Abraham Lincoln Was An Honorary Citizen of an Italian City-State

And the legacy the two nations share

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

The early months of 1861 were uncertain for the United States. The country was split in two by a rash of secessions from southern states leaving new president Abraham Lincoln in a precarious position. By May of 1861, the news of the country’s plight had circled the globe, and a state of open conflict seemed inevitable between the Union and the Confederacy.

The situation in North America reached the sympathetic ears of an Italian city-state who drafted up a proposal and reached out to Abraham Lincoln.

Enter San Marino

San Marino bills itself as the world’s oldest continuously functioning republic. In 1861, there were few other republics alive in the world. Most major nations were governed by a monarch, an emperor, or a hybrid system dominated by conservative elites. The United States was one of the only country’s in the world trying to uphold and protect republican ideals. San Marino recognized this and realized that if the United States crumbled away in a bloody civil war, it could be the death knell for republics everywhere.

In order to show their solidarity, San Marino reached out and offered Abraham Lincoln honorary citizenship to the Republic of San Marino…