Meet Abraham Lincoln A Quick Pictorial Review of

Meet Abraham Lincoln A Quick Pictorial Review of the 16 th President of the United States

Young Abe Lincoln • Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Kentucky. • The family moved to southern Indiana when Lincoln was 7. Lincoln had gone to school briefly in Kentucky and did so again in Indiana. In 1818 his mother died His father remarried the next year, when Lincoln was 10.

Young Abe Lincoln • Lincoln loved to read and preferred learning to working in the fields. This led to a difficult relationship with his father who was just the opposite. Young Abe was constantly borrowing books from the neighbors. • Lincoln read deeply, but not broadly. He constantly reread the Bible and Shakespeare, but not much else.

His Early Career • Lincoln, who stood nearly 6’ 4” and weighed about 180 pounds, moved to Illinois in his early 20’s and saw brief service in the Black Hawk War, was elected to the Illinois Legislatureas a Whig in 1834, 1836, 1838, and 1840, where he worked for internal improvements.

His Early Career • He studied law in his spare time and became a lawyer in 1836. Lincoln grew quite prosperous from the law, eventually becoming chief counsel for the Central Illinois Railroad, and other prominent clients.

Mary Todd Lincoln • Lincoln met Mary Todd in Springfield, IL, in 1839. Mary was from a prominent, wealthy, slave-owning family in Kentucky. She was related to John Breckenridge, who ran for President against Lincoln in 1860, and in Illinois, she was courted by Stephen A. Douglas.

Mary Todd Lincoln • Mary Todd Lincoln was an often charming woman, but she had a severe temper, and was unstable. She was a shop-a-holic, and compulsive spender. Historians do not know for sure, but many suspect that she may have had a mental illness.

Lincoln’s Children • The Lincolns had Robert (1843 -1926), Eddie (18461850, ) Willie (1850 -1862), and Tad (1853 -1871). Tad is pictured at right. • Lincoln was a devoted father, especially to the younger boys. He was the first President with small children in the White House, and the boys were famous for their pranks and escapades.

National Politics • In 1846 Lincoln ran for the United States House of Representatives and won. While in Washington he became known for his opposition to the Mexican War and to slavery. He returned home after his term and resumed his law practice more seriously than ever.

National Politics • Lincoln's declining interest in politics was renewed by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Having joined the new Republican Party, he made an unsuccessful bid for the U. S. Senate but received some support for the Republican Vice. Presidential nomination in 1856. • He opposed the Dred Scott decision in 1857. Lincoln engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858. Lincoln was against the spread of slavery into the territories but was not an abolitionist. Douglas won the Senatorial race, but Lincoln gained national recognition.

Lincoln As President • In addition to fighting and winning the Civil War, Lincoln was responsible for the Emancipation Proclamation, which was the first step towards ending slavery in America. • Also during his Presidency the Homestead Act became law, giving people 160 acres of western land for free provided that the lived on it for 5 years, and farmed it.

Lincoln As President • Lincoln signed the National Banking Act, and was President when the first Federally issued paper money was circulated. • Lincoln also was a steadfast supporter of industry, and signed the bill chartering and authorizing the first transcontinental railroad.

Lincoln As President • Lincoln believed himself to be a man of destiny. He saw the Civil War crisis as his fate, and believed that it would be his great task on Earth. • Lincoln always maintained that States could not leave the Union, therefore, they would not have to “rejoin” the Union post-war. In this he differed from other so-called “Radical Republicans” in Congress.

Lincoln As President • On April 9, 1865, the Confederate Army surrendered. . Two days later Lincoln gave a speech suggesting that he would support voting rights for certain blacks. This infuriated a racist and Southern sympathizer who was in the audience: the actor John Wilkes Booth. • On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, the Lincolns attended a play entitled Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre. During the performance Booth arrived at theatre, entered the State Box from the rear, and shot the President in the back of his head. Lincoln was first President to be assassinated.

The Last Known Pictures of Lincoln

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