Abraham Lincoln

My hero is Abraham Lincoln. He was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County Kentucky in a small log cabin. Lincoln was not given a middle name. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks who were also farmers. He was the first president born in the Midwest. He was the 16th president of the United States.

When Lincoln was nine, his mother, then 34 years old, died of milk sickness. Soon afterwards, his father remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. He was famous for his acts of freeing the slaves by signing the Emancipation Proclamation. However, it didn’t free them right away, it took time. He soon succeeded; even though the slaves were free people there were still acts of racism in the world.

Lincoln's first love was Ann Rutledge. He met her when he first moved to New Salem. But she died on August 25, probably of typhoid fever. In 1833 or 1834, he had met Mary Owens when she was visiting from her home in Kentucky. She was the sister of his friend Elizabeth Abell. But they broke off. Then Lincoln met Mary Todd and they married. The Lincolns soon had a growing family, with the birth of their first son Robert Todd Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois on August 1, 1843, and second son Edward Baker Lincoln on March 10, 1846, also in Springfield. They had two more sons after that but only one survived into full adulthood.

Lincoln began his political career in March 1832 at age 23 when he announced his candidacy for the Illinois General Assembly. He didn't have an education, powerful friends, or money. Before the election he served as a captain in a company of the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War. He had many accomplishments but he had even more failures. In 1832 he lost his job for state legislature. Then in 1833 his business failed. Then awhile later in 1835 his sweetheart died. On 1836 he had a nervous breakdown. There were lots more disappointments before he was elected president in 1860.

Abraham Lincoln was important to me because he freed the slaves and I think it was sad that they were punished like that so I think he did a good thing. He inspired me to do good things for the rest of my life. So I can do something great for the world like help homeless people or something like that. Then maybe one day I will be known for doing something good in the world.