Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is one of popular presidents in United States History. With his face on pennies, five-dollar bills, saving bonds, and his name placed on hotels, cars, toys and streets it’s almost impossible to grow up as a kid in America without hearing the name Lincoln. In the recent decades Lincoln enthusiast have been trying to discover the real Lincoln, trying to decipher myth from reality. Lincoln was considered to be, “the last great leader before industrial change, (because) Lincoln stood for all that was right, honest, and self evident.”(Phillips). As a poor kid growing up he looked up to the founding fathers, and became fascinated with America and the idea of individual rights. After several failed attempts to get into the White House, it almost seemed as if Abraham Lincoln wasn’t meant to become President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln did not originally appear to be a leader that would successfully lead a country during a time of great need. However in office, Lincoln proved to be a masterful commander and chief during the Civil War, which propelled him to the status of an American Legend. The American people always had a sense of what criteria a President must have in order to step into office. They wanted a well-educated war hero who was handsome and had great whit. Compared to these qualifications, Lincoln didn’t measure up, especially in his education. Growing up on the frontier meant that good schooling was hard to find. There wasn’t an exact school year that Lincoln and the other kids in his area could attend. School being in session depended on whether or not an available teacher. Teachers were valued so highly in the frontier, that the poor family’s would give as much as their food as they could to the teachers without starving their family’s. Lincoln attended school at the ages of 6, 7, 11, 13, and 15, however his total days spent in