Abraham Lincoln

I chose Abraham Lincoln as my hero. My definition of a hero is someone who does something good for others on a massive scale. The reason I picked Abraham Lincoln is because he ended slavery in the United States. Like Abe I believe "All men are created equal". It was very brave of him to stand up for what he believed in and fight for it.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Harden County, Kentucky. In 1816 the Lincolns moved to Perry County, Indiana. His parents chose this place because slavery was banned there by the Northwest ordinance of 1787. They belonged to a branch of a baptist church that was against slavery. Lincoln was "naturally anti-slavery" from the time he was born.

In 1831, he left home and tried several occupations including boat building and sailing, carpentering, hog sticking, and sawmilling. He also served briefly in the Black Hawk War. In 1834, he was elected state legislator for the Whig party and served four terms, becoming a lawyer in 1836. The party's agenda was economic development, which Lincoln saw as a perfect answer to poverty. Slavery was the opposite of opportunities and growth that he was fighting for and he began to state this politically in 1837. He married Mary Todd in 1842 and had 4 children.