Abraham Lincoln and George Washington stare silently at one another
across the reflecting pool on the National Mall in Washington D.C.,
their paths inextricably linked by the historians who consider both to
be the greatest presidents in American history.
One is a monument, a testament to the man and his influence on
American history, the other a memorial to the Lincoln legacy, a
persistent reminder of the new United States.
Washington was at one time the symbol of America. Even twenty years
after his death, Americans painted their mantles black in mourning for
the indispensable man, and many American families hung portraits of both
George and Martha Washington in their homes.
Lincoln became a messianic figure, the martyr in a cause to forge a
new nation based on the proposition that all men are created equal in an
indissoluble union.
Honest Abe supplanted Honest George as the quintessential American, and thus two American symbols had been born.
