The Life of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He is one of the most influential presidents in the history of the United States. He was also probably the best and most controlled president. He was a strong military and political leader and an even stronger debater. Without Honest Abe, our country would not be what it is today.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky to parents Nancy and Thomas Lincoln. He was named for his grandfather and had an older sister named Sarah. His parents were members of a Baptist congregation which strongly opposed slavery, hence his general opposition to slavery. When he was eight, his father moved his family to Indiana because of slavery issues and land disputes in Kentucky. (Abraham Lincoln) At ten, his mother died of milk sickness, a disease that was acquired by drinking the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous white snakeroot.

English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...

A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham ...

Abraham Lincoln, three-quarter length portrait, se...

(Hickey) His father then remarried to a Kentucky widow, Sara Bush Johnston. She was a good mother to him and she encouraged him to attend school more often, although he did not. He did, however, learn to read and write, and he particularly enjoyed reading. (Abraham Lincoln)In the 1830's, the Lincolns moved to New Salem, Illinois, where Abraham lived until 1837. In New Salem, he kept a store and resided as the postmaster of the town. He also enlisted as a captain in the Black Hawk War. In 1832, he became a candidate for Illinois legislature; unfortunately, however, he was defeated in his first election. Two years later, he ran again, this time as a Whig, and is elected as a representative in the Illinois House of Representatives. (Hickey) He served for eight years, or four terms, before...