Colloquially, the day is also now widely known as Presidents’ Day and is often an occasion to honor the incumbent president and all persons who have served as president, not just George Washington. This year it is celebrated on February 18, 2019.
Many states use variations of the holiday with official names including Washington’s Birthday, Presidents’ Day, President’s Day, and Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthday. The state holiday might officially celebrate Washington alone, Washington and Abraham Lincoln (whose birthday is February 12), or some other combination of U.S. presidents (such as Washington and the third president Thomas Jefferson, who was born in April).
This year we celebrate Presidents’ Day with a biographical lexigram of Sixteenth President Abraham Lincoln. Each CAPITALIZED word is made from letters found in the source phrase. The narrative backstory follows in italics. This masterwork lexigram is ©2007, Steve Miller, Intrinsic Development.
Learn more about Abraham Lincoln at Wikipedia.
| Sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln BORN IN A CABIN IN HARDIN TO THOMAS LINCOLN, A CARPENTER. Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. His father’s name was Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter. RAISED BAPTIST; RESIDE IN INDIANA, ILLINOIS. Lincoln’s parents belonged to faction of the Baptist Church that disapproved of slavery. His family moved to Indiana in 1816, then to Illinois in 1830. ELECTED CAPTAIN IN SALEM After he moved out on his own, he served briefly in the New Salem War, where he was elected Captain of his volunteer unit. LOST IN ILLINOIS STATE SENATE; LATER ELECTED TO A TERM ON MAIN ISSUE THAT SMALL, PASTORAL AREAS NEED ROADS, CANALS, HARBORS, AND RAILROADS. He was unsuccessful when he ran for the state legislature in 1832, yet in 1834 he was elected to the lower house as a Whig. His first platform announced that “Time and experience… verified… that the poorest and most thinly populated countries would be greatly benefitted by the opening of good roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams… There cannot justly be any objection to having rail roads and canals.” AT HIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, STATES SECEDE Prior to his election in 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. CAROLINA HITS A NATIONAL BASTION IN CHARLESTON HARBOR. THIS REBELLION, AN INTERSTATE BATTLE, BEGINS. MERCENARIAN BREECHLOADER BATALLIONS TO DESOLATE DIXIE HOMESTEADS, BROTHERS TO DECAPITATE BROTHERS, ALIENATION AND DEMONIC HATRED TO CREATE HEADSTONES LINED FOR MILES. Against the advice of a majority of his cabinet, the new president decided to send provisions to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. Sumter was conspicous in that it was a symbol of federal authority in a state which had seceded. On April 12, 1861, South Carolina fired on the fort, and the Civil War began. ON THIS CONTINENT, OUR PARENTS RAISED A CHILD-NATION, BORN OF LIBERTIES AND ALLIED TO THE IDEAL THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED THE SAME. In his Gettysburg Address, given in Pennsylvania in 1863, Lincoln spoke “Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” THE REBEL LEADER ROBERT E LEE ABDICATES Robert E. Lee surrendered to federal forces at the Appotmatax Court House in Virgina in 1865. IN APRIL, NEAR HIS SIXTIETH CELEBRATION, AT AN AMERICAN THEATRE, AN ACTOR ENTERED THE PRESIDENTIAL BOX AND SHOT LINCOLN. On Apr. 14, 1865, Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. There Booth entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln. The next morning at 7:22 Lincoln died. He was 56 years old. IHONEST ABE, THE ILLINOIS RAIL-SPLITTER, BECAME THE PREEMINENT AMERICAN EMANCIPATIONIST AND STATESMAN. Enough said. |
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The letters in a name or phrase can form many other words. Several descriptive lexagrams can be made from them and, when place together, can create a biographical perspective. A lexagram (or lexigram) is a form of wordplay where the letters in a name or phrase are shuffled to create new words. These new words make short statements that, ideally, describe the original term. For example, the word ASTRONOMICAL has letters to make the words STAR, SOLAR, and CORONA, as well as to create each word in the phrases AN ASTRAL SAILOR IN NASA and ROMANTIC MOONLIT MARTIAN CANALS. Look for where the letters in each word can be found in ASTRONOMICAL. To make a lexagram, find words hidden in the letters of your name or a short phrase, then use those terms to make sentences that describe the original name. To make it easy to read, the original phrase and any words found within it are CAPITALIZED.
When searching for words-within-words, shuffling the sequence of letters in the name or phrase is very helpful. While an online generator is great to quickly obtain a list of candidate words which are valid for lexagrams or anagrams, there is much fun to be found in searching for words yourself! Changing the sequence of the letters in a phrase give our brains a fresh perspective on the situation. New words will seem to jump out after simply re-arranging the letters into a new pattern. Rearrange the letters carefully and find new words. Continue exploring by studying the sequences of letters in this name.
Make your own lexagrams. Read about it and look for key words hidden in the letters of the phrase.
Analyze Terms inAbraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President |
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