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"A house divided against itself cannot stand."note 

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States between 1861 and 1865. That guy who won the The American Civil War, proclaimed the slaves free, delivered the Gettysburg Address, and was born in a log cabin which he built with his own two hands [old joke].

He immediately followed James Buchanan and preceded Andrew Johnson. He's also known for wearing a top hat and being impressively tall (tied with Lyndon Johnson for tallest president ever, at 6'4"). When he took direct control of the Union army for a brief time, he showed himself to be a talented military strategist as well.

A genial and charming speaker, Lincoln had an uncanny ability to explain complex issues in layman's terms, and his speeches are among the most famous in American history. Considered an untested and possibly radical figure, he is famous for growing a beard while in office, in addition to a distinctively shaped Lantern Jaw of Justice, which was depicted as clean-shaven in his earlier years. He grew the beard at the insistence of an 11-year-old girl named Grace Bedell who wrote him a letter. In many ways he's the only president who served between the Founding Fathers and Theodore Roosevelt who's thought of at all. He is also almost universally considered to be one of the greatest presidents (if not the greatest) in American history.

Despite his childhood education consisting of barely a year in total due to the scarcity of schools in pioneer territories, since he attended school for a few months at a time, he still managed to avidly enjoy reading such literary classics as Aesop's Fables, The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, the works of William Shakespeare, and the King James Bible. Later, he hired a tutor, Mentor Graham, to help him become more proficient in the "three R's", and Lincoln borrowed a grammar book from a neighbor six miles away. Using borrowed law books and learning how to speak by watching courtroom proceedingsnote  and never having attended law school, he confidently stated "I studied with nobody" when given his license to practice law before the state bar; during the earlier years, a person didn't need to graduate from law school if they could pass the bar exam.note 

It is also relevant, if somewhat uncomfortable to admit, that Lincoln was technically a racist, even by today's standards. He casually used the n-word in conversation, regularly attended and enjoyed minstrel shows (these facts wouldn't become more widely publicized until after the success of Lincoln in 2012, which historians accused of presenting an overly narrow and sugarcoated view of the president) and still allowed encroachment onto the lands of most Native American nations, even allowing the largest mass execution in history in the aftermath of a war in the Dakotas (although he also pardoned hundreds more of the condemned warriors). Though he was an abolitionist, he was willing at least in principle to allow slavery to continue, if only because it was constitutionally protected in established states, believing that it would end on its own if it could be kept from spreading. At one point in time, he supported the American Colonization Society program, which would have enabled the freed slaves to emigrate to Liberia and start new lives. He once remarked in 1837, while speaking of his "Free Soil" stance opposing both slavery and radical abolitionism: "The institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation (legal enactment) of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." Early in his presidency he said that he would back any solution to the slavery question that preserved the Union, whether it was freeing all the slaves, freeing none of them, or freeing some and leaving others enslaved, but by then he had already chosen option one, though border states had exemption initially. His anti-slavery views became stronger over time, however, eventually crystallizing in two famous quotes: "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free," and "Whenever I hear anyone arguing over slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."

His memorial in DC is a very popular spot for "inspirational" moments in media, and is much hardier than most other memorials (but don't tell that to Megatron). He is also the only non-British Empire citizen/subject to have a statue in Parliament Square in London. His death inspired many elegies, perhaps most famously "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman.

Was famously born in a log cabin, but not the one you can get tours of (despite what the guides will tell you); that one was built eight years after he was born. As Stephen Fry once put it, it is dangerously close to the legendary schoolboy gaffe quoted above.

More dubiously, Lincoln is also notorious for being the first president to be successfully assassinated, having been fatally shot by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while attending a production of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. Booth had been part of a large-scale conspiracy among disgruntled former Confederates to undermine the United States and revive the pro-slavery white supremacist movement that the Confederacy represented. Incidentally though, killing Lincoln wasn't the original plan— the conspiracy's first plot was to kidnap the president, but they shifted gears to murder because of a last-minute change in Lincoln's schedule that day that prevented Booth from reaching him. However, Booth’s own murder two weeks later by a religious sergeant named Boston Corbett destroyed any hope of avenging and saving the South, but still posthumously succeeded in undermining Reconstruction, thanks to Lincoln's authoritative successor being an overt southern sympathizer (and considering how effectively the South pushed a false "Lost Cause" narrative in the century-and-a-half since, some others say that the Confederacy ended up getting the last laugh in the end partly because of Booth's actions, but was himself murdered before he could be tried) and their deaths led to several unanswered questions about what really happened in regards to the deaths of Lincoln and Booth. Thus, the efficacy of a Lincoln-led Reconstruction remains a huge case of What Could Have Been for speculative historians.

Because of how high-profile Lincoln's murder is even today, it's often claimed that his ghost haunts The White House. His presence is sometimes made clear by appearing, if briefly, before some presidents and other guests during times of great crisis (such as a kung fu fight against Richard Nixon).

Incidentally, in contrast to most modern-day baritone depictions, Lincoln's voice was actually somewhat high-pitched and nasal. For something approaching what's considered to be more accurate, consider this feature, filmed for Time Magazine. Benjamin Walker became the first actor to break away from the deep-voiced tradition with his portrayal of the 16th President in, of all things, 2012's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, though he pretty much just used the higher register of his normal speaking voice. The theatrical group With Lincoln, whose 1994 re-enactments were broadcast on C-SPAN, had Michael Krebs portray him with a strong Southern Illinois-accented tenor voice and a good declamatory style for public speaking, especially in the Lincoln Douglas debates (you can see several of these videos on YouTube). Daniel Day-Lewis became the first actor to give a nearly-true representation of the "thin, high pitched" tone that Lincoln is recorded to have possessed, in 2012's Lincoln; this alone was considered a huge expose, never mind that pesky "obstruction of justice" stuff.

