Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, he was self-educated and became a lawyer, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representative. An anti- slavery advocate, he joined the new Republican Party and won the 1860 presidential election, prompting a majority of slave states in the South to secede and form the Confederate States. As he led the country during civil war, Lincoln supervised the Union army, implemented a naval blockade of Southern ports, and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Confederate states. On November 19, 1863, he delivered the now famous Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was re-elected in 1864, and on April 14, 1865, five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth. For his role in preserving the Union and ending slavery, Lincoln is ranked as the greatest US president. (Full article...).
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1900:
The Southern Cross Expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieved a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsten_Borchgrevink
1936:
The Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties, came to power in the Spanish general election, a factor in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War five months later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Spanish_general_election
1961:
The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was chartered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuSable_Black_History_Museum
2013:
At least 91 people were killed and 190 others injured after a bomb hidden in a water tank exploded at a market in Hazara Town, Pakistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2013_Quetta_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
existential: 1. (chiefly logic, philosophy) 2. Of or relating to existence. 3. Concerning the very existence of something, especially with regard to evading extinction. 4. Of an assertion, etc.: assuming or suggesting the existence of something. 5. Of or relating to existentialism (“a philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices”). 6. (linguistics) Relating to part of a clause that indicates existence (for example, there is). 7. (linguistics) Ellipsis of existential clause (“a clause that indicates the existence of something”). 8. (programming) Ellipsis of existential type (“in a type system: a type that hides the underlying concrete type(s)”). 9. About Word of the Day 10. Nominate a word 11. Leave feedback https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/existential
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Half of our wise men declare that the world is going straight to perdition; the other half that it is fast becoming perfect. Both cannot be right. --Henry Adams https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams