The Declaration and Lincoln's Virginia Roots

By Bill Shepherd

Dec. 5, 2025

Abraham Lincoln’s faith in the promise of the Declaration of Independence - that all people are created equal and that they should get opportunities to succeed in life - was shaped in good part by his often overlooked ancestral roots in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, These played a significant role in shaping his identity and values.

The Lincoln Family Cemetery in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

My recent trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia, included visits to where Lincoln’s grandfather (also named Abraham) lived and where Thomas, Lincoln’s father, was born. When I visited the Lincoln Family Cemetery, I saw the gravestones of numerous Lincoln family members. This cemetery was important enough to the Lincoln story that Robert Todd Lincoln and Carl Sandburg visited.

Fortunately, I had with me the definitive narrative on Lincoln’s family heritage, “Lincoln Slept Here: Lincoln Family Sites in America,” by Edward Steers Jr., which provides information on all the relatives. The book describes the military service of President Lincoln’s grandfather, Captain Abraham Lincoln, in the Virginia militia. He saw combat in Lord Dunmore’s War, a 1774 effort to remove the Native American tribes from the Ohio River Valley. During the American Revolution, Captain Lincoln served in the militia during the “McIntosh Expedition,” a multi-month march through Pennsylvania in search of Native American allies of the British.   

Eight-year-old Thomas Lincoln witnessed his father being killed on the “dark and bloody ground of Kentucky” in a confrontation with a Native American while planting corn in 1786. Many years later, then-President Lincoln wrote in a letter to his Virginia cousin David Lincoln that the death of his grandfather was “the legend more strongly than all others imprinted upon my mind and memory.”

Did the future president learn of his grandfather’s service in the Virginia militia during the American Revolution? It is likely that his father, Thomas, told him of the Battle at Point Pleasant in Lord Dunmore’s War and his ancestor’s military service in the revolution. This connection explains Lincoln’s deep reverence for and attachment to the patriots of the American Revolution, especially his own grandfather.  In Lincoln’s speeches and writings, he cited the promises made in the Declaration as the reason why slavery had to be eliminated in the United States.

Lincoln’s first major speaking engagement was the address before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, on January 27, 1838, titled “The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions.” His speech, rich with references to the revolution, aimed to inspire respect for the founding principles that continue to shape the nation.

Lincoln said: “As the patriots of ‘76 did to support the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws, let every American pledge his life, his property and sacred honor.”

Near the end of the Lyceum speech, Lincoln described the American patriots as a “forest of great oaks” and “pillars of the temple of liberty” and a “fortress of strength,” all diminished by the “silent artillery of time.”

At the end of this speech, the young Lincoln pleaded for a savior of the nation - “our WASHINGTON.” 

Abraham Lincoln would write and give many more speeches over the next 28 years of his public life. The promise of the Declaration guided him, shaping his views and actions. This foundational belief led him and the nation toward the abolition of slavery, reinforcing his connection to the ideals of the Declaration.