Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) (www.google.com)

My hero is Abraham Lincoln- one of the finest and greatest presidents in America’s history, otherwise known as “Honest Abe”, who was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12, 1809 who was the second child born to a poor family, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln mostly was a self taught individual. He was needed on his parents farm to assist with daily chores, so he hardly had time to go to school. He learned to read many books, although he only went to school for a total of one year throughout his entire childhood. When Lincoln reached his twenties he was really interested in the law. He began watching trials and studied law books. He practiced writing and speaking and decided to run for the state legislature. When he lost his first election, he volunteered to serve in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War (1832). He was elected captain by the volunteers of the region. When his military service was completed, he became postmaster of New Salem, Illinois and also worked as a surveyor. Lincoln ran again in 1834 for the state legislature and this time won. He continued with his studies and was able to obtain a license to practice law. He was able to win most of his 250 cases before the State Supreme Court over the next several years. Lincoln was elected to represent the State of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846. When his term ended in 1849, he went back to his law practice in Springfield, but continued to monitor politics and the debate over slavery. He always remembered when he was younger, he had seen slaves being sold at auction. This was engraved in his memory and ultimately convinced him that slavery was wrong.

Work Consulted

"Abraham Lincoln." American Civil War Reference Library. Kevin Hillstrom and Laurie Collier Hillstrom. Ed. Lawrence W. Baker. Vol. 2: Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 265-278. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 18 May 2010.

"Lincoln, Abraham." UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Laura B. Tyle. Vol. 6. Detroit: UXL, 2003. 1150-1154. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 18 May 2010.

"Lincoln, Abraham." UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Laura B. Tyle. Vol. 6. Detroit: UXL, 2003. 1150-1154. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 May 2010.

"Abraham Lincoln." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 415-418. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 May 2010.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) (www.google.com)

“The Negroes were strung together precisely like so many fish upon a troutline (a strong fishing line)” he recalled. “In this condition they were being separated forever from the scenes of their childhood, their friends, their fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, and many of them, from their wives and children, and going into perpetual (permanent) slavery.” Abraham Lincoln. He joined the Republican Party and after receiving the official nomination for the Senate. Lincoln made a highly controversial speech that the whole country talked about. People in the southern states felt he was calling for a war to end slavery. He participated in a series of debates with senator Stephen A. Douglas which attracted large crowds and received lots of media coverage. These debates grew to be known as the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln eventually won the Republican nomination for President and received enough votes to become the sixteenth president of the United States.

Tensions were high between the North and the South, especially regarding slavery and when negotiations didn’t work, forces started shooting at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12, 1861, which began the start of the Civil War. This even was really hard for a president to endure during his term of Presidency. He decided in the middle of 1862 that he could not force lasting peace without putting an end to slavery. In 1863 there were a series of major battles which included a horrible one in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln went to Gettysburg to dedicate a new military cemetery and while he was there, he gave a speech that became extremely famous, known as the Gettysburg Address. This speech talked about loyalty and devotion to the country as a whole. In 1865 the North clearly won the war and the people were happy and celebrating, not knowing that in a few days, celebrating would quickly be replaced by mourning. On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Their seats were located in a balcony. About midway through the play, a man named John Wilkes Booth, who was a supporter of the Confederacy, sneaked into the back of the balcony and shot Lincoln in the back of his head. John Wilkes Booth then jumped out of the balcony and landed on the play’s stage. He broke his leg, however he was able to limp off the stage and made his escape on horseback before he could be caught and arrested. There were doctors in the audience that came to the President’s aide, but there wasn’t anything that could be done. They didn’t feel that he would survive if they tried to move him to the White House which was only about six blocks away, so they took him to a boarding house across from the theater. He died early the next morning. The United States was in mourning for weeks. On April 20, Lincoln’s body was placed on a train so he could be buried in his hometown, Springfield Illinois. As his funeral car passed, over the next few days, millions of farmers and people in the communities gathered along the route of the train to pay their respects to Lincoln.

These events proved that Abraham Lincoln is one the the finest men in our history because of all that he endured over the years, while never losing focus, drive and dedication to the American people.