Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. But in 1861, as the Civil War was threatening to split the country in two, Lincoln may have actually gained dual citizenship. Not only was he an American citizen, the Republic of San Marino granted him citizenship there as well.
For those who have never heard of San Marino, or thought it was merely a quaint Italian city, it actually is an independent country. An enclave nestled into Italy’s northeast, the tiny 24 square mile country claims to be the “oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world” (according to Wikipedia).
Tiny as it is, San Marino apparently had a good marketing department when they decided to send a letter to the new President of the United States in 1861. Two recently discovered documents have now been provided to The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project “dedicated to identifying, imaging, transcribing, annotating, and publishing all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his entire lifetime (1809-1865).” According to the project:
The first of the two letters was sent to Lincoln by San Marino’s Regent Captains, the nation’s joint heads of state. In English and Italian, they said that as a “mark of high consideration and sincere fraternity” for the United States, citizenship in the Republic of San Marino had been conferred on Lincoln. They also acknowledged America’s “political griefs” and prayed that God would “grant you a peaceful solution.”
Well, how about that. The Most Serene Republic of San Marino conferred citizenship upon Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln even replied, again, as noted by the Papers project:
In his response dated May 7, 1861, Lincoln thanked the Council of San Marino “for the honor of citizenship” and assured them that “although your dominion is small, your State is nevertheless one of the most honored in all history.” He explained that the Civil War “involves the question whether a Representative republic, extended and aggrandized so much as to be safe against foreign enemies, can save itself from the dangers of domestic faction.”
“I have faith in a good result,” Lincoln assured them.
All of this goes to show that, despite thousands of books in print, there are still things to learn about Abraham Lincoln. I’ve discovered this myself as I’ve reviewed hundreds of letters and documents from the Library of Congress in preparation for a forthcoming book. I’ve even found quite a few interesting “connections” between Lincoln and my other favorite topic – Nikola Tesla. I’ll have more on those connections in a future post.
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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So 2013 was an incredible year, and 2014 is already looking like it will be even more incredible. Later this month I’ll take a look back on all that has happened this past year. Meanwhile, my event schedule for 2014 is starting to take shape. Here are just a few of the events already on the calendar for the first six to eight months:
? – What is this…nothing on my calendar yet for June? I’ll need to do something about that soon.
November 30th is the birthday of Mark Twain, the nom de plume of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Known for his wit and books featuring unforgettable characters such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and the “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain was also a good friend of Nikola Tesla. So good that Tesla decided to have a little fun with him one day in his laboratory.
I’ve been incredibly thankful to everyone who has helped make Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity a success. And now there are even more thanks deserved. Yesterday my editor at 
Nikola Tesla is one of the coolest inventors that ever lived. And now there is an even cooler way to learn more about him – augmented reality.
Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech that was so awe-inspiring that all the reporters there forgot to write it down. Sounds implausible, right? Ah, but it’s actually true. Elwell Crissey takes us back to May 29, 1856 with “Lincoln’s Lost Speech: The Pivot of His Career.” And despite the little problem of not having a record of the actual speech, Crissey does a great job enlivening the whole event surrounding its presentation.
Spencer Weart takes us on a journey into the past. In The Discovery of Global Warming, Weart provides a history of the science that has now come to be known as Anthropomorphic Global Warming (AGW), or more simply, man-made climate change. And in doing so he demonstrates just how robust and voluminous is the scientific case for human induced climate change.
One would think the book’s subtitle “The speech that made Abraham Lincoln President,” would set up an unattainable expectation of greatness. After all, how could a book hold a candle to a great speech? Or perhaps the speech wasn’t so great after all and the author merely wanted to sell more books. And yet, I was wonderfully surprised to see that this really was an exceptional book about an exceptional speech.
