Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was an incredible man and president. He got rid of slavery in the United States and was with us during the Civil War. If it weren't for Lincoln, slavery could very possibly still be around. The 16th president of the United States of America accomplished many things in his life.

On the morning of Sunday, February 12, 1809, in a cabin on Nolin Creek, Kentucky, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, wife of Thomas Lincoln, gave birth to a boy on a bed of poles covered with corn husks. The newborn baby was named Abraham after his grandfather. Abraham's father was an uneducated carpenter and also a farmer. His mother had no schooling and could not write.

In the year of 1811, the Lincoln family moved to a farm on Knob Creek near Hodgenville Kentucky. Soon after they moved, Abraham's younger brother, Thomas, passed away in infancy.

Abraham spent short amounts of time in a log schoolhouse in 1815. Here he started to learn his ABC's. Abraham attended school with his older sister, Sarah. Sarah had gray eyes, dark hair, and was two years older than Abraham. Abraham went to school dressed in buckskin clothes, a raccoon cap, and very short pants. Abraham and Sarah's teacher was named Zachariah Riney. When at home, Abraham listened to the Scriptures read from the family bible.

In 1816, Abraham was saved from drowning by one of his playmates named

Austin Gollaher. Abraham and Sarah briefly went to school taught by a neighbor named Caleb Hazel. Later that year, the Lincolns moved to Indiana and constructed a cabin near Little Pigeon Creek. The cabin measured Sixteen by Eighteen feet and had only one window.

1818 was a tragic year. Abraham's mother, Nancy, died on October 5th. Nancy died of a disease called "Milk Sickness" which was contracted by drinking milk from cows that have grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. Abraham would help by carving pegs for his mother's coffin. Thomas Lincoln took the coffin made of green pine to the top of a thickly wooded hill and buried her. No formal funeral service was given. Two months later Mary Todd, Abraham's future wife, was born in Lexington, Kentucky on December 13th.

Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush Johnston on December 2nd, 1819. Daniel Johnston, Sarah's first husband, died during the summer of 1816. Three new children were added to the Lincoln household -- Elizabeth was twelve, John was nine, and Matilda was eight. Abraham became much closer to his step-mother than he was to his father. Later this year, Abraham was kicked by a horse and almost killed.

Abraham soon began to start borrowing books from neighbors. He borrowed books such as: "Pilgrim's Progress," "Aesop's Fables," "Arabian Nights", and "Robinson Crusoe." He also began to attend school again taught by James Swaney. Abraham only attended school for about four months. Two years later, Abraham started to attend school taught by Azel Dorsey.

In the year of 1825, Abraham borrowed a book called "Life of Washington" by

Parson Mason Weems. The book got wet by rain so Abraham worked off it's worth for his neighbor, Josiah Crawford, which he had borrowed it from. This book was the very first book Abraham every owned.

Sarah, Abraham's sister, married their neighbor named Aaron Grigsby on August 2, 1826. Sarah passed away during childbirth one and a half years later on January 28, 1828, which was only three weeks before her twenty-first birthday. Sarah was buried with her baby boy who was still-born.

In 1830 the Lincolns moved to Illinois. Abraham drove one of the ox wagons there. The family built a log cabin on the north bank of the Sangamon River about ten miles southwest of Decatur in Macon County. Later that year, the family moved southeast to Goose Nest Prairie in Coles County, Illinois.

In 1831, Abraham Lincoln left his family and went off on his own. One theory of were he formulated his anti-slavery opinions was seeing slaves abused during a flatboat trip to New Orleans. Abraham moved to New Salem Illinois, in July and boarded at Rutledge's tavern and met with the owner's daughter, Ann. The town on New Salem was a frontier village made up of one long street on a bluff over the Sangamon River. On August first, 1831, Lincoln cast his first ballot.

Lincoln Joined the Illinois militia for the Black Hawk War, in 1832. He was soon elected Captain of the volunteers but didn't see any military action during his three months of service. On August 6th of the same year, Lincoln was defeated while running for the Illinois State Legislature. Lincoln soon opened up a general store in New Salem along with William F. Berry.

A year later on May 7th, Lincoln became Postmaster of New Salem. The general store failed. In the fall of '33, Lincoln learned how to survey and was appointed Assistant Surveyor in the northwest part of Sangamon County. Lincoln soon met a woman named Mary Owens who was four months older than he was. She came to New Salem to visit her sister.

In 1834, Lincoln ran for Illinois State Legislature and this time won the election. During the summer, John T. Stuart advised Lincoln to study law. On December first, Lincoln took his seat in the state government in Vandalia, which was Illinois capitol before Springfield. Lincoln became a member of the Long Nine which was the nickname for the delegation from Sangamon County because their combined height was exactly fifty-four feet.

When the state legislature adjourned in February of 1835, Lincoln went back to New Salem and continued his legal studies. On August 25th, Ann Rutledge died. Although unproven, some believe that Ann was Lincoln's first love.

In 1836, Lincoln was re-elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. Lincoln received his license to practice law on September 9th.

During the year of 1837, Lincoln, who was now twenty-eight years old, was admitted to the Illinois Bar on March 1, and moved to Springfield on April 15. Soon, Lincoln and John T. Stuart became law partners while Lincoln was living with a man named Joshua Speed. Lincoln was now receiving a lot of money. He had income from a law practice as well as a state legislator. In the fall of the same year, Lincoln's Marriage proposal was rejected by Mary Owens. The next year, Lincoln was re-elected for a third

Ruppert 5

time to the Illinois House of Representatives.

In 1839, Lincoln met Mary Ann Todd. Mary had moved to Springfield from Lexington, Kentucky as was living

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