A Summary of the Life of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln's Birth and Childhood

Although both of Abraham Lincoln's parents were from Virginia, he was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. Abe Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, was a carpenter by trade and owned three farms in Kentucky before he moved the family to Indiana when Abe was only eight years old. According to Abe, his father moved the family to Indiana because the state was a free state which did not allow slavery. Land ownership was also more secure in the state of Indiana. Abraham's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died in 1818 when he reached the age of ten. Abraham Lincoln had an older sister named Sarah. He also had a younger brother, Thomas, who died when he was still an infant. Abe Lincoln grew up in Indiana where he recalled the region to be a rugged region. He received little education but he still managed to learn to read and write. Lincoln's father remarried a widow by the name of Sarah Bush Johnston. In 1830, the family moved to Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln's Early Adulthood

Lincoln worked on a farm in Salem, Illinois where he strived to gain as much knowledge as possible. In 1832, he served in the Black Hawk war which provided him a new and different life experience and opened up new opportunities for Lincoln.

Politics and Marriage

Lincoln served as a Whig in the lower house from 1834 - 1841. He pushed for better roads, canals, and railroads. Abraham Lincoln became a lawyer in 1836. Lincoln married Mary Todd, a Presbyterian, on November 4, 1842. the couple had four boys of which only one lived into adulthood. In 1858, Lincoln ran for a Senate seat against Stephen Douglas. He lost the election, but his debates in that campaign helped him gain a reputation that would secure him the Republication nomination for President in the election of 1860. Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth President of the United States. Many supporters and historians consider Abraham Lincoln to be America's greatest President due to his successful leadership during the Civil War. One of his most famous speeches was the Gettysburg address which he delivered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. A historical speech, it was one of the shortest, if not the shortest, speech ever delivered, yet one of the most powerful. In 1863, Lincoln freed all slaves by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Abe Lincoln was re-elected in 1864 and encouraged the Southern States of the Confederacy to rejoin the Union and reunite the country.

Lincoln's Assassination

While Lincoln was attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, he was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. Booth was under the impression that Lincoln supported the southern states. Abe Lincoln died on April 14, 1865.

It is reported that one week before his death, Abraham Lincoln had a dream. The dream was of someone crying inside the White House. When found the room in which someone was crying, he noticed that someone had died. When he asked about who had died, a man in the room informed him that the President had died.
When President looked inside the coffin, he saw his own image.