Presidents Day 2026: How those like Abraham Lincoln shaped the American story

CHICAGO (WLS) — Presidents Day can be a time to reflect on leaders who shaped the American story, like Abraham Lincoln. His ties to Illinois and Chicago help connect that history to the region. As the country prepares for America’s 250th anniversary, historians say Lincoln’s presidency offers one of the clearest examples of leadership during national crisis. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch “Abraham Lincoln was our 16th president, but I would argue one of my most consequential presidents in American history,” said Erin Carlson Mast, president and CEO of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation. Lincoln entered the oval office in 1861, with the Union and Confederacy at odds and on the brink of the Civil War. “The vice president of the Confederacy, actually, was very clear that they thought Abraham Lincoln was going to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed, and that they were going to build a new nation that respected essentially the slave power,” Carlson Mast said. The Confederacy lost that battle, in part due to a war-time measure and executive order called the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring more than three million enslaved Africans Americans free. “The nation had never been through a Civil War before. In some cases, Lincoln had to color outside the lines, if you will, test the limits of his executive power, because there was no blueprint,” Carlson Mast said. His Gettysburg Address remains one of the most quoted speeches in American history, capturing the principles of unity, equality and self-government. “Well, Lincoln’s approach is notable because certainly, you know, political rhetoric, including in more recent years, has become much more divisive. And that’s certainly the antithesis of what Lincoln was attempting to do with his speeches,” Carlson Mast said. Lincoln also pushed forward major infrastructure policy, supporting the transcontinental railroad with the Pacific Railway Act, eventually giving the U. S. the Union Pacific Railroad and land-grant colleges like the University of Illinois. That helped establish Chicago as a national rail and commercial center. “Lincoln saw rail as the future. He was very interested in investing in things that helped people,” Carlson Mast said. He frequently spoke about the dignity of labor and economic opportunity: ideas that later echoed through labor movements that grew strong in Chicago. “Being trapped as a wage laborer because of incredibly unfair working conditions that those were antithetical to, really the ideals of this country,” Carlson Mast said. Lincoln was also a supporter of immigration. “It’s during his presidency that Congress passes an act to encourage immigration, which Lincoln signs on July 4, 1864. Not only did he want the United States to be this beacon of hope for freedom-seeking people everywhere, but he understood that a way for this nation to grow was to attract immigrants,” Carlson Mast said. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, but scholars say his legacy remains central to understanding presidential leadership in times of division and growth.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/presidents-day-2026-holiday-can-time-reflect-shaped-us-history-like-abraham-lincoln/18609394/