Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln, Abraham (1809-65), 16th president of the United States (1861-65), who
steered the Union to victory in the American Civil War and abolished slavery.
Early Life
Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, the son of
Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, pioneer farmers. At the age of two he was taken
by his parents to nearby Knob Creek and at eight to Spencer County, Indiana. The
following year his mother died. In 1819 his father married Sarah Bush Johnston,
a kindly widow, who soon gained the boy's affection. Lincoln grew up a tall,
gangling youth, who could hold his own in physical contests and also showed
great intellectual promise, although he had little formal ...
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Returning from the war, he began an unsuccessful venture in shopkeeping
that ended when his partner died. In 1833 he was appointed postmaster but had to
supplement his income with surveying and various other jobs. At the same time he
began to study law. That he gradually paid off his and his deceased partner's
debts firmly established his reputation for honesty. The story of his romance
with Ann Rutledge, a local young woman whom he knew briefly before her untimely
death, is unsubstantiated.
Illinois Politician and Lawyer
Defeated in 1832 in a race for the state legislature, Lincoln was elected on the
Whig ticket two years later and served in the lower house from 1834 to 1841. He
quickly emerged as one of the leaders of the party and was one of the authors of
the removal of the capital to Springfield, where he settled in 1837. After his
admission to the bar (1836), he entered into successive partnerships with John T.
Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, and William Herndon, and soon won ...
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slavery was wrong and that Congress should
keep the territories free for actual settlers (as opposed to those who traveled
there mainly to vote for or against slavery). The following year he ran for the
U.S. Senate, but seeing that he could not win, he yielded to Lyman Trumbull, a
Democrat who opposed Douglas's bill. He campaigned for the newly founded
Republican party in 1856, and in 1858 he became its senatorial candidate against
Douglas. In a speech to the party's state convention that year he warned that "a
house divided against itself cannot stand" and predicted the eventual triumph of
freedom. Meeting Douglas in a series of debates, he challenged his opponent in
effect to ...
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Abraham Lincoln. (2007, July 27). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Abraham-Lincoln/68676
"Abraham Lincoln." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 27 Jul. 2007. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Abraham-Lincoln/68676>
"Abraham Lincoln." Essayworld.com. July 27, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Abraham-Lincoln/68676.
"Abraham Lincoln." Essayworld.com. July 27, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Abraham-Lincoln/68676.
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