Stories of heroes have been a source of inspiration and awe for as long as people could tell them. We look to legends of great men and women who have accomplished grand tasks in hopes that we, too, may one day be as tremendous as them. Indeed, most of us do; albeit not in the way we imagine. Most of them slip by us unnoticed, overlooked, and will never be the protagonists of epic stories. So what exactly makes a hero? I believe a hero to be anyone who possesses the qualities of a hero: courageous, perseverant and compassionate – all of which Abraham Lincoln perfectly demonstrates.
Abraham Lincoln was born in February 12, 1809, in a log cabin to a family of uneducated and poor pioneers (Denenberg and Bing). Throughout his life, Lincoln would be presented with many challenges, and will each time intrepidly tackle each challenge. Having no access to a formal education, Lincoln had to take his learning in his own hands, and owes his intellect and eloquence to the many books he read for leisure, with which he taught himself the law (Denenberg and Bing). He then entered the world of politics and, despite the many failures he suffered, achieved many great things – including obtaining presidency. As president, Lincoln would be fated to a battle for the freedom of slaves and the equality of African Americans. Though he will later learn to, Lincoln initially did not consider African Americans and White Americans equals; he did, however, acknowledged the moral injustice of slavery (Prutt). This opinion would not be met with the approval of many Americans. His outspokenness on the subject of slavery would ignite much animosity from the Southern states. Despite this, Lincoln was not afraid to enforce his beliefs when he signed the Emancipati...
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Denenberg, Barry and Christopher Bing. Lincon Shot: A President's Life Remembered. New York, N.Y.: Feiwel and Friends, 2008. Print.
Fehrenbacher, Don. E. Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858. New York, N.Y.. Library of America, 1989. Print
Prutt, Sarah. “5 Things You May Not Know About Lincoln, Slavery and Emancipation”. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 21 Sept. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. http://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-lincoln-slavery-and- emancipation
SearchQuotes. Searchquotes.com. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/The_legacy_of_heroes_is_the_memory_of_a_gr eat%20 name_and_the_inheritance_of_a_great_example./224666/
"Sympathy for Pets and People." Abraham Lincoln and Friends. The Lincoln Institute, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. http://mrlincolnandfriends.org/inside.asp?pageID=5&subjectID=5
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th, 1809, in a small county in Kentucky called Hardin which is now known as Larue County. His father, Thomas Lincoln, “was a migratory carpenter and farmer, nearly always poverty-stricken” . His mother, Nancy Hanks, did not play a large role in his life as she passed away when he was nine years old. Thomas Lincoln remarried a woman named Sarah Johnston Bush, who “was a kind and affectionate stepmother to the boy” . During his younger years, Lincoln did not spend much time in school. Overall, “the scattered weeks of school attendance in Kentucky and Indiana amounted to less than a year” . Although he did not attend school, Lincoln was self-educated through books and other sources available to him. Soon after his self-education, Lin...
Abraham Lincoln born in 1809 was the President of United States before he was assassination in 1865.Many scholars refer him to as the greatest president the United State has ever had in history. One among his major achievements was the successful lead of the American country during the great internal crisis. He sealed the Union of the country and fought slavery to the end. Lincoln was a lawyer, after which he became a legislator representing the Illinois state. He was a member in the House of Representatives through an election. In family matters Lincoln was said to as loving, kind, a husband and a father of four. Donald 2001 pp.69).
Abraham Lincoln was elected as sixteenth president of the United States of America in 1861 and served until his assassination in 1865. He is viewed as a popular political figure and is known as the “Great Emancipator” for his role in freeing the slaves during the 1860s (Columbia University Press 2013, 1). He delivered the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 that declared “all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforth shall remain free” (Columbia University Press 2013, 1). Although the Proclamation made Lincoln seem like a hero, others would soon realize that the proclamation was a war tactic and in reality did not put an end to slavery. In The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, the reader will discover facts about President Lincoln that are not told in the average history book. Within the chapters of DiLorenzo’s book, he explains Lincoln’s true view on slavery, reasons for his political success, and why Lincoln encouraged war between the North and the South.
Lincoln was born on february 12, 1809 in Hodgenville Kentucky. For most of his childhood he was mostly self educated, constantly reading books and gaining knowledge on the world around him. Even when he started as a young lawyer, he always outwardly opposed slavery. When Abraham began to get into politics he was always popular by the people. Although he lacked an education, money or powerful friends, he still managed to gain significant popularity and was described to be able to draw crowds. When Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the united states, that's when he made a real change to the world. Back in Lincoln's time, slavery was more accepted and was legal in many of the southern states in America. Although slavery was illegal in the northern states, they still contributed to slavery
In reading through Abraham Lincoln: the Man Behind the Myths, I have seen my views on Lincoln pretty drastically changed. Prior to this novel, I took the very common stance of Abraham Lincoln being one of the greatest presidents we have ever had. Now, I wouldn’t say I am nearly as passionate about Lincoln as any of the authors mentioned are, and therefore I believe myself to be rather blind to the mythology built around Lincoln. However, despite this blindness, I will say that my eyes have been opened to who I believe Lincoln is as well as what my perception of him has to do with what I’m told. Oates does indeed have biases similar to the very authors he puts down, however, Oates seems to be trying to reach a more realistic realization.
On October 26, 1864 Abraham Lincoln gave one of his most important speeches. He said, “Threats of breaking up the Union were freely made; and ablest public men of the day became seriously alarmed...” (Lewis 36). The sixteenth president of the United States has had a more substantial life than people thought. All around the country an impact had been made on all the residents there. This was made by one of the best presidents in history. Honest Abe was a wise man who affected the country and helped make the country what it is today. One of the states he resided in the most was Illinois. Abraham Lincoln made a political future for himself, kept the Union together, freed the slaves and created a new party for the United States that still exists today all while unknowingly becoming one of the most well known and historic presidents ever.