The last living person to witness Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater was Samuel J. Seymour, who sat in the balcony box across from the Lincolns at age five, and appeared on the game show I've Got a Secret to relate his story 91 years later in 1956. Despite being introduced with a caption stating that he witnessed the shooting firsthand, he actually didn't see the shot when it was fired and initially sympathized with Booth as a kid because he didn't realize that he was the man who pulled the trigger until after the assassination entered the mainstream news cycle. Seymour died several months later.

One of the things which allegedly mellowed Lincoln out on the issue of race was his unlikely friendship with escaped slave and civil rights leader Frederick Douglass, along with the extreme polarization of the public on the issue, as hundreds of thousands died During the War. After unexpectedly winning re-election in a stunning turnaround, in his Second Inaugural Address (only slightly longer than the one at Gettysburg) Lincoln famously delivered one of the greatest speeches of all time.

    Lincoln's Speech (excerpt) 
All knew that (slavery) was somehow the cause of the war... It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. ..."Woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come... and that He gives to (us) this terrible war as the woe due... Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether!"

Note that he went on to say:

The war was won weeks later. Coincidence? Probably.

Fact: Abraham Lincoln can and, if needed, will, beat you in a fight. Even if you're Batman. Or Bigfoot. In some ways, Abraham Lincoln is almost as much a Memetic Badass as Chuck Norris. In fact, this is where you can go to watch them have a rap battle. Some would count him as the only president to be more badass than Theodore Roosevelt (and maybe Andrew Jackson, if you ignore the politics). On the other hand, Cracked doesn't even count him among the top five, though the same author later acknowledged the oversight and wrote an article devoted strictly to Lincoln called "Abraham Lincoln: Portrait of a Crazy Badass." It really depends on how much weight you give the Manly Facial Hair.

Also Fact: In 1842 Abraham Lincoln was challenged to a duel by a political rival, state auditor James Shields. In dueling, the challenged party selects the place of the duel, and the weapons to be used. Since Lincoln felt the situation was ridiculous, he stated that he wanted to use "Cavalry Broadswords of the largest size". He also added that he wanted the duel to be carried out in a pit 10 feet wide by 12 feet deep with a large wooden plank dividing the square which no man was allowed to set foot over. Shields was going to go through with it, but then saw Lincoln clearing branches with a broadsword and realized how insane the situation had become and backed down.note 

  • NB: The fencing treatise "By the Sword" notes that Lincoln's apparently ridiculous rules for the duel belie a cunning tactician's mind: By choosing long, heavy weapons and dividing the dueling ground to prevent his opponent from closing distance, the much taller Lincoln ensured that he—with his nearly six-inch-longer reach—could attack with impunity and/or (more likely) effectively stalemate the duel without drawing blood.
  • NBB: Lincoln felt the situation was so ridiculous that, when Shields first challenged Lincoln to choose the duelling weapons, Lincoln initially chose "cow pies." Lincoln only switched to broadswords when Shields rejected this idea.
  • This has been called one of the most bizarre episodes in Lincoln's life, involving his using a female persona (with input from Mary and a friend) to write a witty letter for a widely read Illinois paper, mocking Shields' personal appearance and reputation with the ladies along with his policies. A followup letter — actually by the women — caused Shields to challenge.
    "Dear girls, it is distressing, but I cannot marry you all. Too well I know how much you suffer, but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am so handsome and so interesting."
  • Some historians think that Lincoln and Shields set this up to get publicity.

Also Also Fact: Abraham Lincoln, 140 years before its first usage in ECW, frickin' invented the chokeslam. During his youth as a "wrassler", one of Lincoln's opponents made the mistake of stomping on Lincoln's instep with the heel of his boot. As recounted by noted Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg, "This exasperated Lincoln so that he lost his temper, lifted Armstrong up by the throat and off the ground, shook him like a rag, and then slammed him to a hard fall, flat on his back."note  Both men would become good friends. Lincoln was honored by the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame for this feat.

Lincoln was also the other kind of inventor, holding a patent for a device intended to help boats navigate shallows, making him the only president in American history ever to have held a patent. He was also a licensed bartender and co-owned a pub for a while before entering politics. Thus, when Lincoln quipped that he wished he could serve all his generals what his skilled general Ulysses S. Grant was drinking, he was in a position where he could have done that legally and literally. Additionally, he was a crack target shot with a rifle, and in one recorded instance, joined a group of soldiers who were trying out a new model near the White House; when one remarked that the weapon needed a better sight, Lincoln produced one that he'd whittled out of wood (having tried the rifle beforehand and being similarly unimpressed by its standard sight).

Lincoln is also one of the few presidents to have an aircraft carrier named after him. As well as the capital of Nebraska, the official outlet for Star Trek merchandise,note , a make of luxury car, and toy logs. Oh, and also many, many, many parks, including (indirectly) a musical one.

