Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States (March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865). Lincoln led the United States through the American Civil War, preserved the Union and abolished slavery (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln ).

Abraham Lincoln on the unacceptability of silence: “To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.” [1].

[1]. Abraham Lincoln quoted in Washingtonsblog, “5 reasons that corporate media coverage is pro-war”: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/5-reasons-that-corporate-media-coverage-is-pro-war.html .

Abraham Lincoln (anti-slavery American Civil War president ) (1858): “In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.” (Abraham Lincoln in the first debate with Douglas”, 1858, Bartleby: http://www.bartleby.com/268/9/23.html ).