Lincoln was the first Republican-elected president and only the second presidential candidate from that party. Lincoln was the first president not born in one of the original thirteen states. Lincoln remains the tallest person to serve as president, at 6' 4". Lincoln remains the only president to hold a patent.

As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.

His record speaks for itself: he led the Union to victory in the American Civil War, abolished slavery, and delivered some of the most famous speeches in human history. Lincoln's words, without the stain of ego or self-interest, have echoed through the years and continue to inspire.