To construct a paved highway across America, it was necessary to enlist nationwide public support for the first coast-to-coast roadway. The highway was dedicated to the martyred President Abraham Lincoln. Naming it the Lincoln Highway appealed to American patriotism and forged a united crusade among distinct groups for the cause of improved roads. The official proclamation declared that the Lincoln Highway was and henceforth would be an existing memorial in tribute to Abraham Lincoln. The association's purpose was to immediately promote and procure the establishment of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all descriptions, without toll charges, and to be of concrete wherever practicable, to be known in memory of Abraham Lincoln as the Lincoln Highway.