A Greater Task

Artist: John W. McClarey, 2004

When Abraham Lincoln gave his farewell address to Springfield on February 11, 1861, he speculated that he had “a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington.” In this monument, Illinois sculptor John W. McClarey draws upon that imagery to depict Lincoln struggling against the wind -- representing his difficult future as a wartime president. About a month later, Lincoln gave his first inaugural address, which included the quotation on the monument’s pedestal: “Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope, in the world?”