He was a Republican. It should be noted, though, that contrary to how this fact is most commonly used in political discourse nowadays, being a Republican in Lincoln's time didn't mean being a conservative, as it wasn't until roughly a century after Lincoln's death that Republicans and Democrats became the right-wing and left-wing parties we know them today. Before then, the Republican and Democratic parties did not have precise ideological alignments. Each had wings we would call "liberal" and "conservative", and were better described as coalitions of cross-cutting regional, cultural, and class-based interests. The Republicans gave up Lincoln-Roosevelt progressivism in the 1930s; it was another 30 years before the Democrats abandoned Southern segregation and (hesitantly) embraced the progressive cause. Republicans of the late 20th century would sometimes describe theirs as "the party of Lincoln"; this was usually decried by opponents as a cynical attempt to court African-American support. The whole matter became moot by the 21st century, with "party of Lincoln" comments mostly confined to the context of ironic comedy.

Trope Namer for A Fool for a Client, after an aphorism of his.


Honest Abe in fiction:

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    Advertising 

    Comedy 
  • One of Bob Newhart's early routines, "Abraham Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue", satirically juxtaposes the cynical marketing of modern political candidates with Lincoln's honesty.
  • Negativland's Lincoln Robot — a satire on the Disney Animatronic version.
  • The Conception Corporation had a skit where Edward R. Murrow did on-the-spot reports from Heaven. When he came upon Lincoln, he asked him what he thought of the current (circa 1970) U.S. situation.
    Lincoln. I think it's a mess. The niggers are —
    Murrow. Thank you, Abe.

    Comic Books 
  • In The Amazing Screw-On Head, Lincoln is the president who gives the title character his orders.
  • Lincoln was one of the former identities of The Immortal in Invincible.
  • A Twist Ending in an issue of EC Comics' Weird Fantasy describes an Alternate History where the assassination of Lincoln failed, and he ended up leading America to a world takeover, which turns the world into a utopia of equality and prosperity, with Lincoln having a Jesus-like cult centuries after his death.
  • A painting of Lincoln—with the word "Nigger" scrawled across it—is the source of much controversy in the first arc of Ex Machina.
  • The "Statue of Lincoln comes to life" subtrope even has an Animal Superheroes version; in one issue of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!!, a villain animates a statue of "Abraham Linkidd" (who is a goat, in case you were wondering).
  • In Hellblazer, wizard John Constantine meets Lincoln who is the plot's villain.
  • In Scott McCloud's The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln, he is, unsurprisingly, a major character.
  • Deadpool once wrestled a Zombie Abe Lincoln.
  • Alterna Comics Jesus Hates Zombies Featuring Abe Lincoln Hates Warewolves
  • The Kyle Baker Plastic Man story "Continuity Bandit: Abraham Lincoln Must Die!", of course. A time-traveling villain throws Lincoln (actually John Wilkes Booth in a disguise, though the real Lincoln appears once the gang goes to the past) at Plas to facilitate an escape, which somehow caused the civil rights movement to never happen, Wonder Woman to become a housewife, and Green Lantern to beat the Flash in a sack race. Eventually, a reluctant Woozy tries to shoot him. It doesn't go well.
  • In a Doctor Who comic the Third Doctor gave Abe Lincoln advice on how to win the Battle of Gettysburg.
  • In a particularly weird The Simpsons comic it was revealed that president Lincoln sent Homer to Fords theater in his place so he could pose for the five dollar bill then Professor Frink went back in time to prevent his assassination.
  • An even weirder Elseworlds story had Brainiac as President Lincoln.
  • An Abe Lincoln version of Darkwing Duck was featured as part of the Darkwings of the Multiverse.
  • In an issue of Avengers West Coast, Immortus watched and then destroyed an Alternate Timeline where Abe Lincoln overpowered John Wilkes Booth.
  • Captain America once fought a robot Abe Lincoln created by the Mad Thinker.
  • The Sentry once ran into Abraham Lincoln on his way to Fords theater while chasing a time traveling villain luckily the president mistakes him for an actor.
  • In an early issue of Blackhawk The Eternal Enemy claimed that he hypnotized John Wilkes Booth into killing Abraham Lincoln.
  • It was revealed in an issue of Justice League that in Earth Three Abe Lincoln was an actor who shot president John Wilkes Booth.
  • A superhero modeled after him called Honest Abe appeared in 52.
    • There is also Abraham Lincoln Carlyle from the"Force of July" although the similarities end at the name.
  • Abe Lincoln's Spirit appears to Kid Eternity in his first appearance and again in the second issue of his main series.
  • There are Elseworlds that put Batman and Superman in the Civil War, usually ending with them saving him from assassination. One particular example: After being saved by Atticus Kent Lincoln was provided a secret service organized by Kent to ensure his safety. On May 23, 1864, Lincoln recruited Kent's help in overseeing his Reconstruction Program in the American South. On March 4, 1865, Lincoln was sworn into his second term under the completed Capitol Dome.
    • The Blue, the Grey and the Bat has Batman protecting a vital gold shipment for President Lincoln in 1863.
  • He appeared in iZombie as a zombie but unlike the Deadpool example above seems to be more benevolent leading an army of dead soldiers.
  • The opening to the second volume of The Umbrella Academy features the kids fighting the Lincoln memorial, which has come to life for some reason. They fend it off by summoning an equally large statue of John Wilkes Booth to assassinate him. The Booth statue is last seen making a run for it.
  • Shows up in Tex Willer in the "Pinkerton Lady" storyline, in which a young Tex (then an outlaw) and Kate Warne of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency join forces to protect Lincoln, then a presidential candidate, from an assassination attempt.

