Lincoln's Birthday 2012

(President Lincoln showing Sojourner Truth the Bible presented by "loyal colored people" of Baltimore. Picture credit: Library of Congress)

Tomorrow, February 12, 2012, is President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

We decided to share with our readers the text of an article that appeared in the November, 1864 edition of The Friend. This monthly newspaper was published in Honolulu by Rev. Samuel C. Damon of the American Seaman’s Friend Society.

The article was taken from an earlier edition of the Baltimore American. It focuses on a gift by the African American citizens of Baltimore to Lincoln:

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PRESENTATION TO THE PRESIDENT. –The colored people of Baltimore, desirous of testifying their appreciation of the distinguished services of President Lincoln in the cause of human freedom, are about the present him with a copy of the Holy Bible, which is a masterpiece of art and taste.

It is the imperial quarto of the American Bible Society, bound in purple velvet with heavy gold mountings, appropriately engraved, and inclosed in a walnut case lined with white silk.

The total cost of this elegant gift is $580.75. The inscription upon the presentation plate is as follows:

To

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

President of the United States.

The friend of Universal Freedom,

From

The Loyal Colored People of Baltimore,

As a token of Respect and Gratitude.

Baltimore, 4^th July, 1864.

Intrinsically valuable as this gift may be, it is of little account in comparison with the sentiment it represents or embodies. It will be properly appreciated by the great champion of emancipation; it will take its appropriate place in the history of his efforts toward the accomplishment of the grand consummation in which Maryland has taken a leading part. It will form one of the best and proudest memorials it has ever fallen to the lot of any public man to transmit to posterity. The expression of “the respect and gratitude” of our colored citizens is highly creditable to them, and we are glad to chronicle so noteworthy an occurrence. –Baltimore American.

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NOTE: Go to this link for the text of Reply to Loyal Colored People of Baltimore Upon Presentation of a Bible by Abraham Lincoln.