The informal composition was an unusual departure from the usual monumental depiction of Lincoln standing or enthroned on a high plinth.

It was inspired by Borglum's research, reading that Lincoln often sat alone on a bench in the White House garden to gather his thoughts during the American Civil War, particularly when there was bad news.

The work was funded by a $25,000 bequest by Newark businessman Amos Hoagland Van Horn, who died in 1908.

Van Horn's estate also funded Borglum's Wars of America monument, erected in Newark in 1926.

[4][5] The sculpture was cast at the Gorham Manufacturing Company foundry in New York, and dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on Memorial Day, May 30 1911.