    Fan Works 

    Film 
  • Lincoln is one of Bill and Ted's collection of historical figures in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
  • The whacked-out Chinese movie Fantasy Mission Force opens with several World War II generals being captured. One of them is Lincoln. And he clearly identifies himself as such - even in the original Chinese.
  • In 1935's The Littlest Rebel, Virgie (Shirley Temple) visits Lincoln (Frank Mc_Glynn Sr.) asking him to pardon her dad and a sympathetic Union colonel, who are falsely accused of spying and sentenced to death.
  • In the 1939 film by John Ford, Young Mr. Lincoln, he's portrayed by Henry Fonda.
  • The 1954 The Tall Target by Anthony Mann deals with a Private Detective (played by Dick Powell) trying to stop an assassination attempt on Lincoln on his journey to the White House for his inauguration in 1860. He's mentioned throughout the film and appears in the very last shot, weary and tired at having dodged the bullet, with the obvious Futureshadowing by the film's mise-en-scene underlying that one day his luck would run out.
  • Tyler Durden of Fight Club wants to fight him, because he's a big guy, with big reach. And besides, skinny guys fight 'til they're burger.note  He becomes an unlockable character in the video game version.
  • In Gangs of New York, an actor portrays him in a production of Uncle Tom's Cabin and he is greeted with jeers, food throwing, and shouts of "Down with the Union!" This is a pretty good reflection of how - white - working-class New Yorkers actually felt about President Lincoln; New York City mayor Fernando Wood even proposed that the city secede from the Union and become an independent country.
  • Lance Henriksen plays Lincoln in the tv movie The Day Lincoln Was Shot, is a reenactment of the assassinations of both President Abraham Lincoln and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, as well as the events before and after with Rob Morrow playing John Wilkes Booth.
  • A major character, and a surprisingly sympathetic one, in the outrageously racist 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. This fit with the views, in the South, that Lincoln would have gone easier on the South than the Radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens (who are outright demonized here and in later films).note 
  • In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian the statue from the Lincoln Memorial comes to life.
  • In the 2011 remake of Arthur (2011), one of Abraham Lincoln's suits is bought by Arthur at an auction, and Arthur quotes Lincoln near the end of the film, but is punched in the face before he can say his actual quote.
  • In the Wild Wild West movie, Dr. Loveless makes a grand appearance at his party by hiding inside a statue of Lincoln, whose head explodes.
  • In The Dark Knight his picture appears in a list of suspects for the identity of Batman
  • In C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, he loses the Civil War. He attempts to flee to Canada with Harriet Tubman disguised as a black man, but is captured by Confederate forces. After a two year imprisonment, Jefferson Davis, hoping to ease tension in the newly conquered North, pardons him and exiles him to Canada, where he dies a lonely man in the early 1900s. All history remembers him for is being the man that lost "the War of Northern Agression".
  • At the climax of Black Dynamite, when Richard Nixon grabs John Wilkes Booth's pistol to shoot BD, the ghost of Lincoln appears and kung-fus the gun out of Nixon's hand.
  • In The Master of Disguise, Pistachio's grandfather tells about how the Disguisey family made impact on history. Abraham Lincoln was such a boring speaker, so a disguised Lincoln helped him become elected president by partying and dancing while I Like to Move It by Reel to Real is played.
  • It is revealed in Zoolander that John Wilkes Booth was a brainwashed male model who was made to assassinate Abe Lincoln so slavery won't be abolished (because then they won't be able to make designer clothes).
  • An unnamed Abe Lincoln impersonator appears in Mister Lonely.
  • He is one of the historical figures who appears in DreamWorks Animation' Mr. Peabody & Sherman and one of the presidents who supports Mr. Peabody's right to raise a human child.
  • In The LEGO Movie he is one of the master builders who is unimpressed with Emmett reacting with “A house divided against itself... would be better than this!” before riding his rocket chair out of the "Dog" in Cloud Cuckoo Land much to the dismay of Emmet. He later joined in the battle against Lord Business and his forces in Bricksburg.
  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, based on the book of the same name, portrays him as a secret vampire hunter. The film's events wind their way through actual events in the life of Abraham Lincoln. He's played by Benjamin Walker.
  • Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies is a Mockbuster made by The Asylum about a secret mission where Abe hunts the undead.
  • He's played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg's long-gestating biopic Lincoln, opposite Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln's son, Robert, and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Day-Lewis won an Academy Award for his performance.
  • In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Lincoln appears with a variety of other dead characters when the narrator snidely suggests that the film just resurrect everyone.
  • At the end of Happy Gilmore, he's seen alongside the alligator that ate Chubbs' hand and Chubbs himself waving at Happy from Heaven.
  • In the 1994 film Quiz Show, University professor Charles Lincoln Van Doren achieves fame by winning a quiz show but secretly was getting the answers in advance. A journalist asks Van Doren how would Honest Abe (sic.) fare in a quiz show - which disturbs Van Doren, because Van Doren was being dishonest.
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: The Klingon Chancellor Gorkon was written as a cross between Lincoln and Mikhail Gorbachev. note  Lincoln's portrait also appears in the Officers' Mess.
  • D. W. Griffith's next-to-last film was the Biopic Abraham Lincoln (1930). Pretty stagey overall, and heavily fictionalized, but it has its moments. Lincoln was played by Walter Huston.

