Abraham Lincoln's Life: 1809-1865
When you hear the name, “Abraham Lincoln” what’s the first thing you think of? Do you think of an overly tall top hat sitting on top of a middle aged man’s head? Or a man with a large beard jutting out from his pointed chin? Or more likely, do you think about the 5 dollar bill? But Abraham Lincoln was so much more than just a hat, a beard, or an amount of American currency. He is dubbed one of the most influential people in the world, and has been named one of the greatest president’s our country has ever had. In Hodgenville, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, and was actually born, without a middle name. Abe was born in a log cabin in Hardin County, and his parents were Thomas Lincoln, and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. His father was a determined pioneer who was well respected in their community. Abraham had an older sister, and a younger brother, but sadly, both died when they were just babies. Abraham Lincoln’s Mother was a great influence on young Abe, when Abe was just 9 years old, his mother’s death from tremetol sickness (milk sickness) devastated him. Abe became shyer and rarely spoke. But, just a few months after Nancy Lincoln died, his father married Sarah Bush Johnson, a widow with 3 other children of her own. Abraham and her bonded very quickly, due to her affectionate and strong nature. Sarah strongly encouraged Lincoln to read, because his parents were illiterate. So, Abe has Sarah to thank for his education, Abraham would go out of his way to borrow books, where he lived, books weren’t easy to come by, but Abe sure did enjoy them, when he had the chance to obtain them. In 1830, The family moved to Macon County, in Illinois, but when his father moved the family once more, a 22 year old Abraham Lincoln decided to live on his own. Abe made a living splitting wooden logs for fires, and rail fencing, Abraham was six foot-four, skinny, yet, oddly muscular and strong (due to manual labor). Abe had lots of jobs, but when he eventually moved to New Salem, Illinois, he worked as a shopkeeper, a postman, and eventually became a general store owner. He quickly gained social skills and his great ability to tell stories made him very popular with Natives that would roll into town. When the Black Hawk War was happening in 1832, people in the area elected Abe to be their captain. Once this war was over, Abe decided to take on a career as a politician, and was elected to be in the Illinois state legislature in 1834. Abe taught himself law, and became a lawyer, and after being admitted to the bar exam, in 1837, Abraham moved to Springfield, Illinois and practiced at the John T. Stuart Law Firm. Abe met a woman, named Anne Rutledge, and quickly became romantically involved with her. A lot of women in Abe’s life died at a very young age, and Anne was not an exception. Sadly, she caught a wave of typhoid fever, that wiped over New Salem, before Abe had the chance to decorate her finger with a ring. And Abe’s beloved Anne died at the young age of 22. Lincoln made a good amount of money working as a lawyer, with his partner William Herndon, but began thinking that Springfield didn’t offer him enough jobs to pay for his house, so Abe made his way to various county seats in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for one year. He used this time to speak out against the Mexican-American War, but his views were unpopular, because of his unpopular opinions, he didn’t run again the following year, and decided to turn back and run from Springfield, to practice law, once again. Approximately, 2 years after his first wife, Anne Rutledge passed away, he began seeing a woman named Mary Owens, they considered getting married, but in the end, it was Abraham that called it off, but this led to Abe getting engaged to Mary Todd, in 1840. The engagement was suddenly broken in 1841, only for them to meet again, later and get married on November 4th, 1842. Mary and Abe had 4 children, but only 1 out of the 4 survived, up until adulthood. But, enough about Abe’s life before all of the real fame circled him, you probably want to know about the story of how he was eventually elected as the 16th president of the United States of America! Well, in 1854 the congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, in which they repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing separate states/territories to establish whether they wanted the great debacle: slavery, to continue in that area. This was when Abraham Lincoln spoke up. Truly ahead of his time, Lincoln was against slavery 100%, and made numerous public statements about his opinions of the matter. Abe had an unpopular opinion, but wasn’t afraid to display this opinions to the world. When the Supreme Court issued the controversial decision to Scott v. Sanford, claiming that African Americans were not citizens, and that they had no inherent rights, Abe decided to challenge that. Needless to say, that people from the South were not in favor of Abraham’s views, because slavery was most abundant in that region. Political operatives in Illinois organized a campaign, supporting Lincoln, in 1860. Abe’s popularity grew tremendously, leading him to obtain not exactly 40% of the popularity votes, but 180 out of 303 Electoral votes. Finally, Abe was the 16th president of the United States. The civil war came creeping around the corner, in 1860’s. But this is also when Abraham Lincoln decided to revolutionize the thought process of the entire world, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, in which he stated that all of the people who were currently owned as slaves “henceforward shall be free”. Which is probably what he’s most famously known for. When things in the war began improving, and when they received news about their brilliant military triumphs, Lincoln was certain that his presidency would only last for one term, but it wasn’t over. George B. McClellan, Lincoln’s nemesis ran against him for his second term in office, but George McClellan’s efforts were wasted, when Abraham Lincoln won the election by a land slide, receiving 55% popularity votes, and 212 out of the 243 Electoral votes. All was well, and General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Army of Virginia surrendered, and then the war itself was over! Sadly, Lincoln’s second term of presidency was ended with his assassination, committed by the well-known actor at that time, John Wilkes Booth, in the Ford’s Theater in D.C, on April 14, 1865. Lincoln lay in a state of comatose for 9 hours, only to die the next morning, but none shall forget the impact this brilliant man had made. Without his help, we could not faithfully say “The United States of America: home of the free”. |