Ceremonies were held across the nation Thursday to mark the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. At a ceremony in Washington, President Barack Obama praised the nation’s sixteenth president as a visionary of great courage.

President Obama: “As we mark the bicentennial of our sixteenth president’s birth, I cannot claim to know as much about his life and works as many who are also speaking today, but I can say that I feel a special gratitude to this singular figure who, in so many ways, made my own story possible and, in so many ways, made America’s story possible.”