Abraham Lincoln: His Legacy Lives on After Seventy Score and Ten Years Ago

On February 12, 1809, one of the most influential persons in all of American history was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Abraham Lincoln, also known as Honest Abe, paved the way to the many freedoms we, as Americans, take for granted (Abraham Lincoln 1). In order to understand the impact Abraham Lincoln has had on today’s culture, you must understand how Lincoln’s background, actions, and speech affected America’s culture in the 1860’s.

Abraham Lincoln’s early life was nothing short of difficult, and in many cases painful; the stereotypical tale of a American hero. Born to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln grew up in a poor, farming family. The well-being of his family not only depended upon the year’s crops, but also on the possession of property. In 1817, a land dispute resulted in the relocation of the Lincoln family to Perry County, Indiana. There, his family “squatted on public land to scrap out a living in a crude shelter, hunting game and farming a small plot” (Abraham Lincoln 1). After some time, Lincoln’s father was able to purchase the land. Not long after the purchase however, Lincoln’s mother died of tremetol. The death of Nancy Lincoln was absolutely devastating to nine year old Abraham Lincoln. Her death lead to Lincoln distancing himself from his father, as well as the hard work that had come to be expected from him. His resentment of laborious activities may very well have been Lincoln’s first knowledge of the wrongness of slavery. A few months after Nancy Lincoln’s death, Lincoln’s father married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow who already had three children of her own (Abraham Lincoln 1). Abraham Lincoln, illiterate and uneducated, was encouraged by his stepmother, Sarah Johnston, to learn how to read and write. He began reading the family Bible and other such popular books. As Lincoln began to reach adulthood, he left the family