Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-65), 16th president of the United States (1861-65), who

steered the Union to victory in the American Civil War and abolished slavery.

Early Life

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, the son of

Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, pioneer farmers. At the age of two he was taken

by his parents to nearby Knob Creek and at eight to Spencer County, Indiana. The

following year his mother died. In 1819 his father married Sarah Bush Johnston,

a kindly widow, who soon gained the boy's affection. Lincoln grew up a tall,

gangling youth, who could hold his own in physical contests and also showed

great intellectual promise, although he had little formal education. In 1831,

after moving with his family to Macon County, Illinois, he struck out on his own,

taking cargo on a flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana. He then returned to

Illinois and settled in New Salem, a short-lived community on the Sangamon River,

where he split rails and clerked in a store. He gained the respect of his fellow

townspeople, including the so-called Clary Grove boys, who had challenged him to

physical combat, and was elected captain of his company in the Black Hawk War

(1832). Returning from the war, he began an unsuccessful venture in shopkeeping

that ended when his partner died. In 1833 he was appointed postmaster but had to

supplement his income with surveying and various other jobs. At the same time he

began to study law. That he gradually paid off his and his deceased partner's

debts firmly established his reputation for honesty. The story of his romance

with Ann Rutledge, a local young woman whom he knew briefly before her untimely

death, is unsubstantiated.

Illinois Politician and Lawyer

Defeated in 1832 in a race for the state legislature, Lincoln was elected on the

Whig ticket two years later and served in the lower house from 1834 to 1841. He

quickly emerged as one of the leaders of the party and was one of the authors of

the removal of the capital to Springfield, where he settled in 1837. After his

admission to the bar (1836), he entered into successive partnerships with John T.

Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, and William Herndon, and soon won recognition as an

effective and resourceful attorney. In 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd, the

daughter of a prominent Kentucky banker, and despite her somewhat difficult

disposition, the marriage seems to have been reasonably successful. The Lincolns

had four children, only one of whom reached adulthood. His birth in a slave

state notwithstanding, Lincoln had long opposed slavery.