According to political scientist Brian R. Dirck, the most famous executive order was by President Abraham Lincoln, when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863: The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order, itself a rather unusual thing in those days.
Petrarch was an Italian poet and scholar who paved the way for the Renaissance by re-discovering Cicero's letters. He has also been called "The Father of Humanism."
