It’s customary in February of each year for Americans to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president.  But this month we also commemorate the 160^th anniversary of Lincoln’s delivery of his 1860 address given at New York’s Cooper Union – a speech that introduced this Illinois trial lawyer (and failed candidate for the U. S. Senate) to the New York public and launched his campaign for the American presidency.   Abraham Lincoln was a complex figure, one whose life and legacy reflect many apparent contradictions.  Can his Cooper Union address help us resolve some of those inconsistencies – and can the legacy of Abraham Lincoln help guide us in the present historical moment?