Late last year, residents of Salem, Ohio, unveiled a new statue of Abraham Lincoln as part of a memorial plaza dedicated to America’s 16th president.

It is a fitting reminder of the community’s history as a major stop in the Underground Railroad in Ohio.

Even before he became president, Lincoln had history with Ohio as a circuit-riding lawyer. The state was included in the route to his inauguration in 1861, and in his funeral procession en route to Springfield, Illinois, in 1865.

Lincoln reminds us that good presidents grow into the job. During his presidency, he went from believing he had no authority to end slavery to signing the Emancipation Proclamation, which ended it in the Southern states. His action, which ran counter to his cabinet’s advice, was in keeping with his lifelong personal observation that “If slavery isn’t wrong, nothing is.”

They exhibit personal courage, as was seen in the lives of Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George Washington, George H.W. Bush and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Of Ohio’s seven presidents, five of them — William McKinley, James Garfield, Ulysses Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison — answered their country’s call in time of war.

Others, including Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Theodore Roosevelt, Zachary Taylor and Gerald Ford also exhibited the kind of patriotism that can only be achieved through personal sacrifice.

Good presidents know they are more than the Commander-in-Chief. In moments of national tragedy, they also become the nation’s Consoler-in-Chief. Few did it better than Lincoln, who wrote heartfelt letters to the families of the fallen and was known to issue pardons to Union soldiers who, by all rights, should have been executed for desertion and cowardice.

Ronald Reagan’s “Face of God” speech following the NASA Challenger disaster in 1986 remains a hallmark of grace and empathy. Barack Obama also was good at condolence, as were Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, who wore his personal grief on his sleeve, and was never better than when he encountered people with disabilities or those who were suffering from loss.

Good presidents avoid public self-pity, and shoulder the blame when things go wrong, even if someone else is behind the muck-up. As only he could, the plain-spoken Truman described it as “The Buck Stops Here.”

After JFK’s plan to liberate Cuba went horribly wrong because he was poorly advised, he wryly noted that: “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”

Rather than allowing his well-known narcissism to convince him otherwise, Lyndon B. Johnson resigned after it was clear that he lacked the vision and a plan to end the carnage in Vietnam. When an attempt to rescue hostages in Iran resulted in American casualties, Carter bore the blame and in doing so, sealed his own future. Even Nixon deserves credit for leaving the office he had lusted after his entire adult life rather than engage in a protracted fight to stay. The tragedy of it all is he would have won reelection anyway.

It’s a reminder that good presidents don’t abuse their power. Because Warren G. Harding put his presidency on autopilot and allowed an associate to help himself to the public till during the “Teapot Dome” scandal, he’s consistently ranked as one of our worst presidents.

They understand that criticism and second-guessing by others is part of the deal. For all of his towering genius, this proved to be the bane of John Adams, who embraced the unconstitutional Sedition Act of 1798.

Even Lincoln was susceptible, sidestepping habeas corpus and ignoring due process, and going so far as banishing the mouthy Democratic Rep. Clement Vallandingham of Ohio to the Confederacy for disparaging the Union, which, of course, violated the First Amendment.

Speaking of which, Obama’s intemperate decision to misuse the 1917 Espionage Act to harass and spy on journalists remains indefensible.

None of us has the right to demand perfection from any president, only honor, honesty and commitment to his or her oath of office. Understanding that every word they utter in public matters, the good ones don’t lie when the truth will do just as well. They don’t use religion as a cudgel. They don’t “punch down” or shirk hard problems, for which there is rarely an easy solution.

A measure of humility can go a long way in sealing a president’s legacy. The elder George Bush would rather have been boiled in oil than brag about his time as a World War II fighter pilot. Ford was praised for making his own breakfast, which tells you how far-flung the office has grown from its constituency. One the most iconic photos ever taken in the Oval Office shows Obama leaning over to allow 5-year-old Jacob Philadelphia to touch his hair, the boy wanting to know for himself that the president of the United States was just like him.

Lincoln was unquestionably brilliant, but one of the main reasons he’s still beloved is because we can sense his humility. It is why he continues to loom over the country in which he placed so much faith. His words still ring, as compelling and true as the day they were written. They challenge and urge us not to abandon the goal of becoming the full embodiment of “a more perfect union.”

He is the standard by which every president should be measured.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP