[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 129, 114th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 9256 of April 14, 2015

Day of Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln believed that we are, at heart, one Nation and
one people. At a time when America was torn apart and our very future
was in doubt, he knew our country was more than a collection of States,
and that we shared a bond that would not break. One hundred fifty years
after President Lincoln's death, Americans join together

[[Page 3329]]

across the Union he saved to honor his memory and celebrate the freedom
for which he gave his last full measure of devotion.
A self-taught man, rugged rail-splitter, and humble lawyer from
Springfield, Illinois, President Lincoln believed in the fierce
independence that lies at the heart of the American experience. But he
also knew that together, we can do great things--that it is through the
accumulated toil and sacrifice of ordinary women and men that our
country is perfected and our liberty preserved.
President Lincoln understood the immense sacrifices required to give
meaning to our founding principles. With enduring faith and steady
resolve, he led our Nation through Civil War, knowing the blood shed was
in painful service to those same ideals. He sought to reunite our people
not only in Government, but also in a freedom that knew no bounds of
color or creed. It was in this spirit that he issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, forever joining the cause of our Union with the
advancement of liberty. As our Nation gave birth to a new era of
freedom, President Lincoln charted a course that would help bind the
wounds of a divided country and bring healing to a people who
desperately needed it.
Even while his Presidency was characterized by war, his ambition was a
just and lasting peace. Amid the discord of great conflict, President
Lincoln demonstrated the wisdom to look forward. He knew a united
America could serve the hopes of all its people if they seized the
opportunity of their time. He established land-grant colleges and
committed to a railroad connecting East to West, even as he fought to
hold together North and South. He fueled new enterprises with a national
currency, spurred innovation, and ignited America's imagination with a
National Academy of Sciences.
As we reflect on the Great Emancipator, we are reminded that we will be
remembered for what we choose to make of the moment we are given.
President Lincoln has passed on a tremendous legacy to us, and we too
are called to do great things. His example gives us confidence that
whatever trials await us, this Nation and the freedom we cherish can,
and will, prevail. Today, we reflect on the extraordinary progress he
made possible, and with one voice, we rededicate ourselves to the work
of ensuring a Government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 15, 2015, as a
Day of Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln. I call upon all
Americans to honor his life and legacy with appropriate programs,
ceremonies, and activities. I also call upon the Governors of the United
States and its Territories, and appropriate officials of all units of
government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on the Day of
Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln. I further encourage all
Americans to display the flag at half-staff from their homes and
businesses on that day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the

[[Page 3330]]

Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
ninth.
BARACK OBAMA