Abraham Lincoln Biography

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds ...."

- Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in the country of Hardin, Kentucky. His upbringing was modest family; her parents from Virginia were neither rich or well known. At an early age, the young Abraham lost his mother and his father went away to Indiana. Abraham had to work hard records division and other manual labor. However, he also had a thirst for knowledge and worked very hard to excel in their studies. This led him to be trained as a lawyer. He spent eight years in the Illinois circuit court; his ambition, drive and ability to work were evident to everyone around him. Also she had a good sense of humor and depreciated over their appearance.

“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”

He married Mary Todd and had four children, but three died before reaching maturity.

As a lawyer, Abraham developed a great capacity for quick thinking and speaking. His interest in public affairs encouraged him to stand for public office. In 1854 he was elected to the House of Representatives and tried to win the nomination for the Senate in 1858. Although he lost this election, his debating skills caused it to become well known within the Republican Party. In particular, during this campaign he gave one of his best remembered speeches.

A house divided against itself can not stand. I believe this government can not endure permanently half slave and free the half. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I hope it will cease to be divided. It will become one thing or the other. Either the opponents of slavery will stop the spread of it, and where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push forward until it becomes legal in all states, old as well as new - North as well as (divided House) South

In this speech divided House, Lincoln gave a prophetic word to the possibility of slavery to divide the nation.

The reputation earned in the election campaign led to him being elected as a Republican candidate for president in 1860.

Lincoln's election as president in 1861, prompting the South to succeed from the north. the feeling of the independence of the South had been growing for many years and the election of a president in opposition to slavery was the final straw. However, Lincoln resolutely opposed the breakaway South and thus leading to the American Civil War. The civil war was much more expensive than many people anticipated and sometimes Lincoln seemed to be losing the support of the general population. However, he managed to keep the Republican Party together, suppress dissent by promoting various Republican factions in the cabinet. Lincoln oversaw many of the military aspects of the war and promoted Ulysses S Grant General to monitor the northern forces.

At the beginning of the war it was mainly about the succession and the survival of the Union, but as the war progressed Lincoln became increasingly the issue of ending slavery paramount. To Lincoln, slavery was fundamentally wrong.

"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried with him personally."

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his memorable Emancipation Proclamation declaring the freedom of slaves within the Confederacy.

"... All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, which, people will then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then thereafter, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons ... "(Emancipation Proclamation)

Finally, after four years of wear, federal forces secured the surrender of the defeated South. Lincoln had saved the union and also brought the head of the end of slavery.

Dedicating the ceremony at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, Lincoln said:

"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 and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Lincoln was tragically assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor on April 14, 1865. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and important US presidents. As well as saving the union, Lincoln was seen as the embodiment of the ideals of honesty and integrity.