Abraham Lincoln By: Walker Minix Mrs. Bingham s 2 nd Grade
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Young Abe Page 1 Chapter 2 Rise To Greatness Page 2 Chapter 3 President Lincoln Page 3 Chapter 4 The Assassination Page 5
Young Abe Abraham Lincoln was born Sunday, February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. His parents were Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, he was named after his grandfather. Thomas was a carpenter and a farmer. Both of Abraham s parents were members of a Baptist church that had separated from another church due to opposition to slavery. When Abraham was seven years old his family moved to southern Indiana. He went to school briefly in Kentucky and he attended school again in Indiana. He went with his older sister, Sarah (his younger brother, Thomas, died when he was a baby). In 1818 Lincoln s mother, Nancy, died from milk sickness, a disease caused by drinking milk from cows that had grazed on poisonous snakeroot. Lincoln s dad, Thomas, remarried the next year, and Abraham loved his new stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston. She had three children of her own. Abraham attended school on and off. In all, he spent less than 12 months going to school, and he didn t attend college. As Abraham grew up, he loved to read and was much more interested in learning than working in the fields. This caused problems with his dad who was completely opposite. Abraham was always borrowing books from his neighbors. In 1828 his sister, Sarah, died while giving birth to her first child. Later that year Abraham made a flatboat trip to New Orleans. In 1830 the Lincolns moved west to Illinois. The year after that Abraham made a second flatboat trip to New Orleans. After that he moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he lived until 1837. While there he had several jobs including surveying, running a store, and being a postmaster. He really impressed the people that lived there with his character, wrestled the town bully, and earned the nickname Honest Abe.
Rise To Greatness Lincoln, who stood almost 6 4 and weighed about 180 pounds, spent a short time in the service in the Black Hawk War. He ran for the Illinois legislature in 1832 but didn t win. He ran again in 1834, 1836, 1838, and 1840, and won all four times. Lincoln was a member of the Whig Party, and he continued to be a Whig until 1856, when became a Republican. Abraham met and Mary Todd in Springfield in 1839. They got married three years later and had four children over the next eleven years. Robert (1843-1926), Edward (1846-1859), William (1850-1862), and Thomas (1853-1871). Lincoln became a very successful attorney, and they bought a home at the corner of Eighth and Jackson. In 1846 Lincoln ran for the United States House of Representatives and won. While he was in Washington he became known for being against the Mexican War and slavery. He returned home at the end of his term and continued with his law practice. Early in 1851 his father died. Lincoln s declining interest in politics was renewed by the passage of the Kansas Nebraska Act in 1854. He made an unsuccessful bid for the US Senate but received some support for the Republican Vice presidential nomination in 1856. Also, in1856 Lincoln gave his Lost Speech. He opposed the Dred Scott decision in 1857 and gave his famous House Divided Speech on June 16, 1858. Additionally, he engaged in a series of debates with Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. Lincoln was against the spread of slavery into the territories but was not an abolitionist. Douglas won the Senatorial race, but Lincoln gained national recognition. In 1860 he furthered his national reputation with a successful speech at the Cooper Institute in New York.
President Lincoln Lincoln was elected President on November 6 th 1860, with Hannibal Hamlin as his running mate. He beat out Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge and John Bell. In February of 1861 the Lincolns left by train for Washington, D.D. The president elect was now wearing a beard at the suggestion of an 11 year old girl. Lincoln was sworn in on March 4, 1961. Lincoln was elected months after the Attack on Fort Sumter when the first Confederate state attacked the United States of America. Unlike his opponents Lincoln was willing to do whatever it took to keep the nation together and the northern states liked that so much that Lincoln won every northern state, but even though he won every northern state, he lost every southern state. It didn t take long for those southern states to leave the United States and form their own country, The Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln was determined to keep the Union together so he convinced his congress to go to war with the southern states. In 1864 Ulysses S. Grant was named general in chief of the armies of the United States. Lincoln s first battle as president was held at Bull Run Creek in Virginia. Lincoln s army was badly defeated in this battle and other early battles but Lincoln and his General Ulysses S. Grant were such great leaders that they came back and beat the Confederacy in many battles. One of those victories was at the battle of Gettysburg. Even though the Union won this battle, many soldiers were killed and many people didn t want the war to continue. President Lincoln knew though that if he ended the war now the nation would still be divided. So, Lincoln traveled to the town of Gettysburg to dedicate the cemetery that the soldiers that died would be
buried at. His short speech, on November 19, 1863, known as The Gettysburg Address gave the nation hope and made the people believe that keeping the nation together would be worth it. Since Lincoln s army was winning so many battles he thought it would be the perfect time to hurt the South even more by ending slavery. He did this when he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This made slavery illegal in all states that were rebelling against the United States. This really hurt the south because the slaves that were being forced to help the South now were free to leave. Since there were so many freed slaves and they supported the Union, President Lincoln made General Order 143 which allowed for the former slaves to fight for the Union Army. The former slaves were brave soldiers and helped the Union win more battles. Lincoln was reelected president with Andrew Johnson as his running mate. He had beat George McClellan, a democrat, on November 8, 1864. The Union was doing so well that the Confederate Army had to surrender. On April 9, 1965, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant. Two days later Lincoln addressed a crowd outside the White House. Among other things, he said that he would support voting rights for certain blacks. This infuriated a racist and Southern sympathizer who was in the audience: the actor John Wilkes Booth who hated everything the president stood for.
The Assassination On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, the Lincolns attended the play Our American Cousin at Ford s Theatre. During the performance famous actor, John Wilkes Booth came to the theatre, entered the state box from the rear, and shot the president in the back of his head at about 10:15 pm. Lincoln was carried across the street to the Peterson House where he passed away the next day at 7:22 am. This was the first presidential assassination in American history, and the nation mourned its leader. His death was the result of hatreds of the times. Lincoln s body was taken to Springfield by train, and he was buried in the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery on May 4, 1865. Because of the assassination Reconstruction took place without his leadership. After the assassination, Booth jumped off the balcony and ran to his horse outside the theater. He realized he injured his leg when he got to his friend s house that lived outside of Washington D.C. When the police arrived Booth was trapped inside a nearby barn, the police burned down the barn to make Booth leave. It is believed that an officer shot him before he left the barn. The nation was in shock and changed forever because of the loss of one of the greatest presidents that ever lived and the man who changed the country forever.
Abraham Lincoln By: Walker Minix Reference Page: 1.) Abraham Lincoln, Biography, by Tanya Lee Stone 2.) Abraham Lincoln for Kids, by Janis Herbert 3.) Abraham Lincoln / Wikipedia.org. 4.) www.whitehouse/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln