Abraham Lincoln

Most people know Abraham Lincoln by his big stove pipe hat or that he was tall. There is a lot more to him than him being the 16th president. Lincoln was the head of the Civil war and he was definitely a war hero.

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 (Boritt 311). Lincoln was born on a farm in present day Hodgenville, Kentucky (Boritt 311-312). When Lincoln was born his family was very poor (Boritt 312). Lincoln had a mom and a dad, Thomas and Nancy, and a sister named Sarah (Boritt 312).

Lincoln was a self educated person (Oates 41). Lincolns family moved to Indiana in 1816 (Jordan). Lincoln’s mother died in 1818 (Jordan). One year after Lincoln’s mother died his father married a Kentucky widow (Jordan). Lincoln’s family left Indiana for Illinois in 1830(Jordan). Lincoln served briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832(Jordan). Lincoln began his political career in 1832; he was 23 years old( Jordan). In 1837, he made his first protest against slavery (Jordan). On November 4, 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd (Jordan). In 1844 Lincoln entered law practice with William Herdon (Jordan). Lincoln was a prosperous lawyer and won election to the Illinois legislature and to Congress (Oates 21). Lincoln served one term (1847-49) as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (Jordan). Lincoln spoke against the Mexican-American War (Jordan). Lincoln’s debates in 1858 with Stephen A. Douglas on sectionalism and slavery made him a national figure and lead to the Presidency (Oates 41). In February 1860, Lincoln made his first major political appearance in the northeast when he addressed a rally at Cooper Union in New York (Jordan). In March 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union (Jordan). Lincoln defused a war scare with the United Kingdom (Jordan).

Lincoln was the commander and chief of the army (Boritt 321). He lead the United States during the Civil War (1861-1865) which was the greatest crisis in U.S. history (Boritt 310). Abraham Lincoln was 52 years old at the start of the Civil War (Boritt 320). Fort Sumter started the Civil War (Boritt 321). Lincoln met the crisis at Fort Sumter with a blockade of the Southern ports (Boritt 321). Lincoln also expanded the army beyond the limit set by law (Boritt 321. Lincoln suspended the privilege of the Habeas Corpus (Boritt 321). Two days after Fort Sumter fell, Lincoln called for 75,000 men for the army (Boritt 321). Lincoln ordered the northern army forward under General Irwin McDowell ( Boritt 321). Lincoln realized that the border state’s would secede if the anti slavery extremists had their way (Boritt 322). Lincoln felt that the break up of the American nation would be a tragedy (Boritt p.321). Abraham Lincoln warned his countrymen that a house divided against itself could not stand (James 11).

In the first two years of the war, Lincoln was a deeply troubled President (James 11). Lincoln evaded possible assassins in Baltimore on February 23, 1861(Jordan). One of Lincoln’s hardest decisions was about slavery (James 17). Lincoln read his Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet on July 22, 1862 (Oates 112). Lincoln