Presidents Day Reflection: What Would Washington and Lincoln Say Today?

Dear Friends,

Presidents Day gives us an opportunity to reflect not only on the men who led our nation, but on the principles that shaped it.

George Washington is often remembered for chopping down a cherry tree or for his wooden teeth — stories that, while colorful, hardly capture the depth of the man. He was far more than folklore. He was a leader who understood that liberty could not survive without moral restraint and that rights are not granted by rulers, but endowed by our Creator.

In his Farewell Address, Washington wrote that religion and morality are “indispensable supports” of political prosperity. He believed that a free republic depends upon virtue. A nation untethered from moral truth, he warned, would eventually lose its freedom.

Abraham Lincoln, too, is often reduced to simple images — a Kentucky log cabin, a tall black hat, a rail splitter turned president. But Lincoln was far more than a symbol of humble beginnings. He was a statesman who confronted one of the greatest moral crises in our history and refused to yield to the idea that some human beings could be excluded from the promise of equality.

Lincoln held fast to the truth proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence — that all are created equal. At a time when an entire class of people was denied protection under the law, he understood that legal rulings could not redefine moral reality. A wrong does not become right simply because it is written into law.

This Presidents Day, the pro-life movement continues that same enduring conversation about who is included in America’s founding promise.

Are preborn children — living, growing members of the human family — included in “all are created equal”? Will the U.S. Constitution one day protect the preborn as fully human?

Does liberty extend to every child, including those still in the womb?
Can a nation truly protect freedom while allowing the smallest and most vulnerable to be excluded from legal protection?

Washington reminded us that morality sustains liberty.
Lincoln reminded us that justice requires courage.

May we carry forward that legacy by building a nation where every mother is supported, every child is welcomed, and the promise of equality applies to all, even children in the womb.

In Christ,
Laura Strietmann, Executive Director of Cincinnati Right to Life