Abraham Lincoln

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Recommended: The role of Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War

Abraham Lincoln is widely known for an assortment of achievements but, people often overlook the small stories and facts that make our 16th President so interesting. Most people believe Abraham Lincoln grew up in a small cabin; his family was forced out of their homes; he had to work to support them; his business failed repeatedly; he ran for Vice President, but only got 110 votes; he overcame his long, long string of hardships and failures and finally was elected President of the United States. Most would call that a “rag to riches story,” but surprisingly enough, this wasn’t the truest of stories.

Abraham did grow up in a small cabin, just like everyone else whose father decided to make their mark on the great American frontier. Your choices were farming on the frontier or slaving in the factories of an increasing industrialized society. Lincoln's father decided he'd rather rough it than, say, get his arm melted off in an iron smelting furnace. So while Lincoln didn't have a flushing toilet or some of the more luxurious items, he grew up in a reasonably normal home for his time. His father was a successful farmer and the only reason they left Kentucky was over a legal issue with the land title.

When Lincoln was a teenager, he moved with his family to New Salem, Illinois, a town that was unofficially run by an unruly gang, called "the Clary Grove's Boys.” They would routinely get drunk and beat people up at random and reportedly called themselves “regulators," and "was the terror of all who did not acknowledge their rule." Jack Armstrong, the leader of the Clary Grove's Boys, was the biggest in the gang and the toughest fighter in the area, and he wasn't shy about either fact. Lincoln (still brand new in town) was tired o...

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...o 23.

And as for him running for Vice President and getting "only 110 votes," one, this wasn't a popular election, these are delegate votes (and there were only 363 of them). And Lincoln didn't run for the office, he was nominated without his knowledge. The votes he got came despite the fact that he didn't campaign and was barely known outside of Illinois. That's actually pretty impressive. He was a rising star and the very next election put him in the White House.

Abraham Lincoln has led one of the most interesting lives, be it fighting an unruly gang or mesmerizing photographers with his “beauty.” So through his rich and somewhat unknown history, Lincoln has definitely carved his path in life, in a way that is truly fitting of our 16th President.

“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday”

(Abraham Lincoln).

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