NATIONAL NEWS
July 7, 2000
Clinton's House Call
Abraham Lincoln's Summer Home Declared National Monument
Honest Abe would be proud: The summer home where America's 16th president drafted the Emancipation Proclamation nearly 140 years ago has just been named a national monument. During a July 7 visit to Abraham Lincoln's summer cottage in Washington D.C., President Clinton signed a proclamation calling the 157-year-old home the "President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument."
A Historic Home
"There is fragile, vital history in this house," Clinton
said. "It was here where President Lincoln
completed a draft of the Emancipation
Proclamation, which abolished slavery in the
seceding states." Lincoln drafted the Emancipation
Proclamation at the cottage in September of 1862.
"When he signed it, Lincoln said 'My whole soul is
in it.' " Clinton said. "You can still feel that spirit
strongly in the room in this cottage where he
worked."
The 14-room two-story home looks very much like it did when Lincoln used to travel by horseback to relax there. America's tallest president and his wife, Mary Todd, used to visit the home from 1862 through 1864 to escape the heat and humidity of the White House, about three miles away. A large copper beech tree where Lincoln would relax and read still stands beside the home today. The house sits on the grounds of what used to be the Soldiers' Home, America's first home for disabled U.S. Army veterans. The cottage also served as a summer home for other presidents including James Buchanan, Rutherford Hayes, and Chester Arthur.
Preserving a National Landmark
Clinton used his presidential power to name the
historic home a national monument to make sure it
is preserved and protected. Designated a national
historic landmark in 1973, the White House
identified the cottage as an endangered historical
treasure two years ago. A $750,000 federal grant
will be used to upgrade and restore the home.
Clinton also announced another $15 million in
grants to the federal government to preserve other
historic sites across the nation.
Lincoln last visited the cottage the day before his assassination on April 14, 1865 by 26-year-old John Wilkes Booth, a strong supporter of slavery. Booth shot Lincoln as he sat in Ford's Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died early the next morning, but his former home will be one of many ways his memory will carry on.
