Abraham Lincoln (1810–1865)

With little formal schooling and being mostly self-taught, Lincoln rose from a poverty to eventually become the 16th president of the United States. He first saw slaves at the age of 18 when he was transporting produce to New Orleans. Based on this experience, he dedicated his life to eradicating slavery.

After the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) in the American Civil War, Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address to honour the fallen. Although under 300 words, the speech is considered a rhetorical masterpiece which alludes to the Bible and The Declaration of Independence (1776). As Pericles did in his Funeral Oration, Lincoln defined the ideals and values of his countrymen and their democracy in the Gettysburg Address:

‘…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.’