Abraham Lincoln

 

Abraham Lincoln was the 16 president, and is remembered as an American hero. He led the United Sates through the Civil War with great leadership. Lincoln is known as being one of the United States’ best presidents.

Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809 to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, who were one of the richest families in their county. But in 1816, his family was forced to move to Indiana due to his father losing most of his land because of legal disputes over land titles. Abraham began growing up in the non-slave state of Indiana, but later moved to Illinois in 1830. Lincoln’s strength began to develop in Illinois due to his hard frontier life, and he is remembered for winning a very competitive wrestling match. Finally at age 21, Abe had moved out of his father’s house and he worked on a flatboat, but then became a partner in a small general store. Abraham taught himself throughout his life, and in his early 20’s he began teaching himself law. By 1834, Lincoln was given a seat as a state legislator, and in 1836 he completed the bar exam in Illinois. Lincoln was successful in cross-examination and became a great lawyer.

In 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd. The two planned to get married in 1841 but broke it off until re-meeting in 1842. The couple had 4 children, and although Lincoln was often absent, he was still a great father. Starting in 1846, Abe served one term in Congress, but returned to Illinois to practice law. By 1854, Lincoln returned to politics and began to develop the new Republican Party in his state. Lincoln is remembered for some of his famous speeches. “His Divided” speech, given in 1858, is one of Lincoln’s best known. Abraham was a strong supporter of the Union, and he knew that one side of slavery would come out on top. Due to his strong belief in spreading the new Republican Party, he thought that becoming senator of Illinois would be a great opportunity to do so. During this time Stephen Douglas was senator, and he would be Abraham’s opponent in the race. This led to the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, which was a series of seven debates that took place in 1858. The 7 debates discussed slavery, which was the main issue during this time. Newspapers began taking sides in the debate, and when the newspapers published the speeches, they made sure to make their favored candidate look better.  Although Lincoln lost the debate, he still earned lots of National recognition. In 1860, due to his book, Lincoln gained the Republican nomination for president, and won.

Before Abraham was officially elected president, 7 Southern states seceded because no compromises could be reached on issues of slavery. Lincoln turned his entire attention to reuniting the nation after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. President Lincoln suspended the rights of habes corpus, arresting many secessionist supporters along the border. He cleaned up the Trent Affair in late 1861, which helped avoid the British entering the Civil War. Lincoln gladly accepted the Civil War, and began studying many books on war strategy, which helped him become a better strategist over the country. Abraham’s first great decision to support abolition was the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. In 1863, several freed slaves joined the war on the side of the Union. Lincoln’s most famous speech was his very short Gettysburg Address, which lasted only 3 minutes. Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president in 1864, and he got to witness the end of the Civil War in 1865. A couple days after the news of the Confederacy’s surrender, Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. After his death on April 15, he was buried in Springfield, Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents the United States ever witnessed. He helped lead the U.S. through the Civil War, and won several positive remarks from American citizens. He will always be remembered as one of the greatest speakers ever heard.