Postcard from the Past: Lincoln – The First American President

This headline in the Feb. 11, 1928 issue of the Wind River Mountaineer immediately grabbed my attention and prompted me to explore this further, thus the fodder for this week’s Postcard.

A feature article by Elmo Scott Watson in the Mountaineer reads:

Abraham Lincoln, the first American president?

Yes, he was!

Now, this doesn’t mean an attempt is being made to upset commonly accepted history nor to deny George Washington, who was “First in War, First in Peace and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen” –  the further honor usually accorded him of being the first chief executive of this republic.

But the fact is, Lincoln – not Washington – was the “first American president” for the following reason.

When a child is born, its nationality is that of its parents, regardless of its birthplace. The parents of all the presidents from Washington down to James Buchanan were born before the Declaration of Independence was signed and were therefore British subjects, even though they were born in America.

Lincoln’s father and mother were the first parents of a president born after July 4, 1776, so he was the first chief executive born in the U.S. of American parents and, therefore, he was the first real American president.

This characterization of Lincoln, however, is not based alone on a mere technicality in regard to the nationality of his parents. 

More important is the fact there was blended in him the traits of two cultures which were such a vital force in the making of America. One was from New England and the other from Virginia. 

Space does not allow for further information. However, those who are interested can search “Wyoming Newspaper Project” on their computer and pull up the Wind River Mountaineer’s Feb. 11, 1928 edition for the rest of the story. It’s fascinating.

In tribute to President’s Day, we offer the following presented in an editorial in the Feb. 15, 1928 issue of the Cody Enterprise.

Abraham Lincoln 

In the scroll of the illustrious men who have lived and died for America, no name shines more brightly than that of Abraham Lincoln, the rugged, typically American figure whose deeds and words are a light and inspiration for all the time to come. 

For Lincoln was not born to pomp and power. Lincoln had no heritage of wealth or royal blood. Lincoln had no smooth road to tread. What he accomplished came from the sweat of his brow, the labor of his hands and the straining of every faculty, and at the last his life was lost in the great causes for which he had fought with an ardor seldom equaled in history.

A poor boy was our Lincoln, without even the advantage of an easily accessible education. He trod miles to get a book, which he studied in the cabin firelight of his humble home. Tall and ungainly, a veritable tree of strength and courage, he strode from the log cabin to the White House.

Few men have inspired such reverence as he. Writers have split hairs about the qualities of the great of our land. 

The one unassailable figure, perhaps, is Lincoln. No one has split hairs about the character of the revered rail splitter. It shines through the ages with undiminished flame. His heartbeat is still echoing in the nation today.