John Adams , 2nd President of the United States , stated why he relied on the laws of Moses over Greek philosophy for establishing the United States Constitution : " As much as I love , esteem , and admire the Greeks , I believe the Hebrews have done more to enlighten and civilize the world . Moses did more than all their legislators and philosophers . Swedish historian Hugo Valentin credited Moses as the " first to proclaim the rights of man . " Historian Gladys L. Knight describes how leaders who emerged during and after the period in which slavery in the United States was legal often personified the Moses symbol . " The symbol of Moses was empowering in that it served to amplify a need for freedom . " Therefore , when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 after the passage of the amendment to the Constitution outlawing slavery , Black Americans said they had lost " their Moses " . Lincoln biographer Charles Carleton Coffin writes , " The millions whom Abraham Lincoln delivered from slavery will ever liken him to Moses , the deliverer of Israel . " Similarly , Harriet Tubman , who rescued approximately seventy enslaved family and friends , was also described as the " Moses " of her people
assassinated in 1865
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Moses