Biography Of Abe Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. The family moved to Indiana and 8 year old Abe helped his father build another log house. A year later his mother died and the house was very empty. His father remarried and in addition to his sister Sarah, who was 3 years older, there were now 3 more children in the family.

When his father could spare him from chores, Lincoln attended school. Schools were held in log cabins, and often the teachers were barely more educated than their pupils. Including a few weeks at a similar school in Kentucky, Lincoln had less than one full year of formal education in his entire life.

Lincolns stepmother encouraged his quest for knowledge. At an early age he could read, write, and do simple arithmetic. Books were scarce on the Indiana frontier, but besides the family Bible, which Lincoln knew well, he was able to read the classical authors.

At the age of 19, being 6 ft. 4 in, lean and muscular, Abraham Lincoln found a job ferrying people across the Mississippi River. In 1828, he was hired officially ferrying merchandise instead of people. Soon, Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War. Lincoln then opened a general store in New Salem with William F. Berry as his partner. But Berry misused the profits, and in a few months the venture failed. Berry died in 1835, leaving Lincoln responsible for debts amounting to $1100. It took him several years to pay them off. After the general store failed, Lincoln was appointed postmaster of New Salem. The appointment came from Jackson's Democratic administration. Lincoln's Whig views were well known, but, as Lincoln explained it, the postmaster's job was too insignificant to make his politics an objection. As postmaster, Lincoln earned $60 a year plus a percentage of the receipts on postage. He ran an informal post office, often doing favors for friends, such as undercharging them for mailing letters. The job gave him time to read, and he made a habit of reading all the newspapers that came through the office. To augment his income, he became the deputy surveyor of Sangamon County.

In 1834 Lincoln again ran for representative to the Illinois legislature. By then he was known throughout the county, and many Democrats gave him their votes. He was elected in 1834 and reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840. Meanwhile, Lincoln continued his study of law, and in 1836 he became a licensed attorney. The following year he became a junior partner in John T. Stuart's law firm and moved from New Salem to Springfield. Lincoln was extremely poor and arrived in Springfield on a borrowed horse with all his belongings in two saddlebags.

Meanwhile, Lincoln is said to have fallen in love with Ann Rutledge. However, she died in 1835. But Lincoln in his later years never referred to Ann Rutledge, and authorities are agreed in agreeing that the Lincoln-Rutledge romance is a myth. In 1836, less than 18 months after Ann Rutledge's death, Lincoln proposed to Mary Owens, but was turned down. In 1840, Lincoln met a cultured, high-strung Kentucky woman named Mary Todd, who was staying with a married sister in Springfield. After a long courtship, they were married on November 4, 1842.

In 1856 Lincoln publicly identified himself as a Republican, and in May he attended the Republican state convention at Bloomington. The moderate antislavery resolutions of this convention were acceptable to Lincoln. He signified his approval of the new party by giving the main address at the convention. This speech, considered by many to be his most compelling, has been lost. At the Republican national convention, John C. Fremont was nominated for president. The Illinois delegation proposed Lincoln for vice president, but, although he received 110 convention votes, the nomination went to William C. Dayton of New Jersey. Lincoln campaigned for the Republican ticket in Illinois and in Michigan, but Fremont lost Illinois, as well as the election, to his Democratic opponent, James Buchanan.

In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. Abraham Lincoln ran against a split Democratic Party over the issue or slavery. The Democratic convention nominated Stephen Douglas for president, and this so incensed the Southern delegates