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On Our 250th: A Wish For America

Lincoln Home National Historic Site is partnering with the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, Made By Us, The New York Historical, and history museums across the country to invite YOU to share your wish for the United States’ 250th birthday, coming next year. Add your wish at OnOur250th.org and check out pop-up “Wish Walls” across the nation this summer, in locations near you.

Share your wish at Lincoln Home National Historic Site!

Stop by between June 19 and July 4, 2025. Check out the in-person Wish Wall and scavenger hunt in the Visitor Center. Or follow the link below to share your wish online!

Abraham Lincoln's Wish for America

On George Washington’s birthday in 1861, Abraham Lincoln made a wish.

Early in the morning on February 22, President-elect Lincoln arrived at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Standing in the birthplace of the nation, Lincoln sought to reassure the divided nation that bloodshed could be avoided. He drew his hope for America’s future from its revolutionary past. To him, the Declaration of Independence was not just about the colonies separating from Britain. He believed it promised an America in which “the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men.”

This wish defined his life and legacy. And left an enduring wish to fulfill.

As we approach America’s 250th birthday, we invite you to join us as we look back at – and forward to – the wishes that made US.
Black and white illustration showing a crowd of people facing a platform where a man raises a flag.
On his inaugural journey to Washington, D.C., President-elect Lincoln stopped in Philadelphia. He raised a flag over Independence Hall and gave a speech in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed - all on the eve of the American Civil War.

Library of Congress, Harper's Weekly, March 9, 1861

A Changing Wish

Lincoln wished for an America that lifted the “weight” from the shoulders of all. But the things we wish for can change as we get older, meet new people, and experience more of the world.

What did "lifting the weight" mean to Lincoln at different moments in his life?

Explore how Lincoln’s hopes for the future changed throughout his life.

Lincoln was not alone!

What were the hopes of people living around Lincoln?

A Wish Fulfilled?

Assassinated in 1865, Lincoln did not live to see his wish fully achieved. But his wish – for freedom and equality grounded in the founding ideals – has echoed through time.

America’s first 250 years were shaped by the hopes of many people, including Abraham Lincoln. His life embodied the changing hopes for America as each ebb and flow of new generations, peoples, and ideas added to the wishes of the founders. Today, their wishes remain for us to fulfill, perfect, or make our own.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Antietam National Battlefield, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Gettysburg National Military Park, Independence National Historical Park, Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Lincoln Memorial, New Philadelphia National Historic Site, Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument more »

Last updated: June 14, 2025