Feb. 12, 2009
Chief Justice Celebrates Lincoln’s 200th Birthday
Two hundred years after the birth of Abraham Lincoln, Supreme Court of Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer participated today in a rededication ceremony of the Lincoln-Vicksburg Monument at the Ohio Statehouse. He joined Gov. Ted Strickland, House Speaker Armond Budish and Senate President Bill Harris at the event.
Today’s ceremony and celebration of Lincoln’s life and legacy are part of a national commemoration of the Lincoln bicentennial. A series of programs in 2009 at the Ohio Statehouse will honor the nation’s 16th president and the struggles he endured to hold the nation together.
“It’s quite incredible that two centuries of time haven’t diminished the interest in or fascination with Lincoln,” said Chief Justice Moyer. “He is as relevant today as he was in the 19th century, which speaks to not only the man he was but the leader he became.”
The monument is actually two statutes in one. A bust of Lincoln sits atop a sculpture depicting a scene of Confederate generals surrendering to Union generals at Vicksburg, Miss. during the Civil War. The Union generals – Ulysses S. Grant, James B. McPherson and William T. Sherman – all were born in Ohio.
The birthday celebration included cake, a special reading of the Gettysburg Address by Columbus Saint Mary School fourth-graders, an unveiling of a Lincoln photo display in the Statehouse rotunda and special historical presentations focused on Lincoln’s connection to Ohio Statehouse history.
Lincoln visited the Ohio Statehouse three times, twice for speaking engagements. The third visit occurred after his assassination. More than 50,000 people filed through the Statehouse to pay their respects as Lincoln lay in state in the rotunda on his way from Washington, D.C. to Illinois.
For more information about the Lincoln-Vicksburg Monument, call 614.644.4300 for an audio tour.
Contact: Chris Davey or Bret Crow at 614.387.9250.