Abraham Lincoln
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
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16th President of the United States | |
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In office | |
March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865 | |
Vice President(s) | Hannibal Hamlin (1861 to 1865); Andrew Johnson (March - April 1865) |
Came after | James Buchanan |
Came before | Andrew Johnson |
Born | February 12, 1809 Hardin County, Kentucky (now in LaRue County) |
Died | April 15, 1865 Washington, D.C. |
Political party | Republican |
Married to | Mary Todd Lincoln |
Signature |
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States between 1861 to 1865. In 1865, after the Civil War ended, he was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth.
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[edit] Abraham Lincoln's life
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky. His parents were the farmer Thomas Lincoln and his wife Nancy Hanks. His family wasn’t very rich. Abraham had 5 brothers and sisters. One of his brothers, Thomas, however died in childhood. They all grew up in a small log house, with just one room inside. His father refused to own slaves as a religious Baptist, although Kentucky was then a state where slavery was allowed. When Abraham was 7 years old, his family moved to Indiana. In his childhood he helped his father on the farm, but when he was 22 years old he left his parents and moved to New Salem, in Illinois, to work as a salesman. Later, he said that he had gone to school for just one year, but that was enough to learn how to read, write, and cipher. In 1842 he married Mary Todd Lincoln. They had four children, but three of them died when they were very young. Abraham Lincoln was sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe and the Great Emancipator, because of his great efforts in 1863 to emancipate (or free) the African-Americans held as slaves by his enemies in the Confederate States, even though he never actually freed the slaves that were still in the United States. His efforts were rewarded after his death in 1868, when slavery was completely abolished in the United States of America as well.
[edit] Political career
Abraham started his career in 1832 with a campaign for the Illinois General Assembly. He served as captain in the army during the Black Hawk War, a war against a Native American tribe. When he moved to Springfield, he began to work as a lawyer. Soon he became one of the most highly respected lawyers in Illinois. In 1837, he protested the first time against slavery. In 1846 Lincoln joined the Whig Party. He was elected to one term in the House of Representatives, but when his term ended, he ignored his political career and turned his energies to being a successful railroad lawyer. Twelve years later, he wanted to become senator; although this was unsuccessful, the debates drew national attention to him. The Republican Party nominated him for the Presidential election of 1860. Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States, because the Northern States had stopped slavery and the Republican Party was against slavery extension, but the Southern States didn’t support Lincoln, so seven States formed the Confederate States of America, which led to the American Civil War. In his whole period as President, he was forced to rebuild the Union with military force and many bloody battles. Although he wasn’t a supporter of slavery, he was more interested in reuniting America, than in freeing the slaves. On August 22, 1862 he sent a letter to a newspaper called the New York "Tribune":
Quotation:
- "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."
But in 1863, he signed the emancipation proclamation, which meant that the freeing of the slaves in the South was now an aim for the Union in the civil war. Slavery was abolished by law in 1868, after the Union won the war.
[edit] A famous speech by Lincoln
Here is a simple version of a speech given by Mr Lincoln when the battlefield at Gettysburg was being dedicated.
- Eighty-seven years ago, our ancestors on this continent created a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the idea that all people are created equal.
- At this time, our country is involved in a big internal war, which is testing whether this nation (or any other nation which claims to honor the same ideals that we do) can last very long. A great battle of that war occurred in the area around us where we are meeting here today. We are here to dedicate a part of it as a graveyard for the soldiers who died here so that our nation could continue to live. It is right and good for us to do this.
- But, when you think about it, we cannot dedicate or bless this ground. The brave people, living and dead, who fought the South here, have already blessed this place more than we are able to. The world will not care about or remember what we say here, but it will never forget what they did here.
- Instead, it is the job of us who are still alive to support the unfinished work which those who fought here advanced so honorably. Here, inspired by their example, we must dedicate ourselves to beating the South.
- We resolve:
- that our soldiers shall not have died in vain
- that our nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and
- that our government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not vanish from this earth!
[edit] External links
- The Lincoln Institute
- Mr. Lincoln's White House
- Mr. Lincoln and Freedom
- Abraham Lincoln Research Site
- Mr. Lincoln and Friends
- Mr. Lincoln and New York
- ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS: A One Page Summary of Abraham Lincoln's Life
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