Abraham Lincoln

My hero is Abraham Lincoln, he was born in Feb. 12,1809, in Hodgenville, Hardin County,Kentucky. He moved to Indiana and grew up there. Lincoln kept a store at New Salem, Illinois and he was a captain in the Black Hawk War. He also spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years.

He married Mary Todd and they had four boys. Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for senator in 1858. He lost the election but he won the Republican nomination for president in 1860. While he was president he built the Republican Party into a strong organization. In January 1, 1863, he issued Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves who were in the South.

In 1864, Lincoln won re-election as the north military troops won the Civil War. On Good Friday, April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theatre in Washington. He died the following day and with him was the hope of rebuilding a nation without bitterness.