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From 1861 to 1865, when his life was violently ended by John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States of America. Mostly known for his decisiveness and being an effective leader during the US Civil War and his famous proclamation to free the Southern Slaves in 1863, he earned his place in history. His well known speech After the Battle of Gettysburg is amongst the most famous speeches in the history of the United States of America.
Born in the year 1809 on February 12th in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln grew up doing farm work on the farm owned by his family. Whenever possible he attended school, for which he had to walk 2 miles each time. It was there Lincoln learned to read and write and do math, but his true knowledge came from self education through books he borrowed.
The family moved to Indiana where Abraham's mother became stricken with disease and died shortly after. One year later his father came back to Kentucky, along with Sash Bush Johnson, a widow that had replaced his wife. Growing up Abraham started working for his neighbors and ended up with a job at a local store. Due to his work in the store, he was in a position where he could travel downstream, which enabled him to see New Orleans for the very first time using a boat to travel down the river.
Not long after their return, they once again moved away from Kentucky, this time to Illinois. Once again Abraham found himself working for his neighbors, creating and repairing fences. Not long after they settled in and built a presence for themselves, sickness once again spread through the area and the family moved away again, but this time without Abraham, who stayed and obtained a job working for a business man by the name of Denton Offutt. It was this man who recognized Abraham's skills as a businessman and encouraged him to develop them. Impressed by Lincoln's newly developed business skills, Denton put him in charge of a boat for trading in New Orleans and ultimately put him in charge of the store itself. Most likely it was this period in young Lincoln's life that raised his awareness of the full scope of Southern American Slave trading.
Lincoln moved back to Illinois a year later, where he decided to attempt to win the elections for the General Assembly in Illinois. He failed, but gained leadership position over an Illinois based military group. It never came as far as combat situations, but Lincoln liked the position nevertheless.
In 1834, two years after the first attempt to get elected, Lincoln tried again, this time for a seat on the state legislature of Illinois. This time he was successful and won. While running in the election he took up self taught law education and was instated as a lawyer in 1837. Lincoln started a law practice in the same year, partnering with John T. Stuart. From skills at the courts, his reputation excelled and he became respected as a head of the community and protector of fairness.
5 years later Lincoln married Mary Todd, a well known member of a family that hailed from Kentucky. They had 4 children, all sons, of which only one grew up to be an adult.
During his time at the House of Representatives he served four terms and eventually made it as the head of the Whig party in 1837. In 1846 he successfully entered into the elections for a seat at the national House of Representatives, which launched his official federal career as a politician. After two years he entered into a conflict with the government leaders of that period and refused to run again for the position. After this he shifted his focus back to the law.
In 1854 Abraham Lincoln joined the Republican Party and was nominated for a Senate seat in 1858. He failed to obtain it but his activities during the election race had gained him a following which increased his popularity greatly. For this reason he was selected to be a candidate in the presidential elections and through excellent strategic campaigns by leaders of the Republican Party, he won and was to become the 16th President of the US in 1860
The race for presidency by Lincoln was of great concern of his opponents from the South, who went as far as to threaten to take their states out of the Union if he won. They did, and 7 states left the Union even before Abraham could be instated. The refugee States quickly founded the Confederate States of America, which they formed even before Lincoln's official instatement as the new US President was a fact.
Lincoln was instated in March 1861 and in April of that same year the Confederates launched an attack setting up the environment that would start off the American Civil War. As tension increased, mostly due to Lincoln’s determination to outlaw slavery, Lincoln passed the two bills that would enable him to combat slavery. At a later stage he passed the 13th amendment that put an end to the slave trading indefinitely.
The Civil War was about keeping the Union safe and not so much about the slavery aspect in the South, according to President Lincoln, but his determination to set free the Slaves in the South was what he became most famous for. As the war continued and became more intense, Lincoln increased his control over the Union as much as possible and after the Battle of Gettysburg he once again displayed the skills that served him so well in campaigns and at the courts, by delivering his famous Gettysburg speech.
April 9th, 1865 was the official date the Civil War came to an end, when General Lee surrendered in Virginia and it was only 5 days later Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theathre. 9 hours later President Lincoln was declared dead.
President Abraham Lincoln is remembered by the US population through monuments and products that were named after him. Throughout the United States many cities carry his name, as well as cars and his face was placed on the five dollar bill and on the penny. Lots of monuments cover the United States, like Mount Rushmore where his head was carved out of the rocks and the National Monument in his likeness in Washington.
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