Abraham Lincoln was the 16th American Presient of the United States of America.
He was born on Febuary 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. He moved to Indiana
when he was 8 years old with his father. His mother died when he was only ten
years old. He took various jobs such as farm work and fencing, before taking
the oath to become one of the great American Presidents.
He married Mary Todd, and they had four children, all boys. In 1858 Lincoln
ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating
with Douglas he gained a national respect that won him the Republican nomination
for President in the next election in 1860.
As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization.
Further, he helped rally a vast majority of the Democrats to the Union cause.
On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever
free those slaves within the Confederacy.
Abraham Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even
larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery
at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs brought
an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and
generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily
in reunion.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14,1865. He was killed by John Wilkes
Boothe. He was attending an evening performance of Our American Cousins, at
the Ford Theatere. It was a tragedy for the American people to have such a
great President assassinated, just when he was making so many positive changes.
