All About United States President Abraham Lincoln's Life

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, KY. As a young boy at school he learned the alphabet, numbers, and math problems. Abraham did not attend school long, he only attended school for less than a year because of family problems. Abraham's mother died when he was just 8 years old. Many days, he would be in the forest working with an axe, chipping wood. Abe became very upset because of how he spent his childhood. After spending many years cutting wood, he soon began to write poetry. Many of the people in his town learned that Abe was good in reading and writing. He helped pilot a flatboat down Ohio and Mississippi Rovers, and by the age of 20 the law fascinated him. Eventually, his new interests led him to become a lawyer and a politician.

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. He said, "I do not think myself fits for the Presidency." Within a few months of his election, the Civil War began and he called for 75, 000 men to join the army. More important than freeing the slaves, Lincoln "pledged to hold the nation together by force." In addition to the tragedy of what, his family faced tragedy too. His son died and his wife was mentally ill. In March 1862, Lincoln presented his plan to Congress to free the slaves.

In July 1863, the bloodiest battle of the war was fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This battle left more then 3,000 men dead. Abraham traveled to the cemetery in Gettysburg and presented a very short speech maybe three minutes, which is well known as the Gettysburg Address. A week after Lincoln's speech, Ulysses Grant defeats the Confederate troops and forced all rebels from Pennsylvania. Soon, Grant was put in charge of all Union troops. A year later, The Republican Party nominated Abraham into the presidential election for a second term.

Lincoln and several other congressional leaders decided to propose a new amendment to outlaw slavery everywhere. The House of Representatives failed to pass the law. "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." Lincoln once said. That line went through to the Senate, which then approved the amendment, but the House did not have enough votes. After Lincoln held several secret meetings with his people, the amendment was passed and adopted into the Constitution in December 1865.

Lincoln once told writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe "I shall never live to see peace, this war is killing me." Abraham had always been tall and thin, and during the Civil War he lost 25 pounds. His face began to look older than what he really was. During the Civil War nearly 620,000 people were left dead. Many days after the war, many Christians celebrated Good Friday. The morning after the war, Lincoln and his cabinet planned how the military occupation could be handled without cruelty. Abraham and his wife went to see an entertaining play called "Our Americans Cousins" later on in the evening. During the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor entered the private box a put a pistol to Lincoln's head and fired. On April 15, 1865 Abraham Lincoln was dead.

Resources:
Hargrove, Jim. Encyclopedia of Presidents: Abraham Lincoln, 1998, Childrens Press