    Literature 
  • In a few of the Flashman books, Lincoln appears as a Guile Hero, who also has some similarity with the "Atticus Finch" "simple country lawyer" type. He is notable as one of the few characters who sees right through Flashman.
  • Gore Vidal's bestselling historical novel Lincoln takes place over the span of the Civil War. The book doesn't presume to know what Lincoln is thinking, instead switching between the perspectives of his advisers (plus John Wilkes Booth's accomplice). The author caught the ire of historians for including third-party anecdotes regarding Abe's bout with syphilis, among other things. Vidal's rebuttal was that U.S. historians tend to gloss over the imperfections of their idols, leaving us with only a faint impression of the men they really were.
  • William Safire's Freedom depicts Lincoln's Civil War leadership from Fort Sumter through the Emancipation Proclamation. Unlike Vidal, Safire does show much of the story through Lincoln's perspective.
  • One of the plots in the Dirk Pitt Adventures book Sahara concerns Lincoln.
  • In the Alternate History novel How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove, Lincoln is a main character (having been a one-term president after losing the Civil War). Inspired by the writings of Marx, Lincoln becomes a travelling speaker lecturing about the rights of man and the benefits of socialism. Lincoln also leads a faction of the splintering Republican Party into defecting to the Socialist Party, causing the Socialists to eventually eclipse the Republicans as one of the nation's two major political parties.
    • Lincoln plays a smaller part in Turtledove's The Guns of the South, where he surrenders after the Confederates, equipped with AK-47s by time travelers, win the war. The next (and last) time we see him is April 15, 1865, where he delivers a speech trying to convince Kentucky to stay with the United States; this date is, as pointed out later in the book, the day he was assassinated in the regular timeline.
  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
  • Lincoln's Dreams, a novel by Connie Willis, has Lincoln's dreams of his own assassination as a major plot point.
  • Oscar Lewis' novella The Lost Years portrays a never-named president known affectionately by his staff as "The Shogun", who is badly wounded at Ford's Theater but recovers. He completes his second term, returns to Illinois and later visits California (which in real life he planned on doing once the Civil War and the transcontinental railroad were finished). An encounter with a little girl who is being ostracized because her father fought for the South turns heartwarming and his gently understated action on her behalf is finally the thing he is most remembered for. (Lincoln was actually known by his staff as "Taikun", the polite term of address for a real shogun.)
  • Walt Whitman wrote his famous poem "O Captain! My Captain!" about Lincoln's death.
  • Likewise, Henrik Ibsen made a poem called The Murder of Abraham Lincoln, commenting on exactly that. Possibly the angriest poem Ibsen ever wrote.
  • In the President's Vampire series, the bullet that killed Lincoln is used by Marie Laveau in the voodoo ritual that binds Nathaniel Cade to the service of the office of the President.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In one episode of Supernews, an animated sketch involved President Obama, after running out of ideas on how to fix the economy, having his entire cabinet dig up Abe's body, insert all the stem cells they could find, and see what happened. He beat up the head of AIG.
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Savage Curtain", Abraham Lincoln is summoned to take part in a duel to the death between good and bad factions. When he is beamed aboard the Enterprise, he's given a welcome befitting a head of state. Played by Lee Bergere, he speaks in a pleasant low tenor or high baritone voice, avoiding the booming stereotype. Sadly, he's among the first to die.
  • From the opening of Police Squad!: "...And Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln!", which leads to a brief shot of Lincoln firing back at John Wilkes Booth.
  • Lincoln appears briefly in two episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) set during the The American Civil War, "Back There" and "The Passersby".
  • A whole episode of Touched by an Angel features his assassination, with Monica and Tess working as his seamstresses and Andrew meeting up with and trying to redeem John Wilkes Booth.
  • Hal Holbrook won an Emmy for his performance as Lincoln in the miniseries Sandburg's Lincoln, and later reprised the part for the miniseries North and South and North and South: Book II.
  • Gregory Peck played Lincoln in the miniseries The Blue and the Gray.
  • Sam Waterston earned considerable acclaim for his performance as Lincoln in the 1988 miniseries Gore Vidal's Lincoln, based on the abovementioned novel.
  • Waterston was also the voice of Lincoln in Ken Burns' The Civil War.
  • One of Johnny Carson's monologues on The Tonight Show essentially involved puns based on "Lincoln".
    "Every Lincoln's Birthday reminds me of my old girlfriend back in Nebraska...Gina Statutory. She went to Lincoln High, and was voted Miss Lincoln...because every guy in school took a shot at her in the balcony."
  • A common skit in Late Night with Conan O'Brien involves Conan checking out wacky (and obviously fake) channels from all around the world. One of the most memorable of these channels is the Abraham Lincoln Money Shot Channel, which is an entire channel devoted to, you guessed it, shots of Honest Abe, a-hem, finishing his business. It should be noted that Conan is a professed Lincoln fanboy and has featured Abe in a number of sketches, including one in which he rides a zipline over the studio audience and knocks out John Wilkes Booth before he can shoot Lincoln.
  • Manhunt follows manhunt for John Wilkes Booth following his assassination of Lincoln in the first episode.
  • In an episode of The Office (US) Gabe is mistaken for an Abe Lincoln impersonator, at first he tries to correct them but eventually he goes along with it and does a pretty decent impression.
  • The Red Dwarf episode "Meltdown" features waxwork creations representing various famous people from history; one of these is Lincoln.
  • Babylon 5:
    • When Centauri Vir Cotto sets up an "underground railway" of sorts to smuggle Narns off their occupied homeworld, he creates a fake Centauri noble named "Abrahamo Lincolni" to expedite matters. The name fools the other Centauri (most of whom don't know anything about Earth history), but the humans who run across it burst out laughing. This doesn't stop them, however, from using the fake identity themselves to smuggle Narns and to expedite other matters involving the Centauri, although they never expose Vir's ruse.
    • Sheridan's "good luck speech", which he gave to his men each time he assumed a new command, contained a quote from a noted speech given by President Lincoln to Congress in 1862.
    • In season 5, an assassin who is embittered by the overthrow of the Clark government at the end of Earth's Civil War, warns Sheridan that like Lincoln, he will pay the price for the death and destruction "his war" cost. Unlike Booth however note , said assassin was complicit with the Clark administration and had committed war crimes thus suffering from Moral Myopia.
    • After a very turbulent time in EarthGov when the previous administration was corrupt, newly inaugurated President Susanna Luchenko asks that they listen to "the better angels of our nature" in reference to Lincoln's first inaugural address when sorting through the corruption and previous administration's crimes.
  • In a skit on the Sketch Comedy The Whitest Kids U' Know, Lincoln is presented as having been very loud and obnoxious at Ford's Theatre. When John Wilkes Boothe asks him to be quiet, Abe begins mercilessly taunting him. Boothe finally snaps and beats his ass with a hammer.
  • In Englishman it transpires that the Lincoln who was assassinated was a decoy, to cover up for the fact that he had been abducted by aliens. He makes his return and resumes his second term as President.
  • In one episode of Father Ted, Dougal, in a delusional state due to extreme hunger, sees Ted in a Lincoln costume.
  • A letter from Lincoln to Thomas's grandfather goes missing in the Magnum, P.I. episode "Going Home".
  • In the final episode of The Colbert Report, after killing Death, thereby becoming immortal, Stephen Colbert rides away with fellow immortals Abraham Lincoln, who reveals he's a unicorn with his horn hidden under his stovepipe hat, Santa Claus, and Alex Trebek.
  • The Outer Limits (1995): In the ending of "Gettysburg", the Confederate Colonel Angus Devine accidentally gets transported to the year 2013 in the middle of a parade featuring the President. Angus sees a man dressed up like Lincoln and shoots him. As he is being taken down by the Secret Service, his gun discharges and hits the President.
  • In The Good Place, Michael mentions to Eleanor that Lincoln was the only U.S. President who got into the Good Place, as freeing the slaves earned him a lot of points.

