Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
February 12, 2009

Obama Celebrates 200th Anniversary of Lincoln's Birth
-----------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=223F046:A6F02AD83191E160E7D84A18B7472E8D5C6F54A6CF9DC2CA&
 
President Barack Obama is attending a celebration at US Capitol in honor
of man many consider as greatest US president 
President Barack Obama during visit to Ford's Theater in Washington to
mark Abraham Lincoln bicentennial 11Feb2009 U.S. President Barack Obama
is marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, who is
considered by many to be the greatest U.S. president. Mr. Obama attends
a celebration at the U.S. Capitol Thursday, then travels to Springfield,
Illinois, the hometown of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was president during
the Civil War in the 1860s that nearly tore apart the United States over
the issue of slavery and states' rights. He signed the Emancipation
Proclamation - ordering slaves to be freed in most of the southern
Confederate States, and eventually leading to the abolition of slavery
in all the United States. Mr. Obama, the nation's first African-American
president, attended a star-studded gala Wednesday at the historic Ford's
Theater in Washington, D.C. - the site of Mr. Lincoln's assassination in
1865. Reopening Wednesday after a lengthy renovation, the theater
featured a biographical play about Mr. Lincoln. Ford's Theater, where
President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot, under renovation in
Washington (2008 file photo)Mr. Obama has sought to draw parallels
between his presidency and that of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Obama began his
presidential campaign in Mr. Lincoln's Illinois hometown and re-enacted
the 16th president's train journey from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to
Washington D.C. on the way to his inauguration in January. He took his
presidential oath on the Bible that Lincoln used for his own
inauguration. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, added
after Lincoln's death in 1865, abolished all slavery in the United
States. Ford's Theater, in downtown Washington, D.C., was closed for
more than 100 years after Mr. Lincoln's assassination. It reopened in
1968 and now functions as both a working theater and a historical site.


.