New pennies honor Abraham Lincoln

Nation & World News

The U.S. Mint has released a new design of the penny.

The Lincoln penny made its debut 100 years ago. But the look of the ubiquitous coin (above) will be changing to honor the nation's 16th president. The newly redesigned one-cent coin, which will be presented Friday Feb. 12, 2009, at the National Park Service's Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, will reflect four different designs on the reverse (tails) side. Each one represents a different aspect, or theme, of President Lincoln's life.

This design, the first to be released, depicts a log cabin similar to the one Lincoln was born and raised in. He was born on Feb. 12, 1809, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, two uneducated farmers, in a one-room log cabin on the 348-acre Sinking Spring Farm, in southeast Hardin County, Kentucky (now part of LaRue County), making him the first president born outside the original Thirteen Colonies.

This design depicts Lincoln's formative years as a young man in Indiana. Lincoln, an avid reader, was was largely self-educated. He was also a talented wrestler and skilled with an axe. He did not like hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals, even for food. At 6 foot 4 inches, he was unusually tall, as well as strong, and remains the tallest man ever to serve as president, half an inch taller than Lyndon B. Johnson and an inch taller than Thomas Jefferson and Bill Clinton.

This design depicts Lincoln's professional life in Illinois, where he was elected to the state legislature before teaching himself to become a lawyer. In 1834, he won election to the state legislature and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1837, he made his first protest against slavery, stating that the institution was "founded on both injustice and bad policy."

This design pays tribute to Lincoln's time as president -- March 4, 1861 to April 15, 1865. Elected president twice, he successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and helping to end slavery. The scene depicts the U.S. Capitol building which was heavily renovated in the 1850s with, ironically, slave labor.

The "heads" side of the penny will retain the look it has had since 1909, when Lincoln's likeness was first used. The coin has gone through several designs over its 200 year existence. Until 1857 it was about the size of the current U.S. half dollar coin. Since 1959 (the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth), the reverse has featured the Lincoln Memorial.

This image shows the four designs. The first penny depicting Lincoln's childhood home will be released Feb. 12. Other designs will be rolled out later this year.

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The Lincoln penny made its debut 100 years ago. But the look of the ubiquitous coin (above) will be changing to honor the nation's 16th president. The newly redesigned one-cent coin, which will be presented Friday Feb. 12, 2009, at the National Park Service's Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, will reflect four different designs on the reverse (tails) side. Each one represents a different aspect, or theme, of President Lincoln's life.

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