    Music 
  • Naturally, he is the "Abraham" from Dick Holler's 1968 song "Abraham, Martin, and John" about the three slain leaders. In the final chorus, the three are seen together "walking up over the hill" welcoming Bobby Kennedy.
  • The video for the Electric Six song "Gay Bar."
  • In Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, he popped out of his grave, took an AK-47 out from under his hat, and blew Batman away with a rat-a-tat-tat, but he ran out of bullets and ran away 'cause Optimus Prime arrived to save the day.
    • He soon came back with a machete, but got tripped by Indiana Jones with his whip. Later, he tried to pole-vault onto Optimus Prime, but collided with Jackie Chan in the air. Then they both got hit by a Care Bear Stare.
  • Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" is a short orchestral work that features a narrator reciting Lincoln quotations (with the final quote naturally being the conclusion of the Gettysburg Address) over solemn accompanying music.
    "Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of these United States, is everlasting in the memory of his countrymen."

    Newspaper Comics 
  • One series of Pearls Before Swine strips has Rat and Pig bringing Abe Lincoln into the present day. He is not happy to learn his fate.

    Pinball 

    Podcasts 
  • 1865 begins shortly after Lincoln’s assassination. Lincoln also appears via flashbacks.

    Tabletop Games 

    Theatre 
  • Since the musical Assassins deals with presidential assassinations, the Lincoln assassination is brought up, and Booth happens to be the main character of the play. Productions tend to have Lincoln's assassination scene brought up differently, like all the others- sometimes they have an actor portray him, sometimes they have the Proprietor take the role, sometimes Booth fires at a prop, and sometimes Booth just fires at the fourth wall.
  • Raymond Massey starred in the 1938 play Abe Lincoln in Illinois, which was made into a popular film in 1940, with Massey reprising the role. If you ever see Massey in anything and think "that guy sounds like Abraham Lincoln", that's because the popular conception of Lincoln's molasses-like voice stems from Massey's performance.
    • Massey later reprised his role in a TV version of The Day Lincoln Was Shot and How the West Was Won.
  • In The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), by the Rule of Funny, the biblical Abraham comes on in a Lincoln costume and says, "Thank you, Lord, for delivering me into the Land of Canaan four score and seventeen seconds ago."
  • The Last Days of Lincoln by Mark Van Doren has Lincoln debating the future of the country, as the Civil War draws to a close, with such figures as Charles Sumner and Benjamin Franklin Wade.

