that Abraham Lincoln is one of America's Heroes every time you look at a penny on one side you can see the Lincoln Memorial and on the other side there is the face of Abraham Lincoln [Music]