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Lincoln Memorial, MD

Amid the battles of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln fought to preserve the United States and its ideals. The Lincoln Memorial is a tribute to this noble man. In honor of the 16th president, a majestic statute of Abraham Lincoln sits in the center chamber of the memorial. He seems to be monitoring the nation's progress as he gazes over the National Mall's reflecting pool.

The American sculptor Daniel Chester French, who also designed the "The Minute Man" statue located in Concord, was commissioned to sculpt Lincoln's tribute. French described his work by saying, "The memorial tells you just what manner of man you are come to pay homage to; his simplicity, his grandeur, and his power."

In 1915, fifty years after Lincoln's assassination, the memorial's construction began. Built to resemble a Greek temple, the memorial has 36 Doric columns, representing the number of states at the time of Lincoln's death. Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address is displayed on the edifice's south wall below a mural, painted by Jules Guerin, showing the "angel of truth" freeing a slave. Directly across, on the north wall, is Lincoln's second inaugural address etched below another Guerin mural representing the unity of the North and South. The building and sculpture were dedicated by President Warren G. Harding on May 30, 1922.

Since its dedication in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial has been the backdrop for numerous events and public protests. It was on the memorial's steps that singer Marian Anderson gave her Easter Sunday concert in 1939 after being turned away from Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is also where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in August 1963. Antiwar protesters also came to the memorial steps in the late 1960s and early 1970s to raise their voices against the U.S. role in Vietnam.