For the past several years, getting change at the store has been interesting. First, there were all those state quarters, then quarters featuring American territories. I got into the habit of examining every quarter I received to determine whether I needed it for one of four collections we kept at home – one for each child and another for good measure.
Starting last year, pennies became interesting as well. To mark the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the Treasury issued four new reverse designs – the log cabin where Lincoln was born, Lincoln the log splitter reading a book, Lincoln the Illinois legislator, and the Washington D.C. Capitol dome under construction.
For 2010 and beyond, the Treasury has issued another design – a shield with 13 stripes and the phrase e pluribus unum (out of the many, one). This shield was a symbol of the union cause during the Civil War.
My favorite of all these is the unfinished Capitol dome, and I’m sorry we won’t be seeing more of it. Lincoln’s greatest gift was his ability to shape the American story with powerful words and symbols. He didn’t just win the Civil War, preserve the union, and end slavery. He transformed how America sees itself, ensuring that as a people, we would always be striving toward the ideal of equality.
The most familiar phrases of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address are probably “four score and seven years ago” and “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” For me, however, the most significant phrases from that historic speech are “unfinished work” and “the great task remaining before us.” With one speech, Lincoln shifted America’s self-image from an already-constituted nation to a work in progress. It is because of Lincoln that the Declaration of Independence with its ideal of human equality is revered as the founding document that defined our nation’s destiny. That ideal is always pulling us beyond where we are, ensuring that we are never a finished product.
The unfinished Capitol dome on the reverse of some pennies is a wonderful symbol of Lincoln’s view of America, as well as of his enduring hope for our nation. Against opposition in Congress, Lincoln insisted that the expensive dome construction continue in the midst of the Civil War. He knew that completing the dome during wartime would symbolize the preservation of the Union. Indeed, no structure in Washington D.C. today elicits the nation’s sense of common purpose and unity more than the Capitol dome.
As difficult as our economic and political climate is right now, I believe that the power of our history, shaped by giants like Abraham Lincoln, will always overcome our baser instincts when times are tough. The founding ideal of equality that calls us forward is always stronger than the fears that would have us retreat or turn backward. The strength of that idea will be tested as never before over the next several decades, but I believe it will prevail. We’re still unfinished, but like the dome on the back of the penny, we’re a work in progress– not being dismantled.
Copyright 2010 by J. Mark Lawson
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