    Video Games 
  • A giant statue of Abraham Lincoln, actually from the Memorial to said man, is the Antagonist in one of the Sam & Max: Freelance Police episodes. He appears later as merely a giant head and falls in love with one of Sam and Max's neighbours, Sybil Pandemik. They later marry and have a child. A running gag in the series is that he claims not to be one good for speeches; he had absolutely nothing prepared when he made the Gettysburg Address, and was just winging it at the time. At one point in the second season the real Lincoln appears as a zombie.
  • Civilization:
    • Lincoln is the leader of America in the first three games. He is added as a leader in an Expansion Pack for Civilization 4.
    • In the Beyond The Sword expansion pack to 4, the intro cinematic shows him briefly giving the Gettysburg Address. This then Match Cuts to the Lincoln Memorial, where Cold War-era spies are going about their business.
  • One of the subplots of Fallout 3 is the struggle between slavers and freedmen to control Lincoln's legacy. Several of his artifacts, including his hat and rifle, can be found and equipped in the game.
  • In Team Fortress 2, he was the original Pyro. And he also invented stairs, so people don't need to rocket jump to the upper floor anymore.
  • He is a playable character in The LEGO Movie Videogame where he can throw a copy of the Gettysburg Address, destroying enemies and objects.
    • He also has a cameo in a picture in LEGO Batman 3 Beyond Gotham.
  • He was added to The Simpsons: Tapped Out to celebrate the fourth of July.
  • According to the backstory of Assassin's Creed, Booth was killed off by the Assassin Order, implying that Lincoln may have affiliations with the Assassins himself.
  • Dealt in Lead takes place in a very strange world, where the Lich-Emperor Abraham Lincoln has risen from the dead to continue the war against the south.
  • The ending of Conduit 2 has Abe Lincoln and George Washington in Powered Armor showing up as reinforcements for the protagonist.
  • In Bioshock Infinite, Abraham Lincoln is demonized by the citizens of Columbia for the Emancipation Proclamation while Booth is revered as a hero for assassinating him by the Order of the Raven, a Klan-like society. In turn the opposing faction, the Vox Populi, revere Lincoln, albeit for the wrong reasons, such as seeing him as a role model for glorifying violence and conflict.
  • In Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, Lincoln had faked his death and gone underground to found S.T.E.A.M. (Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace), a steampunk squadron designed to repel a lovecraftian alien invasion. He also pilots a Humongous Mecha called A.B.E.
  • When Mii Fighters were revealed to be playable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, one of the Miis used in the trailer was Abraham Lincoln.

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 
  • In Decades of Darkness, Lincoln's family moved from Kentucky to New England soon after his birth, and he eventually becomes President of the Republic of New England, though the fact he is limited to a single four-year term means he doesn't achieve all he wanted in office. In an Allohistorical Allusion, while he is in power, the rump United States is governed by President Jefferson Davis, and the two men are rivals. However, when Davis is assassinated, Lincoln attends his funeral.
  • He goes up against Chuck Norris in the Epic Rap Battles of History.
    • He makes a return during the Mitt Romney vs Barack Obama battle, and schools them both. "OF THE PEOPLE! BY THE PEOPLE! FOR THE PEOPLE! EAGLE!"
    • Four years later, he returns during the Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton battle to school both of them, appearing more serious compared to his previous appearances.
  • Lincoln's profile makes a brief appearance in the Homestar Runner dance mix Come On Fhqwhgads.
  • The web cartoon Hard Drinkin' Lincoln has a drunken Lincoln causing ridiculous amounts of trouble in office.
  • In the Minilife TV episode "How to Cook a VAMPIRE!", Abraham Lincoln blows off the head of Ian's vampire after he says he doesn't want it.
  • In Until Every Drop of Blood Is Paid, Lincoln is elected to the Senate in 1854 after a pro-slavery advocate murders Lyman Trumbull. While he still becomes President in 1861, his experience with the political scene causes him to become more radicalized in his beliefs, and turns the American Civil War into a much bloodier and more radical conflict.

