Abraham Lincoln Biography

Abraham Lincoln was born in the vicinity of the city of Hodgenville, the state of Kentucky, on February 12, 1809, and died in Washington D.C. on April 15, 1865. He was a renowned lawyer, politician and the sixteenth president of the United States. He is considered one of the most influential American leaders because he contributed to improve the American economy, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government system, among many other memorable actions.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a farm built in the vicinity of Hodgenville and was the second son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, a couple of farmers who left Virginia and like many others traveled to the West. Two years later, realizing that the land was not suitable for cultivation, Thomas decides to move to another nearby land that was more prosperous.

Around 1815, Abraham Lincoln enters the school to learn the basic knowledge of reading, writing, and mathematics. However, he considered that he learned more in the field. The following year, the family moved to Indiana because of the attempts from the government to confiscate the land they bought and worked, it was necessary to go to a place where property rights were guaranteed. In 1818, Nancy contracted a hypocalcemia that causes death, that same day they built their coffin that Abraham decorated with ribbons.

Between 1818 and 1819, Thomas meets Sara Bush, a woman who was also widowed and with whom he would marry later on. Abraham got on well with his new mother along with her three children. Due to the condition of poverty suffered by the large family, Abraham chose to help by working with his neighbors, which possibly contributed to the development of his prominent stature. Although he was considered a great conversationalist, someone reliable and skillful in the tasks he was asked to perform, was classified as lazy because he was always engaged in reading or reflection activities.

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time” Abraham Lincoln

In 1830, the family moved again, this time to Decatur in the state of Illinois. In this place, Abraham Lincoln would perform the job of rower of a small boat, which was used to transport few people along the Mississippi River to New Orleans. In 1832, Abraham returned to Illinois to settle in the newly founded city of Salem.

In that same year, the Black Hawk War broke out, in this confrontation between colonists and Sauk Indians disputed lands near the Mississippi, Abraham Lincoln decided to enroll in military service, quickly obtaining the mandate of a small platoon due to his attitudes as a soldier. Upon returning to Salem he enjoyed the recognition of his neighbors, who encouraged him to participate in the elections for the state legislature in the Whig party, a candidacy that ended in defeat.

The following year, thanks to the help of some friends, Abraham got the position of postal mail administrator, but the scarce income forced him to get another job to guarantee a good livelihood. By becoming an assistant to the county surveyor, he can devote time to his self-study in geometry, trigonometry, and rectangular surveying. In 1834, he was again nominated to the legislature, obtaining the victory.

Motivated by one of Whig’s party bosses, he devotes himself to the study of the laws, graduating in law in 1836. In December of that same year, he participated in the tenth general assembly of Illinois, in which he took an active part in the development of laws and reforms, also manifesting his position against slavery, for being an unfair model that reflects a bad policy. Lincoln, at that time, suffered severe mood swings ranging from passionate to depressed, the reason was the death of his first love: Ann Rutledge, a fact that kept him away for a short time of any activity.

In 1842, he married Mary Todd, a lady from a well-off family with good relations and with whom he would have three children. In 1846, Lincoln was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in Washington. In this place, he won detractors for his participation in the abolitionist movements, besides to be one of the main opposition to the US-Mexico War that led to the incorporation of Texas and New Mexico as states of the U.S. This position against the expansion of the US territory cost him a considerable sum of votes in the Senate elections in 1849, causing him to abandon politics and only dedicate himself to the legal profession.

After about five years in anonymity and after the Whig party disintegrated, Abraham Lincoln reappears as a founding member of the Republican Party in Illinois to dispute the position of Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The debates that maintained with this one, caused that the name of Abraham Lincoln took fame beyond Illinois, shaping it towards the end of 1859 as a possible candidate for the presidency. Although he hesitated to accept, in 1860, he accepted the proposal.

“When I do good, I feel good; When I do evil, I feel bad, and that is my religion.” Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln’s campaign proclaims three fundamental factors: the abolition of slavery, the distribution of land in the west of the country and the trade of its own products. Despite the lack of political experience, Lincoln’s charisma and oratory ability won the sympathy of the voters, who considered him the best option to run the country. The response of the states that believed in slavery was immediate, disqualifying Lincoln, separating from the United States to consolidate the Confederate States of America.

When there was no possibility of agreement, on April 12, 1861, the Civil War broke out. The quick analysis and leadership of Lincoln in the handling of the troops with the help of General Ulysses S. Grant added to the Proclamation of the emancipation of the blacks, helped to weaken the forces of the opposing side. By 1864, his first presidential term ended, and he ran for re-election promising to end the wars, obtaining in 1865 the continuity of his government and the ceasefire.

Lincoln hoped to finish his second term to retire definitively from politics and only work as a lawyer in Springfield. However, on April 14th, while he and his wife attended the performance of the play Our American Cousin at the Ford Theater, a man entered his box seat taking advantage of an oversight in the surveillance, giving him a fatal shot to death in the head. Although he was treated promptly, he died at seven in the morning next day. The body was taken in a long procession by train through several states. Currently, his remains are in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in the capital of Illinois.