History of Abraham Lincoln
Early Life
Lincoln was born on February 12 in the year 1809 in a room within a cabin in the county of Hardin Kentucky. The family of Lincoln moved to southern Indiana on the year 1816. As a result of Lincoln working with the aim of supporting his family, his time at school was only three periods. In the year 1830, the family moved to the county of Macon in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln was lucky to get a job working as a flatboat hauling attendant in charge of freights (Nicolay & Hay, 1917). The town of New Salm offered many opportunities to Lincoln as he worked as a postmaster and a shopkeeper. He got into politics by being involved with the Whig Party as a supporter, and in no time he was able to be elected as a legislature to the state of Illinois.
Lincoln was able to teach himself law, and he managed to pass the bar examination in the year 1836. In the year 1837, he moved to the state capital of Springfield. In the new found home, Lincoln was able to make a name for himself as he continued to work as a lawyer (Schwartz, 1997). He got the nickname ‘Honest Abe.’ Lincoln was able to serve many clients starting with those from small towns to those that were within the railroad transport system. Lincoln met Mary Ted, and he courted her and was able to ask for her hand in marriage. They married in the year 1842.
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Lincoln’s Election to White House
Lincoln was able to win elections in the US House of representatives in the year 1846, and he started to serve his period from the year 1847. Lincoln was against the US and Mexico war, and for that reason, he was not a favorite within the Congress. Lincoln did not seek re-election and returned to Springfield in the year 1849. In another remarkable event, Lincoln debated with Douglas concerning the Kansas-Nebraska Act where he denounced slavery as an inhuman act (Nicolay & Hay, 1917). Lincoln was appreciated due to his remarks on slavery, and he joined a political party named the New Republican that did not support slavery. Lincoln gave a speech famously named ‘house divided ‘in the year 1855, and many for this speech recognized him.
Lincoln and Civil War
There were many years of tension between southern and northern states due to the issue of slavery. The election of a northerner as the sixteenth president to the US did not help matters. Many southerners had a difficult life. As Lincoln became the 16th president in the US, about seven states had moved from the Union and started their union called the Confederate States of America (Wineburg, 1998). Lincoln ordered a group of ships to get to South Carolina in April 1861, with the Confederates firing back, and that was the start of the civil war. There was no hope for the end of the civil war when there was the defeat in the Battle of Bull. Lincoln ordered for more than 500,000 troops as the two sides intensified the conflict.
Victory and Death
In the 1864 elections, Lincoln had a gruesome campaign to defeat George McClellan. However, he was able to defeat McClellan by the use of swing votes. In the year 1865 Lincoln gave another famous speech that called for the reconstruction of the South to rebuild the Union (Schwartz, 1997). The efforts by Lincoln continued to bear fruit as he was able to give a speech of victory in the year 1865 calling for northerners to welcome the southerners. Lincoln would however not live to see his vision that called for Reconstruction. He passed away on April 15, 1865, after being shot by John Wilkes Booth, who was a Confederate sympathizer, at a theatre in Washington DC.
References
Nicolay, J. G., & Hay, J. (1917). Abraham Lincoln: a history (Vol. 10). Century Company.
Schwartz, B. (1997). Collective memory and history: How Abraham Lincoln became a
symbol of racial equality. The Sociological Quarterly , 38 (3), 469-496.
Wineburg, S. (1998). Reading Abraham Lincoln: An expert/expert study in the interpretation
of historical texts. Cognitive Science , 22 (3), 319-346.