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12th 1809 in a small log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents, Thomas and Nancy, named him after his grandfather who had brought the family to Kentucky in the late 1780’s. Abraham Lincoln spent most of his childhood living in log cabins all over Kentucky and into Indiana, as his father searched for better land. For Abraham and his sister Sarah, life was an endless journey of manual labor. As he grew up, Lincoln began to develop an ambition to do better than his father did for his family by getting an education and earning a living through ways other than manual labor. It was more than the manual labor that bothered Lincoln, it was the way his father treated him. Lincoln would speak about how his father
Although he was President, he was also a lawyer who was self taught. He ran for many things and lost before he was elected President. Now he is considered a hero. Abraham Lincoln is a hero because he was brave, he was a strong leader, and he stood up for what he believed in.
Abraham Lincoln, an autodidactic early American, grew up amidst the unlikely setting of the American frontier to an impoverished and undistinguished family (Donald n.p.). Lincoln built himself up in a world built to bring him down, and rose “from [these] humble origins in Kentucky, to prominent positions in legal and political circles of Illinois, and then to the pinnacle of presidency” (Donald n.p.). Within two months of gaining presidency, in contempt of Lincoln’s noble efforts, the American Civil War broke out amongst the country, and Abraham Lincoln, undeterred by the considerable amount of stress he was under, managed to keep together and ultimately strengthen the broken nation (Gienapp). Lincoln boldly proceeded to denounce and even completely abolish slavery in America when he instituted the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, and adeptly convinced the Senate to pass the Thirteenth Amendment (Hamilton). Abraham Lincoln, America’s sixteenth president, left a significant impact on the country when he left an admirable legacy for future Americans to appreciate despite his difficult upbringing and personal life, when he consolidated the Union despite a civil war, and when he led the revolutionary movement to abolish slavery despite the controversy.
The definition of “hero” could possibly be the broadest characteristic or title to grant a human being. Many cultures throughout the history of the Earth have created their own ideas about how a hero should behave and live his life. Although past cultures have been different, the traits of a hero in each civilization are coincidentally analogous with each other. Possessing a warlike and barbaric essence, Beowulf, the protagonist of the only Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, was praised as a leader and hero by the citizens of surrounding lands in northern Europe. Although not seen as a barbarian, Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was praised for his brilliant plans and resourceful thinking during times of hardship. Despite being from contrasting societies, Abraham Lincoln and Beowulf were both glorified for their heroic actions, but for different reasons.
Abraham Lincoln is a mythical figure in American culture and history because he is the President who saved the Union and abolished slavery. American admiration for him is so great that Americans have carved him into mountains and immortalized him in a Greek temple. In the Lincoln Memorial, one can find the inscriptions of the “Gettysburg Address” and “Second Inaugural Address”. To some, these speeches signify America’s rebirth as a unified political and moral country. Interestingly, these two speeches overshadow the fact that Lincoln’s words were once divisive. In “House Divided”, Lincoln expands the North-South divisions by taking issue with “Popular Sovereignty”, an 1854 policy allowing residents of territories to decide whether to legalize slavery. According to Lincoln, “Popular Sovereignty” was only creating more divisions when the Union needed to reunify under a banner of either slavery or abolition. Furthermore, Lincoln argues that there was a conspiracy to propagate slavery throughout the Union. Lincoln illustrates how several Democrats such as Stephen Douglas, President Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice Roger Taney, and President James Buchanan have enacted policies that were individually unimposing, but collectively spread slavery throughout the Union. Lincoln believed that slavery would become lawful throughout the Union if “the present political dynasty”, a proslavery construct, was not “met and overthrown” by Republicans (Lincoln 405). While I do not think that Lincoln is calling for an armed overthrow, I believe that his speech embodies the Northern distrust of the South. In fact, Lincoln is so polemical that as soon as he is elected the South secedes. However, Lincoln pivots to become a consistent politic...
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and shaped the way our nation is today. He was born on February 12, 1809 and lived his early years in a log cabin in rural Kentucky. His mother’s death when he was nine years old affected him greatly and put an emotional strain on his relationship with his father. His father embodied everything Lincoln despised including laziness, lacking ambition, and anti-intellectual. A love for knowledge helped Abraham to become a well spoken, intelligent, and popular young man as he work odd jobs in Illinois.
President Ronald Reagan once said “Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.” Reagan knew how to be leader, help fix the United States. In some way Reagan went further that most presidents would of during a presidency. A hero is someone overcoming adversity and keeping those you hold dear safe, at the same time teaching them respect of not only themselves, but of others. Heroism can be demonstrated in the real world, or in nonfiction. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee Atticus is an example of a hero. President Abraham Lincoln freed countless slaves from slavery, and helped pull the states back into a whole nation. Music teacher Jesse Flores helped countless student achieve in their promising music career.
Who is a hero? In contemporary times, usage of the term has become somewhat of a cliché. Over the years, the term “hero” has become representative of a wide variety of individuals, each possessing differing traits. Some of the answers put forth by my colleagues (during our in-class discussion on heroism) as to whom they consider heroes pointed to celebrities, athletes, teachers and family members. Although the occupations differed, each of their heroes bore qualities that my classmates perceived as extraordinary, whether morally or physically. Nonetheless, Webster’s defines “hero” as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” Thus, it is worth considering that individuals become heroes relative to the situation with which they’re faced.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States from 1861-1865, when the country was in the middle of wrenching political, social, economic, and technological obstacles. Born into a low class family, Abraham Lincoln worked his way up from humble beginnings. Although receiving very little formal education throughout most of