    Western Animation 
  • Bebe's Kids: Lincoln is one of three historical figures during a trial deciding whether Bebe's Kids are awful enough to be executed via electric chair. Lincoln is their defense attorney, Richard Nixon is their prosecutor, and a robot Terminator is their judge.
  • A clone of Abraham Lincoln is the main protagonist of Clone High. Due to the circumstances of the series, he's best friends with Gandhi and Joan of Arc and dates Cleopatra.
  • He has a lightsaber duel with George W. Bush in Robot Chicken. He's also voiced by Hulk Hogan.
  • Futurama, in a robot mental hospital:
    (Fry and another robot come upon a robotic Abraham Lincoln.)
    Fry: Lemme guess. He thinks he's Lincoln.
    Robot: Well he's supposed to. The problem is he's got multiple personalities, all of them Lincoln.
    Robo-Lincoln: I was born in 200 log cabins.
    • Not to mention Evil Holographic Lincoln, as seen when the Holoshed on the Nimbus goes on the fritz again.
    • Also, his head in a jar (and George Washington's) appear in a President's Day commercial for Malfunctioning Eddie's Used Cars.
  • One episode of the Super Friends had Kid Side Kick's Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog watching a computerized maths lesson, when the computer started malfunctioning it merged with a history lesson about Lincoln giving the equation "16 - 2 = 4 scores and 7 years ago...."
  • One episode of Dexter's Laboratory has Dexter animate Lincoln's head from the Mount Rushmore memorial into a Humongous Golem, to do battle with the giant George Washington his rival Mandark created. To make a long story short...
    Statue Lincoln: (speaking for the first time) "It appears we are evenly matched."
  • Appears in the Time Squad episode where he got fed up for being so honest and starts joining prankster gangs while calling himself 'Dishonest Abe'. He got better.
    • Also mentioned in the Buffalo Bill episode as having apparently won the election by using the third eye he apparently hid under his hat to hypnotize his opponent.
  • In an episode of Teen Titans Go! Starfire tells her own version of the story of Abe Lincoln which ends with him and John Wilkes Booth becoming best friends and still being alive today.
  • South Park. Cult leader David Blaine brought the Lincoln statue to life. Jesus and friends defeated it by building and animating a John Wilkes Boothe statue.
    • In "The List" Kyle is supposedly voted the ugliest boy in class by the girls, and Craig (voted the handsomest) consoles him that Abraham Lincoln was ugly too. Later Abe's ghost appears to Kyle and tries to convince him that ugliness will make him a more competent adult, but fails.
  • Family Guy. There was this Biblical joke about "Abraham (Lincoln) killing Isaac (the bartender from The Love Boat)."
    • Another episode showed that Booth killed him for talking on his cellphone during the play.
      • And in another it was because he was in the seat behind him and he couldn't see the through his hat.
    • A parody of Mentos ads involved Booth shooting through his hat. Cut to the Griffins watching it, and most of them question whether the ad even had a message. Peter then stands up, and walks off while saying (as if hypnotized), "Must... kill... Lincoln...."
    • In the episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater", Peter finds a bunch of photos that show Lincoln, (among with other 19th century politicians) visiting a brothel. Apparently he had jungle fever.
    • In "The Man with Two Brians", he notices neighbor Dale's lawn is overgrown. Dale is pissed off at Lincoln because he freed the slave that used to mow the lawn for him.
    • Stewie refers to the Amish as "Abraham Lincoln people" in "Amish Guy".
    • Brian worries that he'll stick out while posing as Meg in "Our Idiot Brian", like the one guy in Lincoln's cabinet without a beard.
    • His body appears in a cutaway parodying The Nightmare Before Christmas where Jack decides to take over the fourth of July instead of Christmas.
    • He appeared in "Yug Ylimaf" when Brian took a date to Ford's Theatre during the assassination. afterwards Statler and Waldorf appeared but when Statler cracks one of his remarks, he is also shot in the head.
  • Adventure Time:
  • He is indirectly the center of two American Dad! episodes.
    • "Black Mystery Month" revealed he invented peanut butter and there is an Illuminatiesque organisation dedicated to covering it up, to keep the myth that George Washington Carver invented it alive.
    • In "Lincoln Lover", Stan creates the eponymous play based on the relationship between Lincoln and his bodyguard Captain David Derikson. Missing the obvious homoerotic undertones of his own work (and that the sold out audiences consist entirely of gay men), Stan is shocked to discover the Log Cabin Republicansnote  believe Lincoln was gay and that they want Stan's help in getting accepted into the Republican National Convention.
  • In the first season finale of Rick and Morty, it's revealed that Rick combined the DNA of Lincoln and Adolf Hitler in an attempt to create a morally neutral super leader. The result is named Abradolf Lincler and he is an awkward being of ambiguous moral standings.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The Halloween Episode "How To Succeed In Dead-vertising" implied he was gay.
    • "Bart to the Future" is based around a vision Bart has where, thirty years down the road, Lisa is president. Living with her in the White House, Homer becomes obsessed with finding the treasure Lincoln supposedly buried on the grounds.
    • In "Mountain of Madness", Homer and Mr. Burns are trapped in a snowed-in cabin, succumbing to Cabin Fever. Before fighting, Homer asks "You and What Army??", before imagining an army of snowmen behind Burns, prompting him to say "Stay back, I have powers! Uh, political powers!", imagining various political leaders including Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi behind him.
    Lincoln: (swinging a chain) IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S SHOWTIME!
    Homer: You hit him high, I'll hit him low.
    • A rapping animatronic Abe Lincoln appeared at "Duff Gardens."
    • In "The Color Yellow" he appeared to help an escaped black slave who was a direct ancestor of the Simpsons escape to Canada, he eventually named his son after him who's name was passed on to Abe "Grampa" Simpson.
    • Homer once claimed he thought there was a midget in his hat.
  • Lincoln appeared in a picture in every single ending credits for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, inexplicably lighting a wooden rocket that the protagonists are riding in. This is expanded in the fictitious backstory that Shake provided for the group in The Movie, where this incarnation of Lincoln is known as "Time Lincoln," who aided the heroes after they escaped from Egypt.
  • The Venture Bros. meet Lincoln's ghost, who then helps them thwart a Manchurian Candidate-style assassination plot against the current president.
  • Peter Renaday has voiced Lincoln in several different cartoons as well as Disney Theme Parks:
  • In A Brief History of the United States of America by Flickerlab's Harold Moss, when the Union wins the Civil War, the freed slaves give Lincoln a blanket toss in celebration.
  • Stalemated George Washington on Celebrity Deathmatch.
  • Earthworm Jim once got a talking sword that had the power of Time Travel. The sword ordered Jim to test it by going back into Lincoln's time and shave his beard. The sword believed the only change it'd cause would be the beard disappearing from the coins bearing Lincoln's face. Instead, it destroyed Lincoln's credibility and created a timeline where the Confederacy won. The sword angrily told Jim to get back and restore Lincoln's beard.
  • In one episode of Pinky and the Brain, the Brain, knowing that Americans crave an honest politician, devises a scheme that involves using a mechanism to speak through the Lincoln Memorial and convince everyone that Lincoln's spirit has returned and is living inside it. His plan works until the oldest living American, who heard Lincoln make a speech when he was five years old, hears the Brain talk, and realizes that it isn't Lincoln's voice. (The man claims that "the real Lincoln had a raspy voice... well, more like Tony Danza".) It should be noted Lincoln's voice was described as being a little shrill and high, so it is slightly accurate.
  • Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: In "I Am Abraham Lincoln", the gang visits Abe when he was a kid and learn about the value of honesty. The plot has a book that Abe borrowed get ruined by the rain. He tells the truth about it to Mr. Crawford, who makes him strip corn for three days. This actually happened in real life.
  • In The Ghost and Molly McGee, Scratch encounters Lincoln's ghost at one point to help Molly when she almost flounders a school presentation on him. He's voiced by Kelsey Grammer.

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