Of all the presidents in the history of the United State, Abraham Lincoln is probably the one that Americans
remember the best and with deepest affection. His childhood in the frontier of Indiana set the course for his
character and motivation later in life. He brought a new honesty and integrity to the White House. He would
always be remembered as "honest Abe." Most of all, he is associated with the final abolition of slavery.
Lincoln became a virtual symbol of the American dream whereby an ordinary person from humble
beginnings could reach the pinnacle of society as president of the country.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Kentucky, and spent the first seven years of his life
there. They were difficult years in which Thomas Lincoln, Abe's father tried to make a living as a carpenter
and farmer. The Lincolns moved from farm to farm around Kentucky, until 1816, when the family left to
settle in Indiana. The United States was still young, and the midwest was a wild, unsettled frontier. They
stopped in the middle of a forest in Spencer County, Indiana. Neighbors were few and far away, and the
family lived in a three-sided shelter until Abe's father cleared enough land and built a log cabin.
Abe and his sister helped with the heavy daily tasks that came with farming. He cleared the woods for
farmland with his father, and became so skilled at splitting logs that neighbors settling into the Indiana
territory paid him to split logs. At the time, he confessed that he did not really like manual labor. He wrote
later that although he was very young, an axe was put into his hand, and he "was almost constantly handling
that most useful instrument."
In his entire life, Abe was only able to go to school for a total of one year. This lack of education only made
him hungry for more knowledge. His mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, influenced him in his quest for learning.
Although she was completely uneducated and could not read or write, she encouraged her children to study
by themselves. His beloved mother died when he was nine years old, The family was greatly saddened, and
for a while lived almost in squalor. Two years later, however, Thomas Lincoln remarried. Abe's stepmother
was also instrumental in encouraging him to read. He even travelled to neighboring farms and counties to
borrow books. He was often found reading next to a pile of logs that he should have been splitting.
When he was older, Abe noticed that people loved to listen to stories. He began telling tall tales in the
general store where he worked. Customers came and stayed when they knew he was there, just to hear him
talk. The family moved once again, this time to Illinois. He began working in a store in the new capital of
Springfield. His powers of speech soon helped him enter a new arena, that of politics and law. In 1834 he
was elected into the House of Representatives and began studying to become a lawyer.
In 1839, he met his future wife Mary Todd. Coincidentally, she had been born in Kentucky, and her family
had recently moved to Illinois. They had a long and unstable courtship, because Abe was indecisive about
marrying. They finally exchanged their vows in Mary's home in November 1842. Abraham Lincoln began a
long road to become the sixteenth president of the United States. He practiced law all across the state for
the next few years, traveling far on horseback to different counties. I n 1847 he was elected into Congress,
but his opinions did not ensure him a long stay there. He was vehemently against slavery and took stands on
other controversial issues. He was not elected for a second term, so he returned to his law practice.
A few years later, slavery became a stronger issue, and more people were willing to abolish it. Lincoln
joined the Republicans, a new political party that was opposed to slavery. The Republicans nominated him
for the U.S. Senate in 1858, and in his acceptance speech, he stated:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand... This government cannot endure,
permanently half-slave and half-free... I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do
not expect the house to fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. "
Abraham Lincoln's oratorical powers brought him to the attention of the nation. He challenged the
Democratic nominee to the Senate to a series of debates. Using the simple language that he used to
communicate with people all his life, he defeated Douglas in the debates but lost to him in the election.
Nominated by the Republican Party in 1860 as its candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Lincoln
won by a small margin. But with his election, the country began the process of "dividing against itself." South
Carolina had seceded from the Union before he was even inaugurated. Other states followed to form the
Confederate States of America. The North and South were divided, and the Civil War began. The war was
not only over the abolition of slavery, but also the rights of individual states to make their own choices on
other issues.
The bloody Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania was the largest battle ever fought on American soil. On
November 19, 1863, at a ceremony to establish Gettysburg as a national monument, Lincoln delivered what
was to become one of the finest orations in American history, the Gettysburg Address. Yet just after he
delivered it, there was polite applause, and reactions varied from indifference to disappointment. Edward
Everett, ex-governor of Massachusetts, was the main speaker, and his speech had lasted for almost two
hours. On his trip back to Washington, Lincoln himself said of his speech: "It was a flat failure. I am
distressed about it. I ought to have prepared it with more care." But Edward Everett assured Lincoln saying:
"I would be glad if I could flatter myself that I came near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as
you did in two minutes."
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation,
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to
dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that
nation may live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.
The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power
to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new
birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish
from the earth.
Lincoln was elected to a second term in 1864. The South surrendered, and the Civil War ended on April 9,
1865. The difficult task of national reconstruction and reconciliation lay ahead, but Lincoln would not be the
person to lead the country through this difficult period.
On April 14, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln attended a play at the Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. A few
minutes past ten o'clock, an actor who disagreed with Lincoln's political opinions stepped into the
Presidential box and shot the President. He died the following morning.
American poet Walt Whitman, along with the rest of the country, mourned the death of Abraham Lincoln.
He wrote this poem in his honor.
Captain! my Captain!
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Quotations from Lincoln
"...As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever
differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy"
Letter, August 1858
"If we do not make common cause to save the good old ship of the Union on this voyage, nobody will
have a chance to pilot her on another voyage. "
Speech, Cleveland, Ohio,
February 